Bulls double money in $MA

It took less than 24 hours for option traders to post huge profits on upside positions in Mastercard (MA).

Just yesterday, our activity scanners showed that 7,300 Weekly $260 calls expiring on Nov. 1 were bought for $5.35 to $6.50 above open interest of 112 contracts with shares at $259.97. Market Rebellion co-founder Pete Najarian chose MA as his final trade at that time on CNBC’s “Halftime Report” and updated the position today.

Those calls have traded for as much as $11.86 so far today, more than twice their average purchase price. The stock rose 3.49% at the same time, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved with options.

Long calls lock in the price where a stock can be purchased, gaining with a rally and providing leverage to the underlying shares. The contracts can quickly lose value if the stock stalls or pulls back but also carry less risk than owning the shares themselves.

MA is up 2.25% to $266.72 in afternoon trading. The credit-card giant’s shares rebounded yesterday from a support level going back to June.