Bulls go $BYND for profits

Option traders are making fast money on bullish positions opened yesterday in Beyond Meat (BYND).

Just yesterday, Apr. 20, our Unusual Activity Service flagged the purchase of 3,700 Weekly $90 calls for $0.23 to $0.89 with shares at $79.49. Volume was clearly above the strike’s previous open interest of 2,480 contracts, showing that this was a new position.

Those calls traded as high as $6.05 this morning, more than 6 times their highest purchase price. The stock rose 15.56% 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.

BYND traded as high as $92.00 earlier this session and was last up 7.74% on the day at $85.24. The plant-based meat substitute producer rose sharply today after Starbucks (SBUX) announced it would roll out a new plant-based menu in China this week, using Beyond Meat products.