Bulls make fast money in $BYND calls

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

Just yesterday morning, our Unusual Activity Service flagged the purchase of 4,000 January $110 calls for $1.80 to $5.45 with shares at $100.29. Volume was far above the strike’s previous open interest of 2,688 contracts, showing that this was a new position.

Those calls traded as high as $26.00 this morning, nearly 5 times their highest purchase price. The stock rose 34.1% 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 was last up 6.7% to $122.00. The plant-based meat substitute producer’s sausage was introduced by Dunkin’ Brands (DNKN) yesterday in its Beyond Sausage Sandwich.