Bulls post quick gains in $CVX

It took mere hours for option traders to double their money on upside positions in Chevron (CVX).

Fewer than 15 minutes into today, Mar. 8, Market Rebellion’s Unusual Activity Service found that 3,100 Weekly $170 calls, expiring this Friday, were bought for $1.20 to $2.28 above the existing open interest of 2,174 contracts with shares at $164.31.

Those calls have traded for as much as $6.70 this session, over 2.5 times their purchase prices. The stock spiked 5.85% in the same time period, a large move but nowhere near that of its options on a relative basis.

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.

CVX was last up 5.44% to $170.86 today.