Bulls pump more $DVN profits

Option traders have doubled their money on upside positions in Devon Energy.

On Jan. 8, Investitute’s market scanners showed that 20,000 18April $28 calls were bought for $1.48 as part of a bullish roll with shares at $23.50. Open interest in the strike was a mere 405 contracts before the trade occurred, showing that this was a new position.

Those calls sold for as much as $3.10 today, more than twice their purchase price. The stock rose 21.7% in the same time period, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved with options.

It is the second winning trade in the name posted on Investitute in four sessions.

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.

DVN reached a session high of $30.92 this morning before pulling back to close at $30.24, off 0.88% on the session. The energy producer has rallied along with other names in the industry as the price of oil has reached multi-month highs.