Bulls rack up quick profits in $X

It took just three days for bullish option traders triple their money in U.S. Steel.

Less than 5 minutes after the opening bell Wednesday, Investitute’s market scanners found that 1,480 Weekly $36.50 calls expiring on June 8 were purchased for $0.51 to $0.77 with shares at $35.79. This was clearly a new position, as open interest in the strike was only 209 contracts before the day began.

Those calls sold for $1.90 this afternoon, about 3.5 times their initial purchase price. The stock rose 6.5% in the same time frame, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved quickly 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.

X was up 2.22% to $37.69 today. The company rallied along with other metal producers this week after the Trump administration announced its intention to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on European imports.