Bulls triple their money in $INTC

Option traders posted big gains in Intel before shares pulled back today.

On Feb. 5, Investitute’s tracking systems detected the purchase of 40,000 June $48 calls for $2.14 as part of a bullish roll with shares at $46.43. This was clearly a new position, as volume was far above the strike’s open interest of 8,010 contracts.

Those calls traded for $6.37 today, 3 times their purchase price. The stock rose 14.5% in the same time period, illustrating the kind of leverage that options can provide.

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.

INTC rose to $53.25 this morning, just shy of its 52-week high, before falling with the rest of the market to end the session down 2.46% at $51.19. In upgrading the chip maker yesterday to “market perform” from “underperform,” Raymond James said the company faces no negative catalysts in the foreseeable future.