$DATA bulls triple their money

Option traders have collected exponential gains in Tableau Software, one of the few winners in yesterday’s market selloff.

On Jan. 25, Investitute’s market scanners detected the purchase of 2,000 February $80 calls for $1.65 to $1.80 as part of a bullish spread with shares at $73.89. This was clearly a new positions, as open interest in the strike was only 505 contracts before the trade occurred.

Those calls sold for $6.01 yesterday morning, more than 3.5 times their original purchase price. The stock rose 15.3% in the same time frame, indicating how options can far outperform their underlying shares.

Long calls lock in the price where investors can buy a stock, letting them position for a rally at limited cost with the potential for significant leverage. They carry less risk than owning shares because the most that can be lost is the price of the options no matter how far the stock might fall.

DATA jumped 8.98% to $84.01 yesterday. The business-analysis software company rallied after fourth-quarter earnings blew past forecasts.