$EBAY bulls bid up calls

It took only one session for bullish option traders to see their upside call positions get bid up in eBay (EBAY) today.

Ahead of the close yesterday, Feb. 3, our Unusual Activity Service found that 2,000 Weekly $60 calls expiring tomorrow Feb. 5 were bought for $1.28 to $1.38 as part of a bullish spread above open interest of 1,251 contracts with shares at $57.86.

Those calls traded up to $4.82 this morning, over 3 times their purchase prices. The stock rose 11.94% at the same time, 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.

EBAY was last up 5.39% to $61.17 in afternoon trade. The online auction giant raised its first quarter earnings view to well above the consensus yesterday after the close.