$EBAY call prices catch a winning bid

It took only two sessions for bullish option traders to see their upside positions catch a winning bid in eBay (EBAY) today.

On Jun. 2, our Unusual Activity Service found that 3,000 Weekly $45.50 calls expiring on Jun. 5 were bought for $0.96 as part of a bullish roll above open interest of 282 contracts with shares at $45.96. Market Rebellion co-founder Jon Najarian cited the unusual activity at that time on his 3@3 program, which airs every day at 3:00 PM ET, as a special bonus trade.

Those calls traded up to $6.20 this morning, over 6 times their purchase price. The stock rose 12.42% 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 up 6.26% to $49.36 at the end of today’s session. The online auction giant raised its second quarter earnings view to well above its earlier guidance and the consensus before the opening bell today.