$GSKY bulls score at highs

Option traders are scoring big gains on upside positions in GreenSky LLC (GSKY) today.

On Sep. 9, Market Rebellion’s UOA Service identified the purchase of 2,200 December $10 calls for $0.59 to $0.70 with shares at $8.47. This was clearly a new position, as open interest in the strike was only 586 contracts before the trade occurred.

Those calls changed hands for $2.21 this session, more than 3 times their purchase prices. The stock rose 41.32% in the same time frame, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved 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.

GSKY was last down by 1.34% at $11.74 after hitting $11.99 in early trade. Goldman Sachs (GS) announced yesterday that it will buy GreenSky for $2.2 billion, or roughly $12 a share in stock