$NLSN bulls triple their money

Option traders more than tripled their money in Nielsen ($NLSN) today.

On Dec. 3, Market Rebellion’s Unusual Activity Service identified the purchase of 2,700 December $16 calls for $0.95 to $1.00 with shares at $16.58. This was clearly a new position, as open interest in the strike was only 1,314 contracts before the trade occurred.

Those calls traded for $3.60 this afternoon, more than 3.5 times their purchase prices. The stock rose 18.28% in the same time period, a large move but nowhere near that of its options.

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.

NLSN rose 1.81% to end the session at $19.64, a new 6-Month closing high for shares of the media-metrics company.