Option bulls double money overnight in $BHC

Bullish call buyers are seeing big gains in Bausch Health (BHC) today.

Yesterday on Mar. 8, Market Rebellion’s Unusual Activity Scanners identified the purchase of 3,100 Weekly $35 calls expiring Mar. 12 for $0.23 to $0.30 with shares at $33.39. This was clearly fresh buying, as volume was well above the strike’s previous open interest of just 380 contracts.

Those calls have traded for $0.74 today, more than double their purchase prices. The stock rose 3.86% in the same time frame, showing how quickly options can far outpace gains in 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.

BHC was up 2.54% to $33.93 at the close, setting fresh multi-year highs this session. The pharmaceutical company is estimated to next report earnings on My 6.