Option bulls score overnight in $PYPL

Option traders have scored on upside positions opened in PayPal (PYPL) just one session earlier.

Yesterday on Nov. 30, our Unusual Activity tracking systems showed that 3,600 Weekly $220 calls expiring this Friday were bought for $1.00 to $1.53 above open interest of 1,414 contracts with shares at $210.24.

Those calls traded for as much as $4.25 today, at least 2.5 times their purchase prices. The stock rose 4.86% 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.

PYPL was last up 2.4% at $119.26 this afternoon. The online payments system’s stock price target was raised to $290 from $270 at Mizuho this morning.