$RIOT call prices rise

Bullish option traders made some fast coin in Riot Blockchain (RIOT) today.

On Aug. 19, Market Rebellion’s Unusual Activity programs detected the the purchase 9,000 Weekly $38 calls, expiring on Sep. 10, for $1.50 to $1.70 with shares at $31.99. Open interest in the contract before the trade occurred was just 102, showing that this was a new position.

Separately, but around the same time another trade was detected as 2,500 of the Weekly $34 calls, expiring this Friday on Aug. 27, were purchased for $1.57 to $1.66 above the previous open interest of 603 contracts.

Those calls have each traded for as much as $3.30 and $4.50, respectively, today, about double their purchase prices. The stock rose by as much as 21.1% in the same time frame, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved with 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.

RIOT was last lower this session at $37.48, down 0.4% on the day after trading as high as $38.74 earlier in the session.