Unusual Options Activity Discovered in THESE 3 Commodities

Unusual Options Activity is shining a light on commodities lately. And on today’s edition of the CNBC Halftime Report Jon Najarian is digging for stock market gold yet again with these three commodity names: SPDR Gold Trust ($GLD), Cleveland-Cliffs Inc ($CLF), and CSX Corporation ($CSX).

SPDR Gold Trust ($GLD)

Chart courtesy of TradingView

The SPDR Gold Trust ($GLD) is a name that we’ve seen unusual options activity in seven times in the past 12 trading days. And with each report, the price has continued to rise. As Jon would say, “BANG!”

Today’s purchase was a massive call spread: 75,000 of them, to be exact. The buyer went all the way out to the September 2022 expiration, paying $0.79 per spread. They also chose contracts far out of the money, using the $235 long strike and the $255 short strike. Keep in mind, $GLD was only trading near $183 at the time. 

The buyer paid $79 per spread, and each spread has a max value of $2,000. That means this trader paid $5,925,000 for a potential max value of $150,000,000. If $GLD rises 40% in the next six months, this bet would increase more than 25X. 

Cleveland-Cliffs ($CLF)

Chart courtesy of TradingView

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc ($CLF) is another name we’ve been seeing a lot of lately, with two unusual back-to-back purchases today and yesterday. Today’s purchase was in 6,000 of next week’s March 11th expiration $26 calls. The buyer paid between $1.11 and $1.60 per contract for these in-the-money options, with a total purchase price of $813,000.

CSX Corporation ($CSX)

Chart courtesy of TradingView

Now, CSX Corporation ($CSX) is a name we don’t see that often. But today, we saw it twice within a twenty minute period. For his final trade on the show, Jon highlighted a purchase of 3,700 of the March 18th expiration $37.50 calls. The buyer paid between $0.48 and $1.00 per contract, with a total purchase price of around $273,800. 

When this purchase was originally made, the stock was trading at $36.12, though it quickly moved above $37 following it’s mention on the show. Also, minutes after Halftime Report aired, another buyer came in and made yet another purchase in CSX. This time it was 11,400 of the May $40 strike calls! Looks like someone was listening. 

If you want to hear the rest of what Jon had to say on today’s edition of the Halftime Report, take a listen to his UOA segment, and his final trade below!