Options Trading News

Carmax has been rallying for the last two months, but the options paper is bearish.

Our Depth Charge monitoring system detected a January 2013 put spread. The bought 1,700 January 30 puts for $2.30 and sold the same number of the 24 puts for $0.55. The previous open interest was less than 200 at both strikes, so this was a new opening position.

It cost just $1.75, which is at risk if the auto-retail stock remains above $30. The maximum profit of $4.25 occurs on a drop $24 or lower at expiration. This could be a hedge against a long position, but only gives protection down to the lower strike.

KMX rose 0.92 percent to $30.57 in late morning trading, and is back near the highest level since the start of May. It dipped below $25 at the end of June, the 2012 lows. The 52-week high above $35 was set in early April.

More than 3,600 options have traded in the name, which is more than 65 times the daily average. Puts outnumber calls by 58 to 1.