Options Trading News

One investor is sticking with Optimer Pharmaceuticals as its shares grind higher.

optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker tracking system detected the purchase of 2,500 December 15 calls for $1.83 and the sale of an equal number of September 15 calls for $0.65. Volume was below open interest in the September options but not the December contracts, suggesting that an existing long position was rolled from one strike to the other.

The investor paid a net $1.18 for the transaction and gained an additional three months to profit from upside. He or she also avoided losing money to time decay as the front-month September calls approach expiration at the end of next week. (See our Education section)

OPTR fell 2.69 percent to $15.54 yesterday but is up 27 percent so far this year. The maker of drugs for gastrointestinal infections is scheduled to make a presentation tomorrow at the ThinkEquity Annual Growth Conference, followed by the UBS Global Life Sciences Conference on Sept. 19.

Overall option volume in the name was 31 times greater than average in the session, with calls outnumbering puts by 100 to 1.