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GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) shook up Wall Street this morning, as CEO Ryan Cohen toys with buying eBay (EBAY) for $56 billion in an attempt to rival Amazon.com (AMZN). GameStop stock is 8.1% lower to trade at $24.38 at last look, while EBAY is 5.9% higher to trade at $110.20. Even prior to today's bombshell, call traders have been loading up on GME.
The former meme stock has appeared on Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White's list of names on the S&P MidCap 400 Index (SP400) that have attracted the most options volume in the last two weeks. During this time, 2,129,537 calls and 291,985 puts were exchanged. The weekly 5/8 26-strike call is the most popular, while January 2027 30-strike calls were a top long-term contract.
Today is more of the same. At last look, over 300,000 calls have changed hands, volume that's triple the average intraday amount and nearly quadruple the number of puts exchanged. The aforementioned weekly 5/8 26-strike is leading the charge, while the June 30 call is also popular.
On Friday, GameStop stock closed at its highest level since October, but was turned away a downtrend line from that peak. The shares are 22% higher on the year still, but 11.8% lower in the last 12 months.