* Options volume tops 100,000; best first-day listing ever
* June $30 strike puts the most actively traded
* Shares down 5.6 pct near $30/share
By Angela Moon and Doris Frankel
May 29 (Reuters) – After a disappointing initial public
offering and subsequent 20 percent fall, investors piled into
Facebook options on their first day of trading Tuesday,
making it the busiest debut ever in the options market.
Facebook options have become a tempting target as more
investors bet the stock – currently near $30 a share, down from
an IPO price of $38 – will continue to decline.
“Current volume implies Facebook may hit 400,000 contracts
today, making it the best first-day listing in listed options
history,” said Henry Schwartz, president of Trade Alert.
Options volume on Facebook exceeded 100,000 contracts in
less than two hours of trading, with 62,000 puts and 48,000
calls for a put-to-call ratio of 1.29, according to data by
options analytics firm Trade Alert.
The most active options were the June $30 put strike, with
more than 10,900 contracts on the tape at an average price of
$1.45 per contract.
The largest trade was a bearish 3,050-lot put spread on the
Nasdaq OMX PHLX options venue just after 10:00 a.m. in which a
customer paid $2.95 for the July $32-$25 put spread, said
Schwartz.
Facebook’s at-the-money option implied volatility opened
near 66 percent and is currently about 60 percent.
NYSE Amex Options, owned by exchange operator NYSE Euronext
, is the designated primary market for Facebook options.
Initial strike prices below and above the share price are
from $16 to $49, in $1 increments, with standard monthly
expirations in June, July, September, December, January and
January 2014. Short-term weekly options contracts expiring June
8 will be added on Thursday.
