Traders are mad for Microsoft.
The $1 trillion company's stock opened at an all-time high Tuesday, a day after hitting new heights spurred by the company's announcement of its cloud-gaming project that would rival Google's Stadia.
The moves have caused options traders to buy up short-term calls in Microsoft, Dan Nathan, co-founder and editor of RiskReversal.com, said Monday on CNBC's "Options Action."
One of the most active trades was a purchase of 9,000 of the June 14 weekly $137 calls for about 25 cents each, a bullish bet that sees the stock gaining another 4% by this Friday.
That bet, along with similar purchases of $135, $134 and $133 calls, represents "traders playing for that short-term momentum," Nathan said. "The stock's up 30% on the year right now, so it's a massive, massive relative strength leader within mega-cap tech here."
Nathan was slightly wary of this ultra-bullish action, saying investors looking to make a directional bet on Microsoft's recent spike would do well to buy some protection against this trade via put options or another "short-term bearish bet."
"If you're looking out as the next catalyst for this company is going to be their earnings, probably the last week of July, option prices are pretty fair," he said. "It could be a good time to buy, maybe, some protection against that long as you keep rolling up some puts."
Microsoft shares lost some steam by midday Tuesday, trading at $131.78 per share, shedding less than 1%. The stock is up nearly 30% for the year and almost 7% just in the last week.
