Bullish Traders Buy Capital One Options

OptionMonster co-founder Pete Najarian provides options picks Monday, Wednesday and Friday in TheStreet.com's Deep in the Money Calls newsletter.

Mike Yamamoto, managing editor of OptionMonster.

Capital One Financial(COF Quote) is drawing bullish trades in stock and options early today after posting credit-card default numbers that were better than expected.

Capital One shares climbed as much as 11% right out of the gate before settling back to $25 in the first hour of trading, still up more than 8% on the day. Options activity was also strong, as nearly 25,000 calls traded in about the first 45 minutes of the session.

Most of the action took place at the July 25 strike ,where some 12,000 calls changed hands at four times the open interest in a heavy buying pattern. The average call volume at that strike is a mere 275 contracts, according to OptionMonster's proprietary tracking systems.

The calls went for a fairly wide range of prices, from 20 cents all the way to $1 as the stock jumped. To turn a profit, they all are relying on Capital One shares to rise by Friday, which is the expiration for these contracts.

Capital One is scheduled to report its earnings results next week, on July 23.