Bullish Options Traders Bet on Mining ETF

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

David Russell, reporter for OptionMonster.

Options action is positive for the metals and mining sector today as investors place bullish trades on the SPDR S&P Metals & Mining(XME Quote) exchange traded fund.

New money is streaming into the December 50 calls on the fund, driving up premiums from $1.30 to as high as $1.65. The calls changed hands 16,542 times against open interest of only 100 contracts, with purchases dominating the activity, according to OptionMonster's tracking systems.

The XME is flat on the day at $39.74 but is up 5% in the last month, compared with a 6.4% gain for the S&P 500 Index. Its largest holdings include AK Steel Holding(AKS Quote), coal producer Massey Energy(MEE Quote) and Steel Dynamics(STLD Quote). Massey is scheduled to report earnings after the bell tomorrow.

XME needs to rally another 30% by December for the calls purchased today to turn a profit. In another bullish trade, investors sold the December 39 puts to earn $4.60 to $4.80 in premium. Volume in the strike totaled 6,324, versus open interest of 1,641 contracts.

Options volume in the name was about four times average, with calls outnumbering puts by more than 2 to 1.