The insurer Allstate (NYSE: ALL) has seen little movement in its stock price since before the New Year and many options trading investors seem to be prepared for that to continue.

ALL rose 0.61% to $31.48 yesterday. It’s been trapped between $30.50 and $32 since early December, and its range for the three months before that was only slightly wider.

OptionMONSTER’s tracking systems showed volume yesterday just shy of 34,000 contracts in ALL, compared to an average of 4,800. Most of the activity was in a single spread, with a trader buying 14,700 of the ALL July 34 Calls for 61 cents. This was less than the open interest at that strike and appears to be a closing transaction. At the same time, 14,700 of the ALL October 35 Calls were sold for 87 cents, changing hands at the bid price. The previous open interest at that strike was 208, so this was a new opening position.

We don’t see any trading in the underlying shares that may be tied to the call trading, suggesting we saw the roll of a short call position. As such it would be done by an investor who owns the stock, and is willing to sell it at $35 at expiration.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL)

(Chart courtesy of tradeMONSTER).

optionMONSTER® provides stock market insight, option trade ideas, and options education to meet the needs of do-it-yourself investors.