Tuesday’s OptionsPlace: Piling Into DryShips Calls

With stocks pushing to three-week highs, options volatility continued its downtrend on Tuesday. The CBOE Market Volatility Index was down 0.8% to 32.01 – its lowest level in nearly two weeks.

The CBOE put/call ratio was recently at 1.02, continuing to hold between its 50-day and 200-day moving average.

Here are some notable options movers:

Molycorp (NYSE:MCP): With the underlying stock up more than 5% on merger speculation, the company’s call-options are getting interest, with 14,300 calls trading vs. 6,900 puts.

DryShips (NASDAQ:DRYS): The company reports earnings Tuesday after the close. About 6,000 calls have traded vs. 750 puts. Its Sep 4 calls have traded 1,060 contracts vs. open interest of 22,300, pushing implied volatility up about 8 points to 92%.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX): Its Sep 85 puts are popular, with 1,000 contracts trading vs. open interest of 1,030, pushing implied volatility up about 3 points to 58%.

Supervalu (NYSE:SVU): The company’s Sep 8 puts are active, with 2,240 contracts trading vs. open interest of 2,850, pushing implied volatility down about 7 points to 59%.