Your intraday options trading update.

Greece, Retailers Drag Market Lower

Expiring Mays drive the action today after a snoozy week. Appears to be usual battle whether the underlying will close exactly at the PIN number for major indices and equities. The PIN is usually an at-the-money-strike the underlying has been flirting with during the last week or so. The eternal question of the dog and its tail.

Weakness in the retail side is driving the market lower. Much of the big volume is being seen in the large indices. The Fear Gauge – formally known as the CBOE Volatility Index (CBOE: VIX) – was up .53 to top 16 at 16.05. Could be the report that Norway froze a grant to Greece and Fitch dropped its rating on the country. Growing chorus of analysts say that Greece’s debt will have to be restructured.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) jumps more than 11% to 146.90. Options trading in the Mays and the Juns are strong.

On the bright side, Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) jumped more than 30% to 18.43 on a takeover bid of $1 billion, or $17 a share, from Liberty Media (NASDAQ: LINTA). The BKS Jun and Jul options are seeing some volume.

But The Gap (NYSE: GPS) is slammed about 17% to 19.34 after cutting its full-tear earnings forecast due to rising costs. Yesterday GAP reported first quarter earnings dropped 23% along with a decline in sales. And Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), falls about 16% to 17.95, after announcing 1Q earnings dropped to $0.20 a share from $0.48 a year ago.

High Options Volume by Strike

The SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) leads option volume by strike with the underlying right near 134. The SPY May 134 Call had traded 124,000 contracts while the same Put has traded 114,000.

The iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (NYSE: IWM) is touching 83 and its IWM May 83 Put trades 58,334 contracts. An IWM May 82 Put has traded more than 36,000 contracts.

One of the top volume equities is Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), now at 338.15. The AAPL May 340 Call trades 32,000 options.

Major Stock Trading Volume Movers

ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN) trades 5.8 million shares, down .65 to 12.08. Company will sell 7 million shares at $12 a share with hopes of gaining $84 million, according to reports.

Red Robin Gourmet (NASDAQ: RRGB) rallies up 6.33 to 34.85 on 1.4 million shares. Company 1Q profits more than doubled analyst estimates.

Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) virtually unch but stock trades 34 million shares. Mosaic announced it would sell about 100 million shares at $65 per share. Deal is related to Cargill’s 64% ownership of Mosaic.

Find more option analysis and trading ideas at Options Trading Strategies.

Stocks/Underlying – Big Daily Change in Option Volume

St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) trades 14,000 options as stock drops 2.2% to 50.74. The STJ Jan 2012 50 Call and the Jan 2012 40 Put each trade about 6,000 options.

Red Robin trades 2,800 options, a rise of 860% from a typical day.

Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI) sees about 25,000 options change hands as stock rises .17 to 15.75. The GFI Jul 17 Calls trade 12,780 contracts while the GFI Jul 20 Calls trade 11,900.

Stocks/Underlying – High Option Volume

Top equity is salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) with 67,344 contracts traded.

The SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) has option volume of more than 1.2 million options as the SPY drops near 134. The Standard & Poor’s Index Options (CBOE: SPX) trades 300,000 options as it falls to 1338.28.

The iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (NYSE: IWM) trades 246,000 options.

The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) trades more than 202,000 options as it falls back close to 34.21. The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) is rallying to 147.27 and trades 116,000 options.

Burney Simpson is the managing editor of InvestorPlace options pages.