Options Traders Preparing for ‘Bounce’ in Archegos-Linked Stocks

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-option activity shows somebody’s betting that stocks taken down by the Archegos Capital Management saga will rally in the next few weeks.

The American depositary receipts of Vipshop Holdings Ltd. and GSX Techedu Inc. both saw bullish options activity on Tuesday as the stocks rose. Vipshop gained 5.8% to $31.50. Volume on the 30-April $35 calls was 18,633, compared with open interest of 452, while 5,607 16-April $36 calls changed hands versus open interest of 2,616.

GSX shares jumped 14% to $32.75, with 10,475 23-April calls with a strike price of $34 changing hands compared with open interest of 16. The 23-April $50 calls had volume of 10,230 versus open interest of 37.

The investors who bought Vipshop options “might be positioning for the stock to bounce back now that much of the forced selling has either run its course or been announced to the market,” Chris Murphy, a derivatives strategist at Susquehanna, said in a research note. In GSX, “this investor might be looking for more time for another Archegos stock to rebound,” he said.

Stocks caught up in the implosion of Archegos have swung as investors work out how to measure the fallout from the collapse. Vipshop had risen 62% to start the year through March 23, before tumbling 38% over the next four days as Archegos-linked block trades hit the market via firms like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley. The GSX trades occurred in the middle of an eight-day losing run that cut the share price by 66%.

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