Atmel (ATML) has been moving straight up since the beginning of August, and the bulls apparenlty think that it still has room to run.
optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker tracking program detected the purchase of 5,530 February 7.50 calls for $0.65 to $0.70 against open interest of 3,367 contracts. The activity pushed total option volume in the semiconductor stock to 4 times greater than average.
ATML is up 0.28 percent to $7.14 in early afternoon trading and has risen 24 percent in the last month. The company gapped higher after reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue on Aug. 6 and authorizing a $200 million stock buyback.
The shares are trading at their highest level since the first half of 2004. They peaked at $7.87 in January of that year, and today's call buyers are betting that the level will be challenged by late in the winter.
Calls account for a bullish 99 percent of total option volume in ATML so far today.
Disclosure: No position
