EchoStar Communocations (DISH) - OTM Calls Trade Size Again, Vol Pops, Earnings Near

DISH is trading $24.47, up 2.5% with IV30™ up 8.0%. The LIVEVOL® Pro Summary is below.



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DISH Network Corporation is a pay-television provider, with approximately 14.133 million customers across the United States as of December 31, 2010. This is another order flow note pre-earnings -- notable call side action is building with earnings due out in early May.

The most recent news is that DISH won the bankruptcy auction to buy Blockbuster. Hmmm...

The company has traded over 14,500 contracts on total daily average option volume of just 2,112. All but 715 contracts have been calls, yielding a 19.6:1 call:put ratio. The action is in the May 24 calls where over 10,000 have traded. The largest order was a 5,010 lot, all electronic. I think the order flow is long today, but it's hard to tell with that block. The Stats Tab and Day's biggest trades snapshots are included (below).





The Options Tab (below) illustrates that the calls are mostly opening (compare OI to trade size) if they are one-sided. Also, note that OI in the May 25 calls (7,143). That interest looks long as well, with a chunk opening yesterday. When looking down the entire option chain for DISH, I don't see any OI larger than 4,100 other than the May 24 and 25 calls.



The Skew Tab snap (below) illustrates the vols by strike by month.



The skew looks normal(ish). I do note a small bump up in the May 24 strike possibly reflecting purchases.

Finally, the Charts Tab (6 months) is below. The top portion is the stock price, the bottom is the vol (IV30™ - red vs HV20 - blue vs HV180 - pink).



There's an obvious vol difference that has opened up between the IV30™ and the short-term and long-term realized vols (HV20 and HV180, respectively). With the stock volume still below the daily average (though it's early), the option trades don't look to be hedged (or at least certainly not turned into synthetic puts). Interesting...

This is trade analysis, not a recommendation.

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