Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Exclusive: Fidelity facing "thousands" hit by Facebook woes
24 May 2012
SEC shuts down $11-million Ponzi scheme
1:19pm EDT
GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, euro fall as Europe dents sentiment
2:21pm EDT
Facebook market makers' losses at least $100 million
|
5:09pm EDT
Protests planned after minister calls for gays to be fenced in
24 May 2012
Discussed
151
Exclusive: U.S. lets China bypass Wall Street for Treasury orders
118
Obama presses ailing Europe to focus on growth
93
”Battleship” bomb may hit studio’s profits: analysts
Watched
A look at the UK’s most beautiful face
Thu, May 10 2012
SpaceX Dragon in Space Station fly past
Thu, May 24 2012
A novel way to relocate
Thu, May 24 2012
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
Fleet Week
The U.S. Navy takes Manhattan for a week. Slideshow
The SpaceX mission
A privately owned unmanned rocket blasts off on a mission to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. Slideshow
Facebook options debut a wild card for volatility
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Shareholders sue Facebook, NYSE comes calling
Thu, May 24 2012
Facebook, banks sued over pre-IPO analyst calls
Wed, May 23 2012
Regulators, investors turn up heat over Facebook IPO
Wed, May 23 2012
SEC, FINRA to review Facebook issues, Nasdaq sued
Tue, May 22 2012
Facebook shares sink 11 percent as reality overtakes hype
Tue, May 22 2012
Analysis & Opinion
IA brief: State regulator’s deficiency letter offers clues for social-media policies
Mark Zuckerberg’s unpleasant new life
Related Topics
Tech »
Media »
Facebook »
Traffic flies by the entrance sign to Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California before the company's IPO launch, May 18, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Beck Diefenbach
By Doris Frankel
Fri May 25, 2012 3:27pm EDT
(Reuters) - Investors can hope the debut of options on Facebook Inc goes more smoothly than the long-awaited debut of the social networking service's stock on May 18.
While the stock's puts and calls are expected to be popular, the big wild card is volatility and ultimately, the options price.
Traders will get a fresh start on options on the Internet giant when the contracts are offered on U.S. options exchanges on May 29. BATS Options exchange, a division of BATS Global Markets, will list the options on May 30, following its standard practice of listing new options a day later than the other exchanges.
Plenty of uncertainty surrounds the stock, which debuted to much fanfare at $38 and immediately ran into problems.
Facebook's first day of trading was marred by technological glitches, and the company faces criticism that it sold too many shares, overwhelming demand. A week later, the stock was at $31.47, down 17.2 percent.
Options volume is expected to be robust. "It's a cocktail party stock and probably will attract a lot of participation from retail traders," said Steve Place, a founder of options analytics firm investingwithoptions in Mobile, Alabama.
The stock's valuation remains high - the forward price-to-earnings ratio is at about 56, and the stock is expected to stay volatile. Premiums - the price paid for options - must reflect that uncertainty and will be even more difficult to pin down.
"The real issue like everything else in the market is about value, and with Facebook, we simply don't know what their true earnings power is at this moment," said Jeff McAllister, vice president of education at options education website optionsanimal.com in Lehi, Utah.
"The first day of trading is going to be completely speculative to begin with and it will be aggressive - flooded with day-traders trying to make a quick turn in the market. But institutions are expected to be on the sidelines waiting patiently as disciplined traders do."
The options debut will offer opportunities to hedge against or take advantage of volatility in the shares through strategies combining stocks and options.
"From LinkedIn to Zynga to Pandora and now Facebook, the evidence is clear that the one certainty for investors is share prices of social media companies are volatile and will likely remain so," said Gareth Feighery, a founder of options education firm MarketTamer.com in Philadelphia.
PRICING RISK AN UNKNOWN UNTIL TRADING OPENS
Before the IPO, investors had an anchor on what to expect regarding the share price. But in the options market there is no indication of what the demand will be.
So implied volatility, a key component of an options price, which measures the market's perceived risk of future share price movement, remains an uncertainty until the first transactions.
"Figuring out the implied volatility is a chicken-and-egg scenario - that value won't be known until the market opens up, when market makers will gauge the supply and demand to price risk," Place said.
If there is significant demand for options, either through speculators or hedgers, the implied volatility will be elevated, and the price of the option will rise.
Place looked at the implied volatility readings of LinkedIn, Groupon, Pandora, Zynga, Yelp and Zillow from the day their options opened on each of these stocks as well as the stock and options volume.
"Using these past values as a guide, we can expect Facebook options to have a 30-day implied volatility between 65-85 percent," he said. "The mid 70s would be a good estimate."
Facebook is currently valued at about $87 billion, based on a share price on Thursday of $31.88. Shares of the much-anticipated initial public offering have fallen sharply since they opened at $42.05 on May 18.
The company went public at a valuation that built in no margin for error, Feighery said.
GRAB A BOX OF POPCORN AND WATCH VOLUME
Almost 23,000 contracts traded for the first day of LinkedIn, equivalent to 1.3 times the stock volume for that day, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.
Applying that same multiple for Facebook and assuming it mellows out at 60 million shares per day would equate to almost 800,000 option contracts, said Trade Alert President Henry Schwartz. That may be unlikely since that would exceed the average daily option volume of Apple Inc of about 750,000 contracts.
"We could easily see a couple hundred thousand contracts trading for Facebook options simply because the underlying share volume is so strong and there is so much hype about the IPO," Schwartz said.
Options clearinghouse OCC has designated NYSE Amex Options, owned by exchange operator NYSE Euronext, to be the primary market for Facebook options. Initial strike prices below and above the share price are from $16 to $49, in $1 increments.
(Reporting by Doris Frankel in Chicago; editing by Matthew Lewis)
Tech
Media
Facebook
Related Quotes and News
Company
Price
Related News
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.