Calls Skyrocket on Virgin Galactic

Looking at White's data, over the past 10 days, 454,619 calls and 110,871 puts have exchanged hands. It looks like calls have been especially popular of late, per SPCE's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 3.16 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Today's trading leans bullish too, with 140,000 calls across the tape so far, double the intraday average. The weekly 6/12 17-strike call is most popular, with new positions being opened here.

Last time we checked in on SPCE, the stock was in rally mode after a brief dip below the $10 level. Since then, the stock has lost steam after several run-ins with the $18 and $21 regions, though the 150-day moving average has moved in as solid support during the last couple of months. Today, SPCE is surging, up 8.4% at $17.14, at last check.

Lastly, it's worth noting that short sellers are making ripples. Short interest is up 25.2% in the last two reporting periods, representing a staggering 46.6% of the stock's available float. In other words, it would take almost two days to buy back these pessimistic positions, at SPCE's average pace of trading.