The shares of GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) are up 5.9% to trade at $24.96 at last check, after the retailer announced a top- and bottom-line beat for the second quarter, marking its fifth-straight quarterly win. The company also noted the value of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings surpassed half a billion dollars.
GME is pacing for its fourth-straight daily gain while sporting a 6.6% year-over-year lead. Shares are breaking above resistance at the $24 level, which has been in place for the last four months, to trade at their highest level since June. The security could also conquer the 80-day moving average if these gains hold, but still carries a 20.1% year-to-date deficit.
The meme stock remains heavily shorted, with the 67.84 million shares sold short making up 16.6% of its available float. It would take shorts more than one week to buy back their bets, at GME's average pace of trading.
The stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities (ISE), Cboe Options (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits higher than all readings from the past year. This means options traders have been much more bearish than usual in the last 10 weeks.
Options volume is today running at seven times the intraday average amount, with 311,000 calls and 119,000 puts exchanged so far today. The most active contract is the weekly 9/12 25-strike call, followed by the 24- and 26-strike calls in that series, with positions being opened at the latter.
