BAC, CHWY, SONY: Play Unusual Options Activity in These 3 Low-Cost Call Options Under $100

The options market bounced back on Thursday with a volume of 60.53 million, up 36% from Wednesday, but still below the 90-day average of 63.26 million. 

Calls outnumbered puts 60/40, with single-leg options accounting for 54% of the volume. Approximately 44% of the volume was DTEs (days to expiration) of six days or more. That’s where I focus my unusual options activity commentary. 

In yesterday’s unusual options activity, two options were expiring in six days or more, with volume of 500 or more and open interest over 100. Both were Strategy (MSTR) call options expiring a week from today, with Vol/OI (volume-to-open-interest) ratios above 100: Sept. 4 $141 call at 170.82 and Sept. 4 $146 at 139.53. 

The last few days, I’ve gotten into the weeds a little with my options strategies. Today, I’m going to keep it simple by focusing on calls you can buy for less than $100 a contract. 

Here are the three I’ve selected. 

Have an excellent weekend!

Bank of America (BAC)

The big banks have had a good 12 months in the market. Bank of America (BAC) is no exception, up 21.2% from a year ago, better than both JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and the S&P 500. 

The Barchart Technical Opinion is a 72% Strong Buy right now. While that’s down from 100% a month ago, it’s still expected to move higher in the near term. 

Analysts like it. Of the 25 covering it, 19 rate it a Buy (4.36 out of 5), with a $67 target price, above where it’s currently trading. BAC is expected to earn $4.68 a share in 2026. Its shares trade at a reasonable 13.1 times that estimate.  

As for the Sept. 25 $66 call above, the ask price of $0.15 at the end of yesterday’s trading was just 0.25% of its closing price of $61.17. To break even, the share price has to increase by 8.14% over the next 29 days. The expected move in the next month is just 3.81%, which explains the 7.16% chance the share price will be above the $66.15 breakeven on Sept. 25. 

However, with a 0.0830 delta, the share price only needs to increase by $1.81 (3.0%) in the next four weeks to double your money by selling the call before expiration.  

Chewy (CHWY)

I’ve said it before: Chewy (CHWY) is not a stock I’d own, primarily because it can't consistently deliver stable profits from its top-line revenue growth. As a result, its shares are down 45% in the past year, and it trades below its June 2019 IPO price of $22. 

Just because I wouldn’t own the stock doesn’t mean that its options aren’t worth considering. In May 2025, I suggested buying two unusually active call options despite being negative on the company.

“The reality is that Chewy is an unexceptional company in an industry that tends to favor scale, which it has, but that comes with low profitability, often sporadic at best,” I wrote on May 30, 2025. 

My argument at the time was that CHWY stock had momentum on its side. Its share price at expiration was above both call strike prices. When the stock moves, it really moves. 

That brings us to yesterday’s Jan. 15/2027 $45 call, way OTM (out-of-the-money), with an ask price of $0.43 at the close, just 1.89% of its $22.80 closing price. Rather than a solo long call, it’s more likely a Covered Call by an institutional investor as part of an income overlay, albeit minimal. 

The entire 7,000 contracts were one trade at 3:28 p.m. ET. The $0.12 trade price was one cent off the bid price, while 11 cents off the ask, confirming the covered call. 

That said, at the ask price of $0.23, or just 1% of the share price, if you’re looking for a moonshot, Hail Mary-style play, you could do worse. It only has to increase by $4.16 (18.2%) over the next five months to double your money by selling to close your position before expiration. The expected move is 14.27%, so it’s doable. 

Sony (SONY)

Sony (SONY) remains a mercurial stock. While it has a number of excellent businesses under the Sony Group umbrella, long-time shareholders haven't been rewarded — it’s down 9% in the past 12 months and up just 23% over five years — which makes it an interesting play. 

The stock had two unusually active calls yesterday, but only the Dec. 19 $27.50 call had an ask price less than $1.00, so that’s what I’m going with. 

Drilling down into the call’s 9,840 contracts traded yesterday, I see that two trades for 1,297 contracts took place at 11:26 a.m. ET. They were part of a multi-leg trade that screams Bull Call Spread. 

The institution hedged its bets with a defined-risk trade rather than simply buying a long $25 call for $1.35. By selling the $27.50 call for $0.60 in premium, it lowered the cost of the long call trade by 56% to $0.75. 

Here’s how the bull call spread looks as I write this Friday morning. 

Both the ask and bid are higher because the share price is up 3.2%. The expected move over the next four months is 13.7%, which would push it over the $27.50 strike price, capping the maximum profit at $1.45 while limiting the maximum loss to $1.05, a risk/reward ratio of 0.72, meaning for every 72 cents you risk, you’re rewarded with $1. 

It’s a smart bet given SONY stock’s mercurial nature.