Apple Stock Split Fuels Retail-Trader Bets on Further Gains

finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-stock-split-fuels-retail-114730824.html

(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc.’s planned stock split in the wake of the surge in its shares and strong earnings is stirring more bets on the company, according to TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

Signals from the options market are flashing enthusiasm for Apple, such as unusually high relative prices for upside bets, according to RBC Capital Markets strategist Amy Wu Silverman.

Apple options are pricing in more upside risk versus downside than at any time this year, despite the stock having almost doubled from its mid-March lows, Chris Murphy, derivatives strategist at Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP, wrote in a note Monday. Smaller traders have been a big portion of such bets in recent months, according to Sundial Capital Research Inc.