Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) stock is up 4.3% today at $39.21, thanks to news the company is expanding bitcoin services on its Cash app. SQ shares rallied to a record high near $50 last month after the payments processor initially announced customers could buy and sell bitcoin. While the security has pulled back from these highs, yesterday it took a sharp bounce off the closely watched 50-day moving average, and is still up roughly 180% this year.
And options traders are staying bullish. During the past two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), call buying has nearly tripled put buying. During this time, the 50-strike call has seen buy-to-open activity in the front-month December series, as well as the January and March options series, meaning traders are betting on SQ stock rallying above the half-century mark in the coming months. Already today, more than 14,000 calls have traded, compared to just 1,500 puts.
For what it's worth, bitcoin is continuing to surge higher, too, rallying above the $12,000 mark to record highs. A number of stocks with cryptocurrency exposure are rallying as a result. As two examples, Riot Blockchain (RIOT) and Marathon Patent Group (MARA) are both notably higher today, up 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively. Call options on the latter are trading at five times the norm in early action, while the former stock has no options.