Software Stock Rally Could Have Legs

Sea is experiencing growth as consumers resort to online buying

E-commerce developer Sea Ltd. (NYSE:SE) is no stranger to the volatile broad market, but the equity has several layers of support in place that have helped push it higher during the past few months. A recent pullback was captured by SE's 200-day moving average. In fact, SE has been a major outperformer, boasting a year-to-date gain of roughly 10%, and an 87% year-over-year return.

While many companies are struggling to gain traction as stores and factories are forced to shut down, Sea's business is online gaming, online shopping and digital finance services, which could help keep the company afloat while other sectors stumble.

Despite Sea's impressive behavior on the charts, short sellers still have a firm grasp on the tech name. Short interest represents an eyebrow-raising 46.8% of SE's available float, or over six days at its average daily pace of trading. Echoing this, the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio of 2.55 sits higher than all other readings from the past year, suggesting short-term option players haven't been more put-heavy in the last 12 months. What's more, history shows that similar spikes in short interest have helped to put wind at SE's back.

Options on Sea are incredibly cheap, all things considered. The security's Schaeffer's volatility index (SVI) of 69% sits in the 44th percentile of its annual range. This means options players are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations for SE lately.

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