Was it skill, dumb luck—or something else? That's what traders are asking about a big, longshot bet on Sodastream that returned some 3,000 percent in just two hours.Two minutes before 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, one options trader bought 500 weekly 30-strike calls in Israel-based Sodastream for $0.15 cents each (or $15 per contract, given that each contract controls 100 shares) that expire Friday. It was the biggest Sodastream trade of the day in terms of the number of contracts. The purchase gives the trader the right to buy Sodastream shares for $30 at the close of Friday trading. The reason those options were so inexpensive is that the stock was trading at about $29.50 at the time, meaning the chance of the stock closing Friday about $30 was considered to be especially low. But then, shortly before noon, Bloomberg reported that the company is in talks with an investment firm about taking the company private. After a halt, the stock sailed as high as $36. The news created an instant windfall for the trader, as these options, which were bought for $7,500, became worth as much as $250,000.
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