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How High Can Apple Stock Go

March 25, 2012 by · Comments Off on How High Can Apple Stock Go 

How High Can Apple Stock Go, Apple put options traded at the highest rate relative to calls in more than three months after an apparent bad trade and subsequent trading halt stoked concerns.

The daily put-to-call ratio on Apple options jumped to 0.82-to-1 on Friday, the highest level since Dec. 19, when the stock traded around $380 a share. Apple put buying spiked after a technical snafu on the BATS Global Markets Inc. stock exchange led to erroneous trades on the technology giant’s shares.

Trading in Apple shares was halted for five minutes after erroneous trades were made on the BATS exchange, the third-largest stock exchange company in the U.S.The Apple trades–for as low as $542.89 per share according to FactSet Research–were canceled before trading resumed.

“People forget that this stock can have some downside and what happened today, even though the trade was taken out, reminds people that Apple can go down,” said Joe Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade. “Nothing ever goes straight up, so people have to be careful. They can’t let, as Alan Greenspan once said, ‘irrational exuberance’ carry them away.”

Apple shares recovered following the halt and were recently down 0.5% at $596.30 about a half hour before the closing bell.

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