Straddle Sold on Royal Caribbean (RCL)

Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises. (NYSE: RCL) are lower on the session by 2.71%, currently trading at $40.51. The stock has been moving largely higher over the past few months after breaking through the 200-day moving average.

One options trader is betting that shares remain range-bound for the next few weeks; a short while ago the January $40.00 straddle was sold 5,500 times for a net credit of $5.56 (13.9% of shares).

This trade voices the opinion that shares will remain above $34.44 and below $45.56 through January expiration. The trader will take the max gain on the trade is shares move to the $40.00 level and settle there.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is a cruise company. As of December 31, 2009, it operated 38 ships in the cruise vacation industry with approximately 84,050 berths. The company owns five cruise brands, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises, and CDF Croisieres de France.