r/options
Is Pelosi UBER LEAP trade a smart move?
Author weighs UBER's solid catalysts against high premiums, disclosure delays, and wide spreads when copying Pelosi's deep ITM LEAPs.
- Solid business catalysts including Waymo autonomous vehicle partnerships, profitable buybacks, and app expansion.
- Deep ITM LEAPs provide high delta for synthetic stock exposure at a fraction of the cost of buying actual shares.
- Disclosure delays mean the trade was executed weeks ago during a dip; buying now might be chasing the pump.
- Deep ITM LEAPs require high upfront premiums and suffer from notoriously wide bid-ask spreads.
Hey everyone,
I saw the recent disclosure that Nancy Pelosi (well, her husband Paul) just bought 200 contracts of UBER $50 Calls expiring in March 2027.
Uber is currently trading around $70-$74, meaning they bought deep In-The-Money (ITM) LEAPs. I know their portfolio has a ridiculous track record with names like NVIDIA and Apple, so it’s tempting to just blindly copy the trade.
I’m looking at doing the same on Robinhood, but I wanted to get some feedback first. From a mechanics standpoint, I get why they did it:
Synthetic Stock: Buying the $50 strike gives them a ton of intrinsic value upfront.
High Delta: It captures almost 1:1 movement with the actual stock but costs a fraction of the price of 20,000 shares.
Tons of Time: March 2027 gives it almost two years to play out.
The business catalysts seem solid too (autonomous vehicle partnerships with Waymo, profitable buybacks, app expansion into retail/travel).
But here’s my hesitation:
- The Premium: Because it’s so deep ITM, a single contract is going to tie up roughly $2,500+ upfront.
- The Delay: These disclosures are filed weeks after the actual trade is executed. They bought on May 29th when the stock took a dip. Am I chasing the pump if I buy in at $73+?
- Liquidity: The bid-ask spread on deep ITM LEAPs can be notoriously wide.
Is anyone else eyeing this trade or already in it? Is it safer to just buy the equity at this point, or are deep ITM LEAPs the move here?
Appreciate any insights, especially on navigating the wide spreads if I do pull the trigger.
ignore the people dunking on you, you asked a fair question. a deep itm call like the 50 strike on a 72 stock is basically synthetic stock. delta is near 0.9 so it moves almost dollar for dollar with uber, and you paid mostly intrinsic value with very little extrinsic so theres barely any theta bleed. its leverage with a defined max loss which is the premium. thats why its not a lotto ticket, its a leveraged long. the part that doesnt copy over is sizing. paul pelosi throwing on 200 contracts is lunch money for them, the same position could be your whole account. the trade can be sound and still blow you up if you size it like youre them. figure out what one contract does to your account first
I saw this! It’s a weird trade in the sense that it’s not an AI or semi play in the way everything is nowadays.
I’ve added it to my watch list
It seems uber is underpriced due to some accounting error, they’re partnering with Kiehls, Blick, and others to deliver for them on the Uber Eats app. I can see it taking off, or at least getting back to $100
You read that response and thought “this is a person I’d take financial advice from!” ?
Just thinking critically here with some criticism.
My advice is learn what you’re putting your own money into. Stop asking people “is this a good BET?”. Do your research, build a thesis and invest in a way that makes sense to you. Learn the investment instruments you are attempting to use.
Cheaper isn’t always better. Sometimes getting a single ITM contract is better than three OTM.
Ask yourself:
What’s the time frame I’m trading?
Have I identified the catalysts in said timeframe?
Does my strategy match?
Am I leveraged appropriately?
LEAPs are a great tool to scale into a company. Anyone telling you they are just lotto tickets is an idiot.
You need to learn the Greeks of options if you’re going to trade options. Particularly now Delta, Gamma and Theta. You need to understand intrinsic and extrinsic value.
The same Greeks that build a position quickly through a leverage mechanism also unravel that position just as fast. So this statement that “you don’t lose much” with OTM is idiotic and a clear indication this person doesn’t know derivatives at all.
Deep ITM options are insulated more from declining price action than OTM due to their intrinsic value.
The good news if you want to copy her trade is that you can buy the contracts cheaper than she paid, even at the ask. She paid 26.30-26.35 on her fill price during May 29th market hours. The mid price right now is at 25.70 (b25.45/a25.95) for the same option. While she’s negative on her position by almost 2.5%, the 2x leverage ETF UBRL is up 2.66% from the same date of her option purchase. UBER is also up 2.63% since the same date.
Remember you can spread it by selling calls to reduce the impact of some of those Greeks, and lower net cost.
I could get behind that INTC LEAPS Call. I've been doing Put Credit Spreads (which are just CSPs with a backstop) on INTC successfully for the past couple of weeks. Intel just seems to keep going higher, so I can see it being higher in a year.
Buy at 80-delta at least, per my other reply where I mentioned you.
So your thesis is built. Now size and leverage your position accordingly.
If this is an initial investment into a company you’re long on, I’d recommend a split of shares and a leveraged position. Risk what is comfortable to you. Maybe a 75% shares and 25% derivatives since you’re new. 50/50, 25/75. Your money your decision to live with.
It’s ok to take OTM positions, but I’d anchor with some shares.
Or you could take the entire initial position and buy deep ITM. Buys you some insulation with intrinsic value for downside.
The whole point of options is gaining access to command more shares quicker than you would buying only shares.
It’s capital efficiency when used correctly.
No combination is wrong as long as you have a clear strategy and understand the risk profile of the position.
Don’t be an idiot and over leverage on margin.
That’s my Ted talk. Happy trading.
I assumed OTM long options where the move, because they are cheaper and if the stock goes against you, you don't lose much, while if it goes in your direction, the delta increases (so in %, the return increases more rapidly).
But when I buy LEAPS, is just fun money that I can lose, hoping in big returns, so maybe it's a diffferent strategy if you have more capital to invest
Are they opening or closing a position?
Opening like a French whore
What year do you think we are in now?
solid perspective. a lot of people overthink this but you laid it out simply.