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• Bulls take another look at Take Two
• Why one trader is selling Marvell calls

• VRTX 100% Rate It

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has been climbing, and one investor wants to give the stock more room to run.

optionMONSTER's tracking programs detected a surge of call volume in the drug developer, whose pipeline includes potential treatments for Hepatitis C, cystic fibrosis, and inflammatory diseases. Some 1,000 January 65 calls were bought for $3.05 and a matching number of January 72.50 calls were sold for $1.21.

Volume was below open interest in the 65s but not the 72.50s, indicating that an existing short position was rolled to the higher strike. The investor probably owns shares and had previously sold the calls to earn income. Now he or she is spending an additional $1.84, thereby raising by $7.50 the price at which they must sell their stock.

VRTX is off 0.7 percent to $58.08 in afternoon trading but is up 75 percent so far this year. The company also saw put activity yesterday as an investor extended a downside hedging strategy.

Today's strategy provides a different kind of protection. Unlike puts, which make money from a drop, selling calls generates upfront income that lowers the cost basis. The drawback is that it also limits their gains, sometimes causing investors to roll the position higher.

It's bullish when such a transaction does occur because it shows they're willing to shell out cash in hopes of big gains for the stock. (See our Education section)

Overall option volume is quadruple the daily average in VRTX so far today.

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