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Pharmacyclics is going straight up, and one investor is confident that it will stay strong.

optionMONSTER's tracking systems detected the sale of 5,000 August 14 puts for $1.35. An equal number of May 9 puts were bought a short while later for $0.18, but volume was below open interest in the strike.

The activity suggests that the trader had previously sold the May contracts, correctly betting that the PCYC would hold its ground. Now that the shares are rallying, he or she is rolling up the August 14s. This allows the trader to collect a credit of $1.17 in return staying in the position for another three months and for raising by $5 the level where money will be lost.

Traders often sell puts when they like a stock but don't want to expend capital buying shares. (See related column by Chris McKhann)

PCYC rose 0.04 percent to $17.56 yesterday and has almost tripled in the last year. Shares have been climbing amid optimism about the company's potential cancer treatment and as investors focus on drug developers as potential takeover candidates .

Overall option volume in PCYC was 12 times greater than average yesterday. The stock also saw noteworthy put selling last week .

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