One Wall Street trader closed out his week a few million dollars richer last Friday - and it was all thanks to social media. The unnamed trader used perfect timing to capitalize on one of the biggest deals of the year when Wall Street Journal mergers and acquisitions reporter Dana Mattioli took to Twitter to announce that Intel was in talks to buy one of its competitors, chipmaker Altera. Seconds later, the trader had snapped up 3,158 contracts of Altera, with each option contract giving them the right to purchase 100 shares. Scroll down for video . An unnamed Wall Street trader made a profit of approximately $2.5million on Friday thanks to a tweet from the Wall Street Journal . The trader purchased 315,800 shares of chipmaker Altera one minute after the Journal reported Intel was in talks to purchase them . CNBC reports that the trader paid $36 a share, and the call option was a mere 35 cents as options on the stock, at that point valued at $34.76 a share, were set to expire in just a few weeks. 3:32pm: The Wall Street Journal reports that Intel is in talks to buy Altera. 3:33pm: Trader purchases 315,800 shares of Altera at $36 a share for a total cost of $11,368,000 plus $110,530 for a $0.35 call option. 3:35pm: Nasdaq suspends trading of Altera in the wake of the Journal's tweet. 4:00pm: Trader sells Altera at the new share price of $44.39 for a total of $14,018,362. This, after factoring in the intital share price and call option, leaves them with a profit of approximately $2,539.832. This call option allowed the trader the right to purchase more shares in the company, in this case 315,800 shares, at the cost of $36, even though the value of shares quickly began to rise. Just 28 minutes later, when the market closed for the day, Altera was valued at $44.39 per share. That was an increase of 28%, but because of the call option, the trader was able to sell their stocks at a far greater profit. So instead of making a 28% profit, the trader made a 2,220% profit of roughly $2.5million when they sold their shares. Even more impressive is that the trader managed to make the purchase just minutes before Nasdaq suspended trading of Altera because of the tweet from Mattioli. What's more, call options for Altera had at that point reached a price of $8.10 by the end of the day. There is also a chance, reports Matt Khouw, that the trader could have been aware of Intel's plan to buy Altera early, or that they used a bot to quickly buy the shares. 'A bot is not as outlandish as it sounds,' Khouw said. 'Traders need to aggregate and filter through tremendous amounts of data quickly and will rely on technology to help if it is available.' As for Intel's reported purchase of Altera, that still has yet to happen. Meanwhile, Intel share prices fell earlier this week in response to the news that they might purchase Altera.
An unnamed Wall Street trader made a profit of approximately $2.5million on Friday thanks to a tweet from the Wall Street Journal .
The trader purchased 315,800 shares of chipmaker Altera one minute after the Journal reported Intel was in talks to purchase them .
The shares were sold to the trader at $36, and just 28 minutes later, when the market closed, shares were selling for $44.39 .
Intel's reported purchase of Altera still has yet to happen, and the news has actually caused the price of Intel shares to fall .