Xerox (XRX, news, chart) saw unusual trading Thursday. The stock rsoe 50 cents to $13.64 and volume in the options market ran 13 times the normal. Sentiment tilted to the bearish side, as 18,000 puts and 10,000 calls traded on the day. The August 14 puts were the most actives. More than 10,000 contracts traded, compared to open interest of just 258 contacts. With 90 percent of that volume trading on the offer, it seems that some players are buying puts in anticipation of some short-term weakness in XRX. Meanwhile, the January 15 calls were the second most actives, with 6,778 contracts traded. The volume included a block of 5,000 contracts that were sold for .57 early in the trading session. The only news on the day is that director Charles Prince bought 10,000 shares at $13.44, which seems to have sparked gains in the shares, but certainly wouldn’t explain today’s defensive trading in Xerox. Earnings were released on the 24th. XRX is up roughly 3 percent since that time.