A total of 44,000 Continental Airlines puts traded yesterday, 7x the typical daily put volume, as buyers scrambled for Feb 20 puts based on a recommendation made in the Stansberry Research S&A Short Report. Surge started 10mins into the day, with buyers paying 1.19 to 1.20 (51%IV) as shares traded near 19.75, and within an hour 20,000 contracts had traded up to $1.35, while shares didn’t budge. Shares traded lower into the afternoon, with late buyers paying up to 1.65 (61%IV) for small size. On the day, 35154 contracts traded in 2062 trades, with a vwap of $1.329. Clearing data confirms most of the flow was customer, and OI grew a relatively modest 12380 contracts.