Big print in the Spiders in recent trade is an SPY May 130 – 140 put spread bought for $1.70, 50000X, and likely a short-term hedge. Shares are flat at $141.61 on a day of mixed trading on the Street. (register to read more …) [...]

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A few significant blocks traded in some of the sector exchange-traded funds electronically on ISE this morning. All three are opening customer buyers, according to data from the exchange. SPDR Metals and Mining ETF (XME) is off $1.58 to $49.15 (register to read more …) [...]

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12,000 calls and only 150 puts traded on the ProShares UltraShort Euro ETF (EUO) today. Shares are up 32 cents to $19.68 after the euro slipped another .8 percent to 1.311 and is now well off the levels seen one (register to read more …) [...]

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For a second day, a handful of the sector ETFs saw large opening buyers electronically on ISE this morning. As we noted shortly after the opening bell Monday, large blocks of June puts were bought-to-open on the SPDR Industrials (XLI) (register to read more …) [...]

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Follow-up on the 5000-lot of March 60 calls on the iShares South Korea Fund (EWY) bought to open for 72 cents per contract on ISE yesterday (see 2/28 color). Shares are up $1.25 to $60.18 today and the market on (register to read more …) [...]

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Dow Jones Transports (IYT) with relative weakness today. IYT is off $1.61 to $91.92 and recent options trades on the ETF include a Mar 88 – 90 put spread for 60 cents, 3000X. Earlier in the day, a Mar 86 (register to read more …) [...]

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Active trading in the Dow Jones Industrial ETF (DIA), which is down $1.39 to $127.37 and not far from session lows late-Friday. 95,000 contracts traded on the fund, which is 3X the normal volume for the DIAMONDS. 36,000 calls and (register to read more …) [...]

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Despite the very quiet final week of the year, 2011 will be another record-setter for the options industry, with approx 4.4billion contracts trading in the form of 220million individual trades, a volume increase of about 10% vs 2010. SPY options (register to read more …) [...]

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SPDR 500 Trust (SPY) adds $1.73 to $125.68 and a Dec [QTRLY] Dec 90 103 115 put fly trades on the ETF at 50 cents, 41500X. The spread has traded more than once and volume in the 103 strike is (register to read more …) [...]

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Options volume in the SPDR Financials (XLF) is now 1.42 million contracts, with put options accounting for 1.32 million, or 93 percent, of the overall flow. In addition to the impressive Dec $11 – 13 spreads highlighted at 14:07, recent (register to read more …) [...]

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