With a lumbering bear market whipping up volatility, the biggest traders are wringing stock options for all they’re worth.
The largest players on the options market bought more than $10 billion in puts on individual stocks last week, a record for that group and close to the most ever by any cohort of traders, according to Sundial Capital Research. The rush for protection came as the S&P 500 slumped into the weekend and the Cboe Volatility Index spiked above 32 to the highest level since June.
