Giant VIX Options Trades Bet That Stock-Market Calm Won’t Last
- Trader appears to buy about 200,000 contracts via block trades
- Trade happened as VIX Index hovered near a one-year low of 17
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As calm descends on a U.S. stock market that’s posting one record after the next, it appears that one options trader is making a big bet that the serenity is not going to last.
Somebody shook up options screens Thursday morning with a wager that the VIX Index will rise toward 40 -- and won’t be lower than 25 -- in July, up from about the 17 level where the volatility gauge currently trades. The trader appears to have made several block trades, buying a total of about 200,000 call contracts. That’s almost as big as the total daily volume of VIX calls, based on the 20-day average, data compiled by Bloomberg show.