Options Trading News

The iShares Silver Fund is just off its six-month high reached last week, but a long-term option trade is anticipating a decline.

The SLV is up 0.73 percent this morning to $33.17. The exchange-traded fund touched $34.05 on Friday, its highest price since its 52-week peak from February.

Today's option activity is all the way out in January 2015, an expiration that is available only in a few underlying assets. The trader bought 13,000 of the 26 puts for $3.80 and sold 13,000 of the 38 calls for $5.10. The open interest in each strike was fewer than 1,000 at the beginning of the day, indicating that this is a new position.

This could be a hedge, but that seems unlikely given the long-term time frame and how close the calls are to the fund price, as the collar would limit the upside. Instead, it appears to be a trade that is neutral to bearish.

In the latter case, the trader would keep the $1.20 credit if the SLV is between $26 and $38 at that long-term expiration. If it is below $26, he or she would be effectively short the shares. (See our Education section)