Puts dominated the action in United States Steel Monday as shares continue to slip.
optionMONSTER's Depth Charge monitoring system detected the purchase of 8,000 September 20 puts for $0.77. Seconds later, 8,000 September 21 puts were sold for $1.24, but volume was below open interest at that strike.
It appears the trader closed an existing position in the 21s, which are now in the money, and rolled to the lower contract. It could be an outright bearish play, or a hedge on long shares, protecting against further downside.
X fell 0.96 percent to $20.61 yesterday The steel maker has been weak for most of the last two years, dropping from more than $60 in early 2011.
Some 32,000 contracts traded in the stock, almost twice the daily average. Puts outnumbered calls by 3 to 1, showing the bearish trend continues.
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