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Fannie Mae Put Action Explodes in Afternoon Trading

Today’s tickers: FNM, EWZ, IYR, GILD, FXI, WLP, EEM, ARG, DWA & WMB FNM – Fannie Mae – Mortgage-financer, familiarly known as Fannie Mae, jumped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after one investor went hog-wild with put options. Fannie’s shares slipped 3% during the trading day to $0.95 apiece. The investor appears to have traded 118,000 in-the-money put options at the March $1.0 strike for a premium of $0.15 apiece, spread against the sale of 118,000 puts at the January 2012 $1.0 strike for a premium of $0.40 each. Open interest of 156,689 puts at the March $1.0 strike indicate the trader could be buying-to-close a previously established 118,000-lot short put position initiated back in September of 2009. If this is the case, the investor is extending the short put position out to the January 2012 contract and expecting the government agency to ultimately survive the next couple of years. In this scenario, the trader keeps the $0.40 in premium on the sale of the fresh batch of put options if Fannie’s share price rallies above $1.00 by expiration in 2012. But, there are a other possible explanations for the trade. It is possible that the open interest at the March $1.0 strike is unrelated to today’s activity. In this second scenario, the trader is essentially predicting that shares will erode ahead of March expiration. If this is the case the trader sold 118,000 January 2012 $1.0 strike puts for $0.40 apiece in order to take a long 118,000-lot put stance at the March $1.0 strike for which he paid $0.15 each. The net credit received in this scenario amounts to $0.25 per contract and generates additional profits as Fannie’s shares continue to fall under $1.00. It will be interesting to see whether the open interest level at the March $1.0 strike changes to reflect the closing of a previously established long or short put position. Regardless of the direction of- or motivation behind- the transaction the large volume of the trading activity is certainly noteworthy. EWZ – iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF – A ratio put spread enacted on the Brazil ETF suggests we may continue to see bearish movement in the price of the underlying stock through expiration in June. Shares of the fund are down 3% to $61.80 as of 2:20 pm (EDT). The investor responsible for the transaction purchased 7,500 puts at the June $60 strike…
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