Gold Fields faces range-bound trade

Put selling tops today's option activity in Gold Fields even as the stock heads lower.

GFI is down 0.45 percent to $13.45. The gold miner's shares hit a 52-week low of $11.71 a month ago but were trading above $14 last week.

Option volume in Gold Fields is already twice its daily average and dominated by one put print, optionMONSTER's tracking systems show. A trader sold 7,000 October 12 puts for the bid price of $0.63 at volume that was 7 times the previous open interest, so it is a new position.

A minute after those options traded, a block of 203,000 shares of GFI was sold for $13.4155. It was the largest stock trade by far this morning.

The short puts have a delta of 0.31, so the combined position is more interested in lower volatility and range-bound trading than any directional move in the stock. (See our Education section)

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