Kinross Gold has turned negative this afternoon, but option traders are looking for a floor beneath the shares.
optionMONSTER systems show that 10,000 August 9 puts were sold for the bid price of $0.88. That volume was twice the open interest at that strike, so it was a new sale.
KGC had been in positive territory all morning, reaching a session high of $9.07, but it is now off 0.8 percent to $8.63. The miner's shares have been trending lower from above $18 in the last nine months but found support at three-year lows around $7.50 in mid-May.
The put seller is betting that KGC will be above $9 at expiration. Traders often sell in-the-money puts with an eye toward buying the stock at a lower level. In this case, the effective entry price would be $8.12 thanks to the $0.88 credit earned from selling the puts. (See our Education section)
Today's trading has pushed total option volume to more than twice KGC's daily average.
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