Shares of the SPDR S&P Oil and Gas Exploration and Production ETF (XOP) are trading higher on the session by 0.43%, at $53.33. The stock had been moving largely higher over the past four months, but recently dipped lower and is now testing the 200-day moving average.
With shares of the XOP sitting on a critical support level, puts are active on the name today. In the first 30-minutes of trading, put volume has already equaled the daily average.
The majority of the action is coming in November, where the $54/52 put spread was sold 6,000 times for $0.77. The $54.00 strike was sold for $1.85 (31% vol), while the $52.00 strike was bought for $1.08 (33% vol).
Given the current open interest on each strike, 18,572 and 1,628 contracts respectively, there could be one of two things happening here. This is either a roll of long puts or a fresh short put spread position. This will be easier to determine tomorrow, after the open interest data resets.
30-day implied volatility is off 2.8% today to 31.20%; 10-day historical vol is registering 24.40%.
The SPDR S&P Oil and Gas Exploration and Production ETF seeks to replicate as closely as possible before expenses the performance of an index derived from the oil and gas exploration and production segment of a US total market composite index.?