Citizens Financial has not seen much option activity since going public last year, but traders were taking downside positions on Friday.
optionMONSTER's Depth Charge system detected heavy buying in the April 25 puts as more than 6,500 traded for $0.75 to $1.10, including a print of 4,747 purchased for the ask price of $0.90. These are new positions, as open interest in the strike was a mere 90 contracts before the session began.
Long puts lock in the price where the stock can be sold no matter how far it might drop, gaining value in a selloff. The contracts can be purchased either as an outright bearish bet or a hedge on a long position . (See our Education section)
CFG fell 2.98 percent to $24.73 on Friday. The company, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, went public on the U.S. market last September and spiked to a high of $25.80 on March 6.
Friday's put buying pushed CFG's total option volume above 7,200 contracts, more than 66 times its daily average for the last month. Only 591 of those contracts were calls.
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