XLU Trade Shows Bullishness on Utilities

Chris McKhann, an analyst at OptionMonster.

The XLU utilities exchange traded fund is seeing heavy options activity today as the ETF hovers near new lows reached Monday.

Trading is focused on the Sept. 26 strike, where nearly 100,000 calls changed hands at the same time in two huge blocks of 48,171 contracts each, one for $1.10 and the other for $1.05. The action dwarfed both the open interest of only 125 contracts and the 20-day average volume of 13,580, according to OptionMonster's tracking systems.

This appears to be a bullish strategy on the utilities, though it could also be a hedge on a large short position in the ETF or its component stocks. In any case, it is a big play as the trade cost more than $10 million, action that was reminiscent of heavy trading in the XLI industrials index during the past few days.

XLU is trading up a nickel on the day at $23.09, two days after hitting its 52-week low of $22.48. The shares were as high as $30 just a month ago.

The writer has no holdings in the securities mentioned.