Market conditions over the past several weeks have been characterized by heightened volatility driven primarily by escalating trade tensions. On April 9, the S&P 500 exhibited an intraday range exceeding 10%, underscoring the magnitude of price dislocation. In line with historical precedents, derivatives activity surged during the period. Notably, on April 3, total listed option volume crossed the 100 million contracts threshold for the first time on record—coinciding with the aftermath of President Trump’s tariff announcement.

To assess the behavioral dynamics within this surge, we examined SPY option trade data to evaluate directional biases and participant segmentation. Our initial hypothesis suggested that retail participants would exhibit elevated put buying as a proxy for heightened bearish sentiment and risk aversion. However, the data does not support a strong directional skew in retail flow.

In contrast, institutional activity displayed a pronounced increase in put volume, particularly in short-dated (≤5 DTE), out-of-the-money options—defined for this analysis as contracts with an absolute delta of 0.30 or lower. This segment is typically associated with speculative flow or gamma-related hedging.

The motivation behind this uptick in institutional put exposure is likely multifaceted. Some participants may have viewed the market as temporarily oversold and sought to monetize elevated implied volatility via premium collection strategies. Others may have been actively acquiring convex downside protection in anticipation of further dislocation.

All trade data is sourced from the SpiderRock option pointset, where we utilize OPRA print classification and trade size filters to segment flows into institutional and retail categories. Trades are further bucketed into buys or sells based on execution relative to the SpiderRock surface price.

We also provide retail/institutional option volume proxies aggregated at the underlying level in our features dataset.

About SpiderRock Data and Analytics 

SpiderRock Data & Analytics is a division of  SpiderRock Technology Solutions, a provider of industry-leading options trading solutions. SpiderRock Data and Analytics is an exchange-licensed redistributor of market data, providing US stocks and options market data in a raw and normalized format.   

SpiderRock’s proprietary live analytics offer low-cost delivery of market data and options analytics without requiring clients to make a significant investment in infrastructure. In addition, SpiderRock’s robust historical datasets updated daily from live markets are ideal for research, back testing, and making data-driven decisions. 

For more information, visit https://www.spiderrock.net/data/, follow us on X at @SpiderRockChi, and visit our LinkedIn page.

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