An unknown investor (or fund or manager) is betting a billion dollars that the Dow-Jones Eurostoxx 50 Index will plunge by 30% before September 21 (expiration of the e-trades).
The original 245,000 'put' trades were set up on Tuesday & Wednesday of this week, and many others followed once the word got out.
A similar trading scheme involving airline stocks timed for September 11, 2001 has still not been fully investigated, thus providing cause for alarm.
{For background on the topic, see WMail ezine essay #18 'The Stock Market Casino'}
