Options block trades can be interesting tools to gauge market expectations, even if you don’t know exactly what the purpose of the trade is. For instance, a big put spread traded last week in iShares US Real Estate ETF (IYR). The trade occurred on the same day that lower housing prices were reported across the US. Conceivably, this trade could be a hedge against owning real estate assets, or it could be speculation the real estate market has further to drop.
