Circle Internet Corp. closed at USD 60.64, down 7.69%. This sharp decline was accompanied by significant options activity, headlined by a massive bearish put purchase and a large premium-collecting put sale, indicating heightened institutional interest and a complex sentiment landscape.
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Options Indicators
CRCL’s implied volatility is 102.66%, and with an IV percentile of 87.25%, current option volatility sits in an elevated zone, indicating that options are priced expensively relative to their own recent history. The IV/HV ratio of 1.11 further suggests implied volatility is running modestly above realized volatility, meaning the market is building in somewhat richer forward volatility expectations rather than pricing options cheaply. The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.17.
Large Trades
A directional two-leg PUT buy worth $13.61 million was the largest featured trade, consisting of long 85.0 puts and long 80.0 puts expiring July 17, 2026. This is a same-direction double-buy put structure entered for a net debit, signaling an outright bearish wager with added exposure to a potentially sharp downside move. Both strikes were already in the money versus the $60.64 reference stock price, with $7.95 million spent on the 85.0 put line and $5.66 million on the 80.0 put line. Strategically, this kind of structure reflects aggressive downside positioning rather than income generation, as the trader paid substantial premium to gain leveraged protection or to express conviction that CRCL could continue falling materially.
A premium-collection same-direction double-sell PUT combination worth $12.40 million was the second highlighted trade, built by selling the 85.0 puts and 76.0 puts expiring July 17, 2026. This structure was opened for a net credit and is best interpreted as a neutral-to-slightly-bearish volatility or range view, where the trader seeks to collect premium rather than pay for directional exposure. Both short put strikes were also in the money relative to the $60.64 stock reference, with $7.72 million tied to the short 85.0 puts and $4.68 million to the short 76.0 puts. The strategic intent points to premium harvest and an expectation that price action may stabilize rather than accelerate sharply lower, although the in-the-money short puts still carry meaningful downside assignment risk.
Overall, the large-trade flow in CRCL was clearly bearish. Total bullish premium amounted to just $0.01 million, while bearish premium reached $30.64 million, leaving a net bearish imbalance of $30.63 million. The directional judgment is decisively negative, as the flow was overwhelmingly dominated by put activity and especially by large premium-paid bearish positioning. Although some sizable put-selling appeared, suggesting premium collection and expectations of stabilization in parts of the flow, that was far outweighed by the scale of outright downside exposure, indicating traders were primarily positioned for weakness rather than recovery.
Strategy Reference
For a trader with a neutral-to-bearish view seeking to collect premium with lower assignment risk, selling a put spread—such as selling the 65.0 put and buying the 60.0 put for a net credit—offers defined risk and reduces the margin requirement compared to a naked short put.
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