Options Traders Bet Against Saylor's Company Amid Bitcoin Decline

Options traders have been flocking to bets against Strategy Inc., a company led by Michael Saylor, who is a well-known cryptocurrency evangelist. According to data from ThinkOrSwim, options volumes in the company's variable-rate preferred stock, STRC, have seen a significant increase in recent days.

The majority of these trades are put options, with more than three times as many puts being bought than calls on almost three times the daily average volume. This suggests that investors are increasingly betting against the company's performance.

Some of the biggest put-buying has been tied to spread strategies used in the YieldMax Short MSTR Option Strategy ETF (WNTR), a fund that shorts Strategy stock while collecting income in put spreads. This strategy has seen significant success, with WNTR shares up 30% since May 11 as Strategy stock has struggled.