Bearish Options Combo Player Mauls Financials ETF

XLF – Financial Select Sector SPDR – A bearish three-legged options combination play initiated on the XLF, an exchange-traded fund designed to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Financial Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index, indicates one big options player expects shares of the underlying fund to decline ahead of August expiration. Shares of the ETF are currently down 0.55% to stand at $14.49 with just under 30 minutes remaining before the closing bell. The pessimistic options strategist appears to have sold call options in order to partially offset the cost of buying a debit put spread. The investor sold 17,500 calls at the August $16 strike for a premium of $0.18 each, purchased 17,500 puts at the lower August $14 strike for a premium of $0.52 per contract, and finally sold 17,500 puts at the August $12 strike for a premium of $0.14 apiece. The net cost of the transaction is reduced to just $0.20 per contract. Thus, the bearish trader is poised to profit if shares of the XLF fall another 4.75% from the current price of $14.49 to breach the effective breakeven price of $13.80 by August expiration. The investor walks away with maximum potential profits of $1.80 per contract – for total gains of $3.150 million – if the price of the underlying fund plummets 17.2% to trade at or below $12.00 by expiration day in August.