GDX - bouncing into a new month

Whilst the main indexes closed moderately mixed, there was notable strength in the gold/silver mining stocks, with the ETF of GDX settling +3.6% @ $26.42. Near term outlook is very uncertain though, as the broader upward trend from the Jan' low has been broken.


GDX, daily

GDX, monthly

Summary

The miners were lower by around -1% in pre-market, but with some early main market weakness, and a moderate gold bounce, GDX swung strongly higher.

Part of the reason appears to be a giant options trade... 60,000 of the Sept' $30 calls. With the price of $0.15... that works out at roughly a $900,000 trade, and it reeks of something a retail amateur might try. Those calls only have 10 trading days left on the detonator clock.

On any basis, that is an extremely risky trade, as the $30 threshold is a good 15% or so higher.
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Anyway... the miners will be one to watch.