Looking at options trading activity among components of the S&P 500 index, there is noteworthy activity today in St Jude Medical Inc (NYSE: STJ), where a total volume of 25,640 contracts has been traded thus far today, a contract volume which is representative of approximately 2.6 million underlying shares (given that every 1 contract represents 100 underlying shares). That number works out to 143% of STJ's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 1.8 million shares. Especially high volume was seen for the $75 strike put option expiring October 21, 2016, with 4,460 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 446,000 underlying shares of STJ. Below is a chart showing STJ's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $75 strike highlighted in orange:
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