Thursday Was Biggest Put Day In Cboe History

One day after Wall Street sold its hedges, it bought them all back. And then some.

On Thursday, as the post-midterm relief rally turned into what Goldman's Prime desk calls a "broad-based market drawdown led by tech" (the Nasdaq 100 crashed 6.4%, its worst day since March 16, 2020, while the S&P lost 4.4%, its worst day since Liberation Day), traders bought downside protection on a scale never seen before: more than 11.2 million puts changed hands on the Cboe, the largest put volume day on record, smashing the previous high of 10.22 million set on April 4, 2025, the day the tariff panic peaked.