Puts Purchased on XL Group plc (XL)

Shares of XL Group plc XL are lower on the session by 2.14%, currently trading at $21.48. The stock has been moving largely higher over the past six months, rallying off of support (via the $18.00 level and the 50-day/200-day moving averages) in late August. Options traders are buying puts on the name today. A short while ago the January 2011 $16.00 put was purchased 3,400 times, on the offer, on open interest of only 994 contracts. This signals new positioning on the name. Overall put volume is now running at 2.95x the daily average with 79% of all puts traded being purchases on the offer. XL Group plc, through its subsidiaries, is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises on a worldwide basis. The company operates through three segments: Insurance, Reinsurance and Life Operations.