Volatility To Rise in Dow Chemical? (DOW)

Shares of The Dow Chemical Company DOW are higher on the session by 0.08%, currently trading at $33.26. The stock has been moving sharply higher over the past three months, jumping off of the $22.50 level. One trader is betting that shares will make a large move one way or the other over the next few months, or at least that the stock's volatility will rise. A short while ago the June 2011 $32.00 put was purchased 5,000 times, on the offer, for $2.91. This was followed by an 180,000 shares block of stock trading at $33.27. This looks to be a long vol trade as it was done on a delta-neutral basis (puts have a delta of -0.3863; 193,150 shares needed to be delta-neutral). Delta-neutral trades benefit from large volatile swings in the stock over time, though lose money is shares remain in a tight range. The Dow Chemical Company is engaged in the manufacture and sale of chemicals, plastic materials, agricultural and services, and other specialized products and services. It delivers a range of products and services to customers in approximately 160 countries to growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. The company operated 214 manufacturing sites in 37 countries.