Traders Pile Into Boom-or-Bust Options to Play Stock Market Volatility

Activity in the market for stock options is hitting a fever pitch, with many rushing to trades expiring within mere hours or days to play the wild market swings.

Options contracts that expire in less than a week make up about half of all activity in the U.S.-listed options market, according to the derivatives-analytics firm SpotGamma. That is up from around 45% last year and roughly a third of all activity in 2019.