A massive trade just happened in gold. The options market is buzzing

Gold is up 15% this month, rallying alongside higher interest rates and quietly on pace for its best month since 2008. The biggest trade in the entire options market today says that run is coming to an end. Twenty minutes after the market opened Monday, someone sold almost 116,000 420-strike calls in the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) expiring Sep. 18, contracts that are currently in-the-money, collecting a total premium of $202 million dollars. The trader then used some of that money to buy the same number and expiry of 430-strike calls for $144 million, creating a $58 million net credit. While selling spreads can often be considered a neutral trade, the fact the trader sold in-the-money calls pushes their breakeven point at expiry to $425, the midpoint of the two sides of the trade. With GLD currently trading at $427, it makes the trade an effectively bearish bet that needs the precious metal to retreat slightly over the next four weeks.