Rio Tinto Options Surge 17x as Glencore Bid Ends
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Rio Tinto saw 1.29 million options contracts trade on Thursday, more than 17 times its 30-day average and roughly four times the next-highest daily volume (308,315) recorded over the prior 24 months
- Rio Tinto captured 40 of the top 100 Vol/OI ratios on the day — all calls, none puts — with the March 20 $75 call (112,881 in volume) and April 17 $75 call (72,562) the most active strikes
- Rio Tinto announced at 10 a.m. Thursday it would not extend its Feb. 5 deadline to bid for Glencore; UK takeover rules now bar a fresh approach for at least six months, and the two sides deadlocked after Glencore demanded 40% of the post-merger entity
- Friday is Rio Tinto's ex-dividend date for its final 2025 payout of $2.54 per share (up from $2.25 a year earlier), with the $4.02 total 2025 dividend payable April 16
- Many of the most-active call trades printed at the bid, and open interest fell 14% — meaning institutions were largely exiting positions or exercising ITM calls to capture the dividend rather than initiating fresh bullish bets
- Citigroup's most recent 13F shows it holding 1.5 million Rio Tinto shares plus 287,500 shares' worth of call options, putting $730,250 in dividend income at stake if the calls went unexercised
- Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina told clients a re-engagement with Glencore 'is possible... but that is not our base case,' adding that 'Rio likely goes it alone'
Why it matters: The 'smart money is buying' framing of Thursday's record Rio Tinto call activity obscures the actual mechanics: most unusually active trades hit the bid (selling pressure), and open interest dropped 14% — evidence that institutions were closing positions or exercising in-the-money calls to capture Friday's $2.54 ex-dividend date, not initiating fresh bullish bets. For holders of deep ITM calls like Citigroup's 287,500-share position, exercising was a $730,250 dividend decision, not a directional one.
Ask SkimNews
