The Health Care Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLV), the largest healthcare ETF, is up nearly 21% year-to-date and some traders are betting on more upside for the healthcare sector, the second-best-performing group in the S&P 500 this year behind technology.
Options market data indicate traders are bullish on XLV.
Tuesday’s “penchant for long calls runs counter to the recent trend seen in XLV’s options pits. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the exchange-traded fund’s (ETF) 10-day put/call volume ratio of 3.10 ranks in the 80th annual percentile. In other words, puts have been bought to open over calls at a faster-than-usual clip,” according to Schaeffer’s Investment Research.
XLV tracks the S&P Health Care Select Sector Index. That is the same index the the Direxion Daily Healthcare Bull 3x Shares (NYSEArca: CURE) attempts to deliver three times the daily returns of, so what is good for XLV is even better for CURE.