← Option Trades · Experimental · High Risk
IWM: Long put
BearishRussell 2000 ETF
Small caps into a hawkish Fed and a jobs print. The rate-sensitive end of the market.
By Atul Ghandhi · Updated August 25, 2026 (2026-08-25)
The Trade
| Leg | Type | Strike | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| buy | put | $290.00 | Fri, Sep 4 |
Struck against: $297.97 ▼ 0.66% (Aug 24 close, per StockAnalysis.com)
Catalyst: Warsh at Jackson Hole Friday Aug 28, then the August jobs report Friday Sep 4 at 8:30am ET
New to this structure? Calls and puts explained →
The Exits
- Profit order
- Sell half at 100% profit whenever it prints. The rest rides for the second catalyst.
- Loss cut
- If IWM closes above $302, the squeeze is on and the thesis is wrong. Sell it all.
- Event hold
- Hold the remainder into the jobs print only if the position is already green. Out by 10am on September 4 either way.
Why This Trade
The Russell 2000 fell 1.6% off its record last week. Small caps carry more floating-rate debt and refinance sooner than large caps, so a Fed that hikes hits them first and hardest.
Two Fridays sit inside this expiry. Warsh speaks on the first. The August jobs report lands on the second, the same morning the put expires. A hot number feeds the hike case within an hour of the open.
The market gives a September hike one chance in three. This put pays if that one-in-three starts pricing like a coin flip, which either Friday can do on its own.
The trade loses if Warsh soothes and jobs land soft. Then the hike case dies, small caps squeeze, and the put decays through both events.
The Chain
The Fri, Sep 4 strikes this trade lives in. Cboe delayed quotes as of 2026-08-25 14:50:11 ET, with IWM at $298.72. The page refreshes the numbers hourly.
| Calls | Strike | Puts | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bid | Ask | Last | · | Bid | Ask | Last |
| 13.48 | 13.77 | 13.72 | 286.00 | 0.55 | 0.58 | 0.60 |
| 11.71 | 11.94 | 13.01 | 288.00 | 0.72 | 0.75 | 0.74 |
| 9.89 | 10.15 | 9.56 | 290.00 | 0.95 | 0.98 | 0.94 |
| 8.28 | 8.37 | 9.60 | 292.00 | 1.25 | 1.27 | 1.39 |
| 5.91 | 6.01 | 6.11 | 295.00 | 1.89 | 1.92 | 1.90 |