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• Bears take another bite out of Savient
• Bear extends bet against Savient

• SVNT 100% Rate It

Savient Pharmaceuticals has been drifting lower, and one trader is adjusting a bearish position.

optionMONSTER's Depth Charge tracking system detected the purchase of 13,013 March 9 puts for $0.33. An equal-sized block of February 10 puts was sold at the same time for $0.05 against open interest, which indicates that an existing position was rolled to the lower strike.

The trade cost the investor $0.28 and gives them an additional month of downside exposure. The drug developer cratered in October after announcing that it was unable to find a buyer. That followed a huge rally in September after the Food and Drug Administration approved its Krystexxa gout medicine.

SVNT is won 0.4 percent to $9.96 in afternoon trading. Despite the declines, the shares are showing some signs of bottoming around current levels. They also have a heavy short interest--more than 20 percent of the float as of mid-January--which could potentially draw buyers to the equity.

The put roll may have been the work of a shareholder who's using the options as protection on a long position in the name. It could also have been done by a speculative bear looking for another push to the downside.

Overall option volume in SVNT is 12 times greater than average today, with puts accounting for a bearish 97 percent of the total, according to the Depth Charge.

(Chart courtesy of tradeMONSTER)

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