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D.R. Horton rallied back to a key level yesterday, and the bears are stepping in.

The homebuilder at one point touched $17.91, the same price where it peaked several times in the first half of 2008. It then pulled back and closed the session at $17.22, up 3.42 percent.

optionMONSTER's Depth Charge monitoring program detected the purchase of 1,500 November 20 puts for $3.60. The trade occurred after the stock peaked for a second time and made a lower high on an intraday basis.

Those contracts are in the money , which means they will closely track downside in the share price. It also indicates the investor was making a straight bearish rather than hedging a long position in the stock. (See our Education section)

DHI has been rallying along with most other builders as economic data increasingly points to improvement in the housing market. The company's last two earnings reports have beaten expectations as orders grow, and shares are up more than 50 percent in the last six months.

Given that rally, yesterday's put buyer apparently thinks that the stock is either ready to pause or surrender some of those gains. The strategy is similar to shorting the stock but has limited risk because they can only lose the premium paid to open the position.

Overall option volume was 6 times greater than average in the session, according to the Depth Charge.

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