November 11, 2019
We explore whether there is informed trading, which takes advantage of data breach events. By analyzing transactions in the options market, we find two distinct informed trading patterns that begin approximately three months and nine months prior to corporate data-breach announcements, which are supported by evidence of higher trading volume and open interest for put options, a higher put-to-call volume ratio, a higher put-to-call open interest ratio, and lower spreads prior to data-breach announcements.