In a stunning display of market timing that has raised eyebrows across Wall Street, an unknown trader turned $2.5 million into over $70 million in less than an hour on April 9, 2025, through what appears to be a perfectly-timed options trade just before market-moving news.
The trader purchased 30,000 contracts of "zero-day" call options on SPY, the ETF tracking the S&P 500 index. These high-risk options, set to expire the same day, gave the buyer the right to purchase SPY at $509 per share - above its trading price of under $500 at the time.
At precisely 1:01 PM Eastern Time, unusual trading activity began. The options position was established at just 85 cents per contract. Twenty-nine minutes later, former President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he would pause recently imposed tariffs. The market surged in response, sending those same options soaring to more than $25 each.
The timing and scale of the trade have drawn intense scrutiny. Similar patterns emerged across multiple strike prices and in the underlying SPY shares themselves, where 2.75 million shares were purchased in a single minute before the announcement. If sold at the day's closing price, these share purchases alone could have generated over $100 million in profit.
"This shows all the hallmarks of pre-positioning," noted market analysts, pointing out that comparable market-moving events in 2008 and 2009 showed no such advance trading activity. The precision timing and massive volume suggest the trader may have acted on non-public information rather than mere speculation.
The scale of potential profits extends far beyond the initial options trade. Analysis of trading volumes suggests total profits across all related positions could exceed $1.5 billion - all generated before the public knew what was driving the market higher.
While the trader's identity remains unknown, the case highlights growing concerns about information asymmetry in modern markets. Whether through extraordinary luck or insider knowledge, someone executed one of the most profitable short-term trades in recent market history.
The SEC has not commented on whether an investigation is underway, but the trade's suspicious timing and unprecedented success rate have left many market participants calling for increased scrutiny of zero-day options trading and information flow in financial markets.