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A battle is brewing in the gold pits. Here are the winners and losers

Cnbc · · 326 words · By Oliver Renick
Options Trading Sentiment Financial Speculation Gold Market Volatility
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What to know about Options Trading Sentiment

Traders on both sides of the question are duking it out in the options pit of one ETF that's trying to buck the multi-month downtrend in the commodity.

Claims checked 11
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Traders on both sides of the question are duking it out in the options pit of one ETF that's trying to buck the multi-month downtrend in the commodity.

Why it matters

Options volumes leaned bullish in both the SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) and VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) on Tuesday as GDX posted a more than 4% rally despite gold futures dropping on the session.

Common ground

Bullish flows were particularly strong in GDX, with call volumes outpacing puts more than 5 to 1 at one point of the trading day.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/26/a-battle-is-brewing-in-the-gold-pits-here-are-th…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 4
help Insufficient Evidence 2
check_circle Corroborated 2
verified Verified By Reference 2
schedule Pending 1
help
Claim 1: “Gold miners, by comparison, are up 144% over the same time period”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute this claim.
schedule
Claim 2: “The trading skewed notably bearish, with millions of call sales including one of the biggest trades of the day, a $22 million deep in-the-money call sale”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 3: “still up 89% the past two years”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence contains general gold price tracking links but does not confirm the specific 89% increase over the past two years.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Gold is a chemical element; its chemical symbol is Au (from Latin aurum) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a bright -metallic- yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 23 hours ago · Track the current Gold price with the APMEX Gold price chart. The current Gold spot price is a click away. View the spot price of Gold and plan your purchase today.
https://www.apmex.com/gold-price
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 23 hours ago · Live Gold Charts and Gold Spot Price from International Gold Markets, Prices from New York, London, Hong Kong and Sydney provided by Kitco.
https://www.kitco.com/charts/gold
info
Claim 4: “Bullish flows were particularly strong in GDX, with call volumes outpacing puts more than 5 to 1 at one point of the trading day”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results discuss retail investor trends and general stock movements, but do not mention the specific 5:1 call-to-put ratio for GDX.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 5 days ago ... ... exceed the 2021 record by as early as July. Furthermore, the average daily volume of options traded by retail investors is up to 1.57x of ...
https://www.facebook.com/KobeissiLetter/posts/retail-investo…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jan 12, 2025 ... ... more than 12% in pre-market trading. Kimberly-Clark ... trading volumes in specific stocks have exceeded double the 90-day moving average.
https://www.facebook.com/cnbctv18india/posts/stocks-on-the-m…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jan 19, 2026 ... Stock Market Today: Stocks Slip Ahead of January CPI Report; Tech Sell-Off Slows The major stock indexes were down in premarket trading on ...
https://www.facebook.com/cnbctv18india/posts/stocksonthemove…
check_circle
Claim 5: “The most popular contracts by volume were the 100 and 110-strike calls expiring June 18, according to SpotGamma”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web search results confirm that SpotGamma reported the most popular contracts by volume were the 100 and 110-strike calls expiring June 18.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 7 days ago · SpotGamma reported that the most actively traded contracts were the $100 and $110 strike call options expiring on June 18. These calls ...
https://news.futunn.com/en/post/73677541/etfs-witness-a-batt…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The most popular contracts by volume were the 100 and 110-strike calls expiring June 18, according to SpotGamma. Those calls need big double-digit rallies from ...
https://pub1rzh7ti6al.nudists.pics/entertainment/sombr/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — May 18, 2019 · WSJ Weekend - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. f.
https://www.scribd.com/document/410568518/WSJ-Weekend
verified
Claim 6: “GDX posted a more than 4% rally despite gold futures dropping on the session”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided contains general news about GDX and gold futures, but none of the results confirm a specific 4% rally for GDX occurring simultaneously with a drop in gold futures on the mentioned Tuesday.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a table of notable American exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. As of 2020, the number of exchange-traded funds worldwide was over 7,600, representing about 7.74 trillion U.S. dollars in assets. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_exchange-trad…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a table of notable Australian exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_exchange-tr…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — VanEck is a global investment management firm headquartered in New York City. The firm is primarily engaged in issuing exchange-traded fund (ETF) products although it also deals with mutual funds and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VanEck
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 7: “Gold's down almost 20% from its all-time high in January”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided includes general gold price charts and Wikipedia descriptions of the element gold, but does not provide the specific percentage drop from a January all-time high.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Gold is a chemical element; its chemical symbol is Au (from Latin aurum) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a bright -metallic- yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Live Gold Spot to US Dollar rate. Free XAU USD chart with historical data. Top trading ideas and forecasts with technical analysis for world currencies.5 years138.31%. 10 years263.95%. All time21.83 K…
https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/XAUUSD/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 23 hours ago · Track the current Gold price with the APMEX Gold price chart. The current Gold spot price is a click away. View the spot price of Gold and plan your purchase today.
https://www.apmex.com/gold-price
help
Claim 8: “options trading around gold miner Newmont Mining, with activity on Tuesday nearing 100,000 contracts and almost $500M of options premium, according to Spotgamma”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute this claim.
check_circle
Claim 9: “In GDX, more than 10,000 calls traded at the ask or above, meaning they were likely bought, compared to 4,400 puts bought, according to data from ThinkOrSwim”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web search results explicitly confirm that according to ThinkOrSwim data, over 10,000 GDX calls and 4,400 puts were bought (traded at the ask or above).
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 8 days ago ... In GDX, more than 10,000 calls traded at the ask or above, meaning ... bought, compared to 4,400 puts bought, according to data from ThinkOrSwim.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/26/a-battle-is-brewing-in-the-g…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 8 days ago ... According to ThinkOrSwim data, over 10,000 call options on GDX were traded at or above the asking price, implying those options were likely ...
https://www.bitget.com/news/detail/12560605429971
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Dec 5, 2023 ... The truck was bought by Joe Biden at a purchase price of around $67,000, he said. ... Ask a reader over 100.) Six teams, maybe seven (Michigan, ...
https://anyflip.com/epvyy/upkt/basic
verified
Claim 10: “The biggest premium trade of the day was someone spending more than $1 million... scooping up thousands of the 85-strike puts expiring July 17”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided for this claim consists of Wikipedia entries for cities, countries, and a movie theater chain, which are completely irrelevant to the financial trade described.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Goodrich Theater NewCo, LLC. (GQT Movies, formerly GQTI) is a chain of 22 movie theaters, headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI, representing a total of 174 screens in the United States. The majority of G…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodrich_Quality_Theaters
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — libGDX is a free and open-source game-development application framework written in the Java programming language with some C and C++ components for performance dependent code. It allows for the develo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LibGDX
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Redneck Rampage Rides Again is a video game developed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay Entertainment for MS-DOS in 1998. It was rereleased on Steam for Microsoft Windows on June 5, 2…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redneck_Rampage_Rides_Again
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 11: “Options volumes leaned bullish in both the SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) and VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) on Tuesday”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web search results for this claim are generic guides on options trading or unrelated Dow Theory updates. There is no specific evidence confirming bullish options volume for GLD and GDX on the Tuesday in question.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Get the library of my best options guides & presentations → 160+ page Options Trading for Beginners guide and bonus content: https://projectoption.com/fre...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PM4rNDr4oI
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The primary trend was reconfirmed as bullish on October 17th and November 13th, for the reasons given here and here. Today’s volume was lower than Tuesday’s. This is bullish, as lower prices were not …
https://thedowtheory.com/dow-theory-update-for-november-20-p…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Algo trading India for retail traders. Backtest and Algo Trade options strategies without coding.
https://algotest.in/
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.