Puts Purchased on Intrepid Potash, Inc. (IPI)

Shares of Intrepid Potash, Inc.

are lower on the session by 0.93%, currently trading at $32.89. The stock has been moving largely higher over the past five months and is currently trading above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Shares are trading just off of their 52-week high, which was set last week, at $35.15. Options traders are buying puts on the name today. A short while ago the March 2011 $35.00 put was purchased 1,500 times, on the offer, for $4.60 on no prior open interest. This signals new positioning on the strike. Overall put volume is now running at 2.74x the daily average with 84% of all puts traded being purchases on the offer. Intrepid Potash, Inc. is a domestic producer of muriate of potash. It is also engaged in the production and marketing of potash and langbeinite. The Company markets the langbeinite under the name of Trio. As of December 31, 2009, the company owned five active potash production facilities, including three in New Mexico and two in Utah.