LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD) Slide Seduces Last-Minute Bears

LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) is suffering along with most stocks today, down 2.7% at $259.20. Option traders, meanwhile, are placing last-minute bearish bets on the professional networking concern, with puts trading at twice the average intraday pace. What's more, seven of the 10 most active options expire at today's close.

Digging deeper, it looks like speculators are purchasing eleventh-hour positions at the weekly 3/13 257.50-strike put, amid expectations for LNKD to breach the strike within the next hour-plus. Although the stock has been a broad-market outperformer during the past couple of months, today's appetite for long puts is just more of the same for LNKD.

On the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the security's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.93 stands higher than 68% of all other readings from the past year. In other words, option buyers have picked up LNKD puts over calls at an accelerated clip during the past two weeks.

In light of today's dip, LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) has erased its weekly gains, down 2.1%. What's more, the security is poised to close south of $260 for the first time since its early February bull gap.