Source SRC-SNOPES-PUTS-2001

Were Stocks of Airlines Suspiciously Shorted Just Before 9/11?

David Mikkelson; Snopes.com · 2001

AI-verified citationSRC-SNOPES-PUTS-2001

identifier / locator

Published October 3, 2001; rating: False

url

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/put-paid/

verification note

Page fetched live 2026-08-26; carries the exchange volume figures and the 9/11 Commission trace-out passage verbatim as quoted in this case's evidence records.

reliability notes

A secondary carrier: the option-volume figures derive from September 2001 wire and newspaper reporting of exchange data, and no primary exchange document was located — so these figures and that press coverage are ONE source, not two.
Admitted because it preserves the specific numbers in stable, quotable form; superseded by the exchange record or the Commission's own text where those can be obtained.

Evidence drawn from this source

Supports· moderateSEP-E019

The exchange volumes: put-to-call ratios of 12:1 and 6:1

what the source states: "On 6 and 7 September 2001, the Chicago Board Options Exchange handled 4,744 put options for United Airlines' stock, translating into 474,000 shares, compared with just 396 call options, or 39,600 shares. On a day that the put-to-call ratio would normally have been expected to be roughly 1:1 (no negative news stories about United had broken), it was instead 12:1." And: "On 10 September 2001, another uneventful news day, American Airlines' option volume was 4,516 puts and 748 calls, a ratio of 6:1 on yet another day when by rights these options should have been trading even."
what we infer: The anomaly at the observation rung, in the specific numbers that circulate. Its interpretation is a separate question graded at SEP-C016.
limitations: A secondary carrier: these figures descend from September 2001 press reporting of exchange data, and no primary exchange record was obtained — so this evidence and that press coverage are one source, not two.

David Mikkelson (2001)AI-verified citationSEP-C015