Several traders bought bullish U.S. stock options in the hours before the ceasefire, making $23 million in one day.

A mysterious trader went heavy on S&P 500 call options just hours before the ceasefire, making an unrealized profit of $23 million in a single day.

According to Bloomberg, at 10:20 AM ET on Tuesday, April 7, an unidentified trader bought 6,800 S&P 500 call option contracts with a strike price of 6,950, expiring May 8, paying about $12 million in premiums.

At that time, the S&P 500 was at 6,556.21 points, essentially betting that the S&P 500 would surge nearly 400 points in the next month, when the market had not received any substantial good news.

Wallstreetcn even mentioned that Trump had set 8 PM ET on April 7 as the final deadline, and reports stated that the US and Israel had a large-scale strike plan against Iran’s energy facilities ready, awaiting Trump’s order.

After Trump announced a two-week ceasefire agreement, the S&P 500 soared by 2.5% on Wednesday, closing at 6,782 points.

Despite the S&P 500 currently being at 6,782 points—still 168 points away from the 6,950 strike price—this trader’s huge profits came from the surge in option premiums.

The market price of the 6,950 call options skyrocketed from about 17.65 points when opened ($12 million ÷ 6,800 contracts ÷ $100/point) to 50 points, meaning the position was worth about $35 million.

After deducting the $12 million initial cost, the net profit on paper is about $23 million.

Even if the S&P 500 ultimately fails to break 6,950 points, as long as market sentiment and implied volatility spike due to unexpected events, the price of deep out-of-the-money options can jump sharply due to “reassessment of possibilities.”

Bloomberg’s Co-Head of Derivatives Strategy, Chris Murphy, said in an email on Tuesday that the trade was “a typical case of buying the upside on expectations of an imminent peace agreement.”

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