Suspicious trading occurred on the stock of American and United Airlines: the only two airlines hijacked in the 9/11 attacks. Between September 6 & 7, 2001, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the world's largest options market, reported that 4,744 put option contracts—a speculation that the stock will go down—were purchased in UAL versus 396 call options—where a speculator bets on a price rising.

On September 10, 2001, 4,516 American Airlines put options are purchased are purchased in Chicago compared with a mere 748 call options purchased. Investigators also noted that no other airlines saw such levles of trading in their put options. One analyst later said, “I saw put-call numbers higher than I’ve ever seen in ten years of following the markets, particularly the options markets.”

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