The post Investors quietly bet against China amid Trump’s Greenland threats appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Stock market traders put money into protective bets against Chinese company shares last week, even as President Donald Trump’s warnings about tariffs on Greenland grabbed most of the attention across Wall Street. Just three weeks into 2026, markets are showing the same behavior as last year. Trump issues threats, stocks get shaky, things calm down after a few days, and shares start climbing again. The pattern has become routine for those tracking market swings. The Cboe Volatility Index, which measures fear in the market, shot up on Tuesday but quickly dropped back down. By Friday, it sat lower than where it started the previous week. The index’s futures ended the week looking almost the same as before. Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) one-month chart, Source: Cboe.com But behind the scenes, some traders were taking steps to protect themselves. They worried about two main things. Problems that could hurt Chinese stocks and the chance that big tech companies might report weak earnings. Investors snapped up around 400,000 put options set to expire in March for the iShares China Large-Cap ETF. They also grabbed 20,000 contracts in the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF and 150,000 puts in the Xtrackers Harvest CSI China A-Shares ETF. Put options let traders profit if prices fall or limit their losses. Christopher Jacobson works as co-head of derivatives strategy at Susquehanna International Group. He said in a written note, seen by Bloomberg,  that no clear reason drove these moves. The investors might just be getting ready for worse relations between the United States and China, especially after China criticized the recent trade agreement between America and Taiwan. Traders getting better at the TACO trade Market experts say investors have gotten better at handling what they call the TACO trade. This limits how high fear spikes and how long…

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Filed under: News - @ January 25, 2026 7:27 pm