Bearish option traders are logging extraordinary gains in Luminar Technologies (LAZR) today following one of the most precisely-timed unusual options trades of the year.
On September 15, 2025, our Unusual Activity Service identified significant bearish put buying, with 10,000 19December 0.50 puts bought in one order for $0.01-$0.02 above the existing open interest of 4,067 contracts, with LAZR shares trading at $0.81-$0.82.
Those 19December 0.50 puts traded as high as $0.21 today with the stock at $0.37, delivering extraordinary returns of approximately 1300.00% from the initial midpoint entry price of $0.015. Meanwhile, LAZR shares plummeted approximately 54.60% from their initial midpoint trading level around $0.815, demonstrating how put options can deliver dramatically amplified returns during severe downside moves in the underlying security.
This performance illustrates the exceptional power of options leverage when the directional thesis proves correct, though it’s important to note that this same leverage can work against traders when market moves go in the opposite direction.
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing Hours After Put Buying
The timing of the December 15th put buying at 10:15 AM proved remarkably prescient, as just hours later Luminar Technologies filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company announced it had entered into an agreement with Quantum Computing Inc. to sell its wholly owned subsidiary, Luminar Semiconductor, Inc., for $110 million in cash, while simultaneously launching a court-supervised sale process for its core LiDAR business.
The market’s reaction was immediate and brutal. LAZR stock collapsed roughly 60% intraday following the bankruptcy filing news, with shares plunging from the $0.80 range to around $0.37. For traders positioned in the December 19th expiration puts with a $0.50 strike price, the bankruptcy announcement created ideal conditions for the extraordinary 1,300% returns captured in just hours.
As of December 12, 2025, Luminar carried an aggregate of nearly $488 million in debt, including principal and accrued but unpaid interest across its Unsecured Notes ($135.7 million), 1L Notes ($104.6 million), and 2L Notes ($247.7 million). The Chapter 11 filing automatically accelerated these obligations, although enforcement is stayed by the Bankruptcy Code. The company’s debt hierarchy means shareholders face the highest risk of losses, as recoveries typically flow to secured lenders first, then unsecured creditors, and equity holders last.
Volvo Contract Termination Triggered Liquidity Crisis
The bankruptcy filing came just weeks after a devastating blow to Luminar’s business model. In November 2025, Volvo—an early backer of Luminar and its largest customer heading into the year—canceled a five-year-old framework purchase agreement with the LiDAR-maker. Volvo cited supply constraints for the hardware as the reason for termination, and the loss of this critical revenue stream accelerated Luminar’s liquidity crisis.
Luminar disclosed that it had taken legal action against Volvo over the dissolution, but the damage was already done. The company had been counting on Volvo contracts as a cornerstone of its revenue growth strategy, and the abrupt termination left a massive hole in projected cash flows. The Volvo dispute exemplifies how quickly customer confidence can evaporate when a supplier faces operational and financial difficulties.
Multiple Warning Signs Preceded Collapse
The put buying on December 15th came at the culmination of months of deteriorating fundamentals. The company cut 25% of its workforce in its second major layoff of 2025. Luminar’s chief financial officer left the company, the company defaulted on a number of loans, and the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into business practices.
Founder Austin Russell abruptly resigned from the CEO role in May 2025 following a “code of business conduct and ethics inquiry,” though he remained on the company’s board. In October, he launched Russell AI Labs and made a bid to buy Luminar outright. A spokesperson for Russell AI Labs confirmed that Russell still plans to bid for what’s left of Luminar during the bankruptcy process, stating that “Russell AI Labs believes we can create tremendous value with Luminar’s technology platform, restore key customer relationships, progress the mission to save millions of lives, and build the business stronger than ever.”
Luminar was also hit with an eviction lawsuit in October at one office and exited a lease on another in November. The company had been operating under a series of forbearance agreements with creditors, with the most recent extension pushing the deadline to December 14, 2025—just one day before the bankruptcy filing.
Expected Nasdaq Delisting Eliminates Equity Value
In a devastating development for existing shareholders, Luminar disclosed in SEC filings that it expects to receive a Nasdaq delisting notice tied to the bankruptcy filing and does not intend to appeal. This means LAZR is expected to be delisted from the Nasdaq Global Select Market in the near future. If a delisting occurs, shares may continue trading on over-the-counter venues, but liquidity, broker access, and price transparency typically deteriorate significantly.
The company’s bankruptcy filings listed assets of between $100 million and $500 million, and liabilities of between $500 million and $1 billion. With liabilities potentially double the asset value, equity holders face near-certain losses. The company announced it aims to complete asset sales by the end of January 2026, an extremely fast timeline that suggests urgency to satisfy creditor claims.
The convergence of the Volvo contract termination in November, missed interest payments through October and November, forbearance deadline on December 14th, and the bankruptcy filing on December 15th created perfect conditions for the December 19th put options to capture maximum downside. The timing of the put buying on December 15th at 10:15 AM—just hours before the bankruptcy announcement that afternoon—demonstrates one of the most prescient unusual options trades documented this year.
LAZR was last down 0.14% at $0.35.
