IMC-Chicago slightly trimmed its stake in Lucid Motors and increased its bearish options exposure in the second quarter of 2025, a new regulatory filing showed.
Two weeks after the end of the quarter, the Saudi-backed EV maker announced plans for a 1-for-10 reverse stock split and unveiled a 20,000 robotaxi partnership with the ride-hailing firm Uber and the autonomous driving startup Nuro.
As of June 30, the US subsidiary of Dutch trading firm IMC held 405,761 Lucid shares worth $856,156, down 1.46% from 411,790 shares three months earlier.
The value of the position has since risen to roughly $1.25 million, following the recent surge in the stock caused by the $300 million investment from Uber, plus the sale of 20,000 Gravity vehicles over the next six years.
In addition to its common stock holdings, IMC-Chicago disclosed 2,724,300 put option contracts on Lucid, up 20.05% from the 2,269,300 puts reported at the end of March.
The value of those put options stood at $5.7 million. The firm held no call options on Lucid in either quarter.
Lucid shares surged about 61% in pre-market immediately after the announcement to $3.69. Over the last few sessions, the stock has given up part of its gains and closed at $3.08 on Thursday.
In an interview with Bloomberg shortly after the announcements, interim CEO Marc Winterhoff dismissed speculation that the reverse split was prompted by concerns over a potential Nasdaq delisting.
“The listing happens when you are under $1, correct?” Winterhoff said, referencing the exchange’s minimum bid price requirement. “I don’t think we were anywhere close to below $1 but that was not the reason.”
Winterhoff, who joined Lucid as COO in late 2023 and was appointed interim CEO in February, said the reverse split was intended to broaden access among institutional investors, many of whom avoid shares priced under $5.
“In order to open that investment market for us — that’s why we did this — and also to reduce volatility,” he said. “It’s more [of] a technical thing that we’re implementing in order to make it easier for us, and also to participate in the stock market.”
Lucid said the reverse stock split would allow its common stock “to be more attractive to a broader range of investors and other market participants.”
Separately, IMC-Chicago also trimmed its exposure to Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio in the second quarter.
The firm cut its common stock position by more than half and reduced its call option holdings on Nio by 18.5% to 5.29 million contracts, with the notional value falling 26.6% to $18.1 million.
Its bearish exposure remained largely unchanged, with put options declining 3.8% to 4.1 million contracts valued at $14 million.
