Wolverine Asset Management reduced its put options on Nio Inc. for a fourth consecutive quarter while adding to its holding of the electric vehicle maker’s 2029 convertible notes, a new regulatory filing showed.
The Chicago-based trading firm held put options on 14,183,100 Nio underlying shares as of June 30, down 14.5% from 16,594,400 at the end of March, alongside $72.65 million in principal amount of Nio’s 3.875% convertible senior notes due 2029.
The dollar value of the Put options fell 28.3% from $100.1 million, as both the reduced share count and a 16.1% decline in Nio‘s US-listed share price during the quarter weighed on the position’s implied value.
Wolverine held no Nio common shares and no call options on the stock as of the end of June — unchanged from the first quarter.
The filing was dated August 10 and covered positions held as of June 30, 2026.
Wolverine reported a total portfolio value of $11.4 billion across 1,668 holdings, up from $10.4 billion and 1,678 holdings in the prior quarter.
Fourth Consecutive Put Reduction
The second quarter marks the fourth consecutive period in which Wolverine has trimmed its Nio put exposure, extending a multi-quarter unwind that began after the position peaked at 22,052,400 underlying shares in the second quarter of 2025.
Wolverine first cut put exposure to 21,562,300 underlying shares at September 30, 2025 — a 2.2% reduction from the mid-year peak.
The firm then trimmed by 7.9% in the fourth quarter of 2025, bringing the position to 19,862,900 underlying shares.
The Q1 2026 reduction to 16,594,400 underlying shares was at the time the largest sequential cut in share terms since Wolverine began publicly disclosing meaningful Nio put exposure in 2019.
The latest cut brings the position to its smallest level since the second quarter of 2024, when Wolverine held put options on 11,498,000 underlying shares.
Over the four-quarter unwind, Wolverine has shed 7,869,300 underlying shares from the Q2 2025 peak — a cumulative reduction of 35.7%.
Seven-Year Put History
Wolverine’s Nio put position has followed a pattern of cyclical buildup and reduction since the firm first disclosed exposure in the first quarter of 2019.
Through 30 consecutive quarterly filings since early 2019, Wolverine has increased the put position in 20 quarters and reduced it in 10.
The position started at 1,162,800 underlying shares in March 2019 and grew steadily through 2020, reaching 5,887,800 shares by year-end — coinciding with Nio‘s stock surge past $40 during the 2020-2021 EV rally.
A sharp contraction followed in the first quarter of 2022, when Wolverine slashed the put position by 46.8% to 2,931,300 shares.
The most dramatic expansion came in 2024.
From 4,056,600 shares at December 31, 2023, the position surged to 6,486,300 at March 31, 2024, and then nearly doubled to 11,498,000 by mid-year.
By September 30, 2024, the position had reached 16,771,900 — a fourfold increase in nine months.
The buildup continued into 2025, peaking at 22,052,400 shares at June 30, 2025 — the largest put exposure Wolverine has ever held in Nio.
From that peak, the firm has now reduced in every subsequent quarter.
No Equity, No Call Options
Wolverine’s last Nio call option position — covering 10,100 underlying shares — was disclosed as of December 31, 2023.
The firm exited the position entirely by March 31, 2024, and has reported zero call option exposure in every filing since.
Call option holdings had peaked at 300,000 underlying shares at the end of 2019, before the EV maker’s stock rally.
Wolverine maintained meaningful call exposure — 92,900 underlying shares — through the third quarter of 2021, coinciding with Nio‘s all-time high.
The firm then progressively wound down the position, reducing it to as few as 3,300 shares by September 2022 before briefly rebuilding to approximately 10,000 shares in 2023.
On the equity side, Wolverine exited a small common stock position in the third quarter of 2025, disposing of 321,491 ADS shares for approximately $1.1 million.
The firm has held zero common shares in every quarter since.
The Position Behind the Puts
The put options sit alongside a larger, growing position in Nio‘s debt: Wolverine held $72.65 million in principal amount of the company’s 3.875% convertible senior notes due 2029 at the end of June, up $2 million from the end of March.
The filing valued the notes at $73.5 million — slightly above face value, though the mark softened from about 102.7 cents on the dollar at the end of the first quarter to 101.1 cents.
The notes, part of a $500 million tranche Nio sold in September 2023, mature on October 15, 2029, and carry a holder put allowing investors to demand repayment at par on October 15, 2027.
In the same quarter, Wolverine exited a small $2 million position in the companion 4.625% notes due 2030 — a move consistent with rotating into the shorter-dated paper.
The combination of a large convertible holding and put options on the underlying shares is the standard structure of convertible arbitrage, in which the equity exposure embedded in the notes is hedged rather than held.
The reading is consistent with the firm reducing its put exposure as Nio‘s share price, and with it the notes’ equity sensitivity, declined during the quarter.
Nio’s Stock Decline
Nio‘s US-listed shares moved through a wide range during the second quarter before settling at the lower end.
The stock closed at $6.03 on March 31 and continued climbing into mid-April, reaching a quarterly high of $7.00 on April 17 amid optimism around the ES9 launch and the company’s path toward full-year profitability following its first-ever profitable quarter in Q4 2025.
Shares then retreated steadily.
By June 30, the stock had fallen to $5.06 — a 16.1% decline from the March 31 close and a 27.7% drop from the April peak.
From mid-June onward, Nio‘s US-listed shares traded in a compressed range of approximately $4.70 to $5.00, weighed down by broader weakness in US-listed Chinese equities.
The decline has continued since the quarter closed.
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Nio shares closed at $4.62 on Tuesday — down 23.4% from the March 31 level and 8.7% below the June 30 close.
Based on Tuesday’s closing price, Wolverine’s put position on 14,183,100 underlying shares would carry an implied value of approximately $65.5 million.
Other Q2 Positions
Wolverine’s filing lands alongside a wave of second-quarter 13F disclosures from other major Nio holders, several of which also reduced exposure during the April-to-June period.
As of Wednesday morning, several institutions have yet to file their quarterly portfolio updates with the SEC.
BlackRock cut its Nio position by 11.8% during the quarter, selling 1.2 million shares to end the period with 9,461,793 ADS valued at $47.9 million.
Deutsche Bank trimmed its Nio stake by 17.9%, selling 74,359 shares to leave its position at 341,698 ADS — valued at approximately $1.7 million.
However, other institutional shareholders have also increased their bets in the Chinese EV maker.
Citigroup returned to Nio buying for the first time in five quarters, adding 186,358 ADS for a 37.7% increase to 680,573 shares valued at $3.4 million, while IMC-Chicago more than doubled its Nio equity stake during the quarter, lifting its position to over 2.5 million shares.
