Apple Bears Pay More for Their Bets

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/granada_turnier/

The relatively recent decline in Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) share price has sparked an increase in put options being placed on Apple by bearish options investors, driving up the cost of their downside bets. Although Apple has a market value of over $425 billion and is recognized as the most valuable U.S.-based company, its falling stock price has continued to spook investors.

Much of this concern is fueled by fears that Apple’s mobile devices will face more competition from Samsung’s (SSNLF.PK) increasingly complex devices that utilize Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform.

Bearish put options have cost more than call options since last October, except for a short spell at the end of last year when the stock price briefly hit $594, according to research firm Phil Erlanger Research in Acton, via Reuters.

Since reaching a record-high of $702.10 in September of last year, Apple’s stock price has slid 35.5 percent, even as the S&P 500 Index rose over 5 percent around the same time…