Shares of Super Bowl reject are sinking ahead of next Thursday morning's earnings report. The stock's put options are flying at 16 times the expected intraday rate, too, which has sent its 30-day at-the-money implied volatility to a 12-month high of 112.7%. According to Trade-Alert , the preference for puts is being driven by one speculator setting up a huge pre-earnings hedge.Drilling down, a block of 9,397 February 10 puts was bought to open for an initial cash outlay of over $1.5 million ($1.65 premium paid * number of contracts * 100 shares per contract). Trade-Alert suggests that the in-the-money options -- which expire two sessions after GNC reports earnings -- may have been purchased by a shareholder nervous about another post-event sell-off.GNC's earnings history is instructive. Following four of the past five quarterly data releases, the stock has stumbled sharply in the ensuing session -- losing 26.6%, on average. (Right now, the options market is pricing in a roughly equivalent move, in either direction.) Not only would a repeat performance land GNC shares at all-time lows , it would extend their year-over-year deficit. Down 6% this afternoon at $8.48, the supplements retailer has surrendered two-thirds of its value over the past 12 months.Given that GNC's been stair-stepping lower for more than a year, it's hardly surprising to note that put players have been pouncing -- even before today. The stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio stands at a top-heavy 2.86 across the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), in the put-skewed 88th annual percentile. Echoing this, the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.29 sits only 1 percentage point from a 52-week high.Options traders aren't the only ones bearish toward GNC. All eight analysts tracking the shares have doled out a "hold" or worse rating. Plus, 16.4% of the stock's float is sold short -- roughly equivalent to its April 2013 all-time peak. At GNC's average trading volume, it would take a week to cover these positions.While GNC Holdings Inc's (NYSE:GNC) charts and earnings history both hint at extended losses in the not-too-distant future, the stock could actually get a brief respite. With today's sharp slump, the stock's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) has fallen to 27.7, in "oversold" territory.Stay in the loop with stocks on the move. Sign up now for Schaeffer's