The spx future is going to move towards the spot price as the expiration day approaches, but the amount you received for the options won't.
I mean, if you sell an option and hedge, you going to loose if at least you don't receive the intrinsec value of the spot underlying. That seems to me.
That's why I don't understand who is selling Itm calls of SPX below the intrinsec value of the spot underlying. And there is a huge OI in these strikes. Yes again, huge, everybody laughing.
So, somebody is selling.
I was asking you and the others which strategy do you think they are implementing, because don't seem to be any advantage there.
Maybe with your ideas we could improve our knowledge.
And talking about improve, I am back to train to maybe one day be in your league.
thank you
The future is basically spot + interest over the spot. The interest gradually decreases, since time to maturity decreases, which makes the future drop towards the index level.
When there is dividend involved, when stocks go ex-dividend the spot (and also index spot) drops towards the future. Interest component is more or less a given fact, so is the dividend amount... since one assumes the dividend is more or less known.
These are the basic workings of a future.
So when dividend is involved, the index/spot actually moves towards the future, not the other way around.
If you sell a deep ITM call and hedge it with buying futures... assuming you receive the full amount of the call premium, you would park that cash receiving interest on it. So while the bought future seems to drop towards the index spot due to the decaying of interest component... the call seems to stay at the same value.... but, you are actually receiving interest on the premium collected....
That's how (normally) it works. Trading firms have access to better interest rates, closer to the real ones... they hardly pay any markups. So therefore, the amount received through the interest on call premium would cover the amount lost on the futures interest component decaying.
Since professional traders trade in and out of position risks by hedging with other options... they will end up with an options book with positions in just about every strike... whereby say long 10k calls strike 2400... and short 10k puts strike 2400, fully delta hedged with futures... is a flat position. No risk in rho/delta/gamma/vega, so no position.
When you do large trades and your aim is minimizing risks... you first look at delta, and cover that risk with Delta hedging through futures/stocks/underlying. Second you look at Gamma, and hedge that by buying or selling the opposite gamma through other options, preferably in the same strike/month. Same with Vega... same with dividend exposure/Rho... etcetcetc.
So while it seems to you that the 2400 call has a huge open interest.... the one who actually has that open interest doesn't see it as that, since he looks at his entire options book and is probably close to a flat position.
Some guy at a fund or bank wanted to buy some 2400 calls... to hedge his short position or to speculate upwards... or maybe speculate on down move and sold 100% futures...
That guy ends op buying it from one or more other parties, banks/market makers/other funds who sell it because they get a good price or it... they hedge the way I just explained. Delta, Gamma, Vega... they all end up with positions in other strikes/months, creating a risk balanced position. That's their strategy... Many people have different strategies. You never know what position someone has before or after a trade...