How Liquid are SPY options, and options in general in comparison to securities?

H

Hybr1d88

I want to know if it's possible to move $100,000+ in Spy call/put contracts intraday, and also how long execution time would be on the average trading day.

Also how liquid are options contracts on big name blue chips like BAC, PG, AAPL, AMZN, etc....

Could you move hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of options contracts in under a minute like you could shares of stock?

Can you trade these options contracts and be in an out mid-market, intraday?

Looking to enter and exit positions within a strict 5 minute window using a new strategy I've come up with.

(Edit: No...I'm not going to start with $100k)
 
Edit to clarify:

The whole trade isn't 5 minutes....it could be a half an hour to several hours(usually around 2 hours a trade).

The options will increase/decrease in value quite a bit within that window as far as I can tell. (for instance the underlying ETF/Equity would be moving anywhere from 0.3-2% or so) Also options are known for moving substantially more than the underlying equities(Larger gains/losses per %).


What I meant was my entry is within a 5 minute window, and my exit is within a 5 minute window. Could I sell enough contracts, or buy enough contracts with my execution where I would be in within 5 minutes, and out within 5 minutes? With a span of anywhere from a half an hour to several hours in between.
 
SPY options are super liquid, so liquid that you can day trade them. Instant fills, narrow bid/ask especially if you only use the 2 weeks closest to expiry.
 
This is a good question that I too have always kind of wondered in the back of my head;
How big can you go in SPY (the most liquid) options before you will move the market or experience a slight hiccup, :p:vomit:

I only trade a small fraction of that hypothetical amount you mentioned,
I'd love to eventually move that kind of volume on a single trade.
 
Last edited:
Hybr1d88 said:
I want to know if it's possible to move $100,000+ in Spy call/put contracts intraday, and also how long execution time would be on the average trading day.

Also how liquid are options contracts on big name blue chips like BAC, PG, AAPL, AMZN, etc....

Could you move hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of options contracts in under a minute like you could shares of stock?

Can you trade these options contracts and be in an out mid-market, intraday?

Looking to enter and exit positions within a strict 5 minute window using a new strategy I've come up with.

(Edit: No...I'm not going to start with $100k)
More...
SPY Option Trade Like A Stock, No Spread, You Can Day Trade The Weeklies Like A Stock, With Massive Gains If On The Right Side Of The Trade.
 
100K value is about 600-700 options (depends on strike vs SPY price, it could be 500 aswell).
This amount is doable- i will attach a screenshot later on.
As FCX said, use SPX for big positions- less commisions and easier to fill
 
Hybr1d88 said:
I want to know if it's possible to move $100,000+ in Spy call/put contracts intraday, and also how long execution time would be on the average trading day.
More...

Yes it's possible.

Here's a screen shot from my ToS platform as of 10:00AM (EST) of the
of the time and sales of the 10 largest transactions for the SPY symbol.

Ranging in size from 1476 contracts to 5000 contracts. Your $100K should be an easy trade.

upload_2016-12-16_10-8-18.png

upload_2016-12-16_10-6-51.png


Also, as others have pointed out, the SPY is very liquid. Lots of volume and OI. For example, also as of 10:00 AM this morning heres a breakdown on the total number of Puts and Calls that have traded for the SPY and SPX.

SPY

upload_2016-12-16_10-12-59.png


SPX

upload_2016-12-16_10-14-1.png


As you can see the SPY has already traded 2.5x the volume of the SPX.

Yesterday's total volume for the SPY was 5.3 million vice 1.6 million for the SPX. Data from the OCC site.

The same stats are available for all the equities (e.g. AAPL, AMZN, etc.) from the same sources. I.e. the CBOE and OCC websites and, hopefully, your trading platform.


Best
 
Steven Leeds said:
As you can see the SPY has already traded 2.5x the volume of the SPX.

Yesterday's total volume for the SPY was 5.3 million vice 1.6 million for the SPX. Data from the OCC site.
More...

Yeah, but I think you're missing the point of SPX my man. Assuming each of those SPY contracts cost $100 ($1.00 price) in actual notional SPY traded $530m. This would compare to $1.6b of SPX based on yesterday's volume. So SPY traded 3x the contracts but 1/3 the total value of SPX...have to remember SPX is 10x the size. Fraction of the commission that route as well ignoring rebates etc.

Edit: I guess you just stated the facts actually, but whatever lol leaving the above to clarify for whoever.
 
FCXoptions said:
...I guess you just stated the facts actually, but whatever lol leaving the above to clarify for whoever.
More...

"Figures often beguile me particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Mark Twain popularized the saying in Chapters from My Autobiography, published in the North American Review in 1906.

The writer was asking, in general, about liquidity. I simply pointed out some statistics that suggested that the SPY symbol is more liquid than the SPX symbol. The former trading 2-3x the number of contracts on a daily basis than the latter symbol. How one applies that information to their particular trading plan/strategy is up to them.

But as you point out there could be some advantages to trading the SPX vice the SPY. The disadvantage to both (as well as most other equity options) is that they don't begin to trade until 9:30AM (est) and they cease to trade at 4:00PM (est.) Which is why I trade the E-mini S&P 500 options. Not quit as liquid but tradeable almost around the clock except for a late afternoon (est/cst) break. I live in the EST time zone and follow the premarkets very carefully. At 8:00AM (est, 7:00AM cst) the Asian markets are closed and the European markets are at midday. The futures markets (YM, NQ, ES, BZ, CL, etc.) are all getting busy and afford me the opportunity to open or close trades from the day(s) before and prepare for a new trading day BEFORE the "regular" markets open and/or Janet Yellen opens her big mouth.

Best
 
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