I'm getting a lot of stuff called away

[FSU]

It has to be a bullish sign.

ITM Underlying that would just languish along in the past is getting snapped up.

It wasn't going Ex-Div, either.

Calls or puts? Was the underlying hard to borrow?

 

[BlueWaterSailor]

So in this particular case, if someone has sold a bunch of call options across different instruments (assuming the same broad market, in this case stocks I would assume), and they are being called away before expiry, it is a bullish sign?

(Please don't hurt me. You know I cannot understand options well.)

I'd certainly say so - at least in those tickers. It's like someone snatching food that you're cooking out of the pot before it's done... definitely a comment on how hungry they are (well, your cooking skills too...)

 

[BlueWaterSailor]

Calls or puts? Was the underlying hard to borrow?

I would assume "called away" (rather than "being assigned") implied a specific side...

 

[Arnie Guitar]

Covered Call writing.

 

[TheDawn]

It has to be a bullish sign.

ITM Underlying that would just languish along in the past is getting snapped up.

It wasn't going Ex-Div, either.

It's so weird that someone would early-exercise their calls like that. If it's before expiration, there is still extrinsic value on them and it would be much more profitable to just sell them instead of exercising them especially if there are no dividends. Must be noobs. More and more people are getting into options nowadays.

 

[TheDawn]

Calls or puts? Was the underlying hard to borrow?

Considering the OP mentioned that dividends play a role in the options getting exercised, it looks like it's calls.

 

[JackMorgan]

Why not give an example so we can see how much free money they handed you

 

[The_Krakenite]

When spreads are wide (illiquid stonks), stuff like this tends to happen more often.

 

[FSU]

Covered Call writing.

What were the stocks? Where they hard to borrow? This is one other situation where calls are exercised early.