The options market seems untradeable now

ffs1001 said:
....er.......wide spreads can actually lead to good profitable opportunities, if you "trade the spread".
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Hey @ffs1001 I like you because you like bflys', but can you elaborate on what you mean here?

Are you talking about surfing for the mid when markets are extremely wide?

Or are you talking about conversions+reversals, boxes+rolls, put/call parity?
 
Sig said:
To the OP, first off, wide spreads don't mean you can't trade near the mid if you put in a limit order. Have you actually tried trading these or are you just looking at your screen?

Second, if the bid/ask spreads are unreasonable you can make a mint acting as a market maker. If you're not willing to do that, then you're implicitly admitting that the spreads aren't unreasonable. Can't have it both ways.
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How can a retail trader "mint" acting like an MM?

And why does this only apply to wider markets?
 
.sigma said:
How can a retail trader "mint" acting like an MM?

And why does this only apply to wider markets?
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Yesterday I tried that, using limit and offered bid when buying. Lo and behold, I got filled. A few min later it was clear why. Both bid & ask went below my bid. Hard to play this game as a retail. :banghead:

On second thought, If I didn't do that I would offer mid or ask and then the outcome would have been worse. Thank you @Sig. :D
 
ironchef said:
Yesterday I tried that, using limit and offered bid when buying. Lo and behold, I got filled. A few min later it was clear why. Both bid & ask went below my bid. Hard to play this game as a retail. :banghead:

On second thought, If I didn't do that I would offer mid or ask and then the outcome would have been worse. Thank you @Sig. :D
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What market and product was this in? Spreads have been eerily wide in a lot of single-names, futures, index even.
 
.sigma said:
Hey @ffs1001 I like you because you like bflys', but can you elaborate on what you mean here?
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@.sigma, I obviously cannot post any actual trades here but Sig mentioned something similar regarding acting as a market maker - that's what "trading the spread" actually is. You take advantage of the wildly fluctuating and wide spreads that exist, to buy at one price and close quickly at a slightly higher price.

I realise this response is probably more annoying than useful, and there's nothing more irritating than someone saying "I made money yesterday on a trade but I'm not gonna tell you what trade and how". But you understand that if anyone reveals the stock, and the trade type, then a 100 other people from here will try the same thing and the game is over.

In terms of fly's - yes, this is a great time to open them. I trade them on SPX only at the moment. I like the cash-settled nature and the European expiry stytle. Theta decay and vol reduction are friends; large movements of the underlying are the foes.

Happy trading.
 
I found that you can make money fast money like market maker but its more so just being lucky and happens from time to time. Like Ill open a position and close it a minute later for a large gain but I just got lucky its not something that I can count on making money on. that being said you have to be out there to be lucky.
 
ffs1001 said:
@.sigma, I obviously cannot post any actual trades here but Sig mentioned something similar regarding acting as a market maker - that's what "trading the spread" actually is. You take advantage of the wildly fluctuating and wide spreads that exist, to buy at one price and close quickly at a slightly higher price.
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Ahh, my mistake is I only did half of the transaction? But it won't work when both bid/ask were lower than my bid and didn't come back at close?
 
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