Quote from ozzy:
P.S You guys are going to think I'm crazy for saying this. But I also think a few institutions/HF's pulled GOOG down to 290 with pre hand knowledge of GOOG's earnings in order to snap up a shit load of options/shares at rock bottom prices.
Someone tell me I'm wrong.??
Isn't it convenient that GOOG (340), SBUX (55) and others closed on the even money today. The researchers are correct.
......"Stock Price Clustering on Option Expiration DatesÃ
Sophie Xiaoyan Nia, Neil D. Pearsona,*, Allen M. Poteshmana
aUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
August 27, 2004
Abstract
This paper presents striking evidence that option trading changes the prices of underlying stocks. In
particular, we show that on expiration dates the closing prices of stocks with listed options cluster at
option strike prices. On each expiration date, the returns of optionable stocks are altered by an
average of at least 16.5 basis points, which translates into aggregate market capitalization shifts on
the order of $9 billion. We provide evidence that hedge re-balancing by option market-makers and
stock price manipulation by firm proprietary traders contribute to the clustering......"
).