Wild out of the money next day SPX put bids yesterday.

F

FSU

For all of you smooth brain folks out there, please explain this to me.

Yesterday just after the regular close, the SPX 3100 puts, expiring today, were .05 bid for 12,000 in the curb session. This was from a bidder who kept lowering the strikes he was bidding on until he was finally filled (they traded).

SPX went out at 4330. This would be about a 29% drop in the SPX, today, for these to be in the money. Circuit breakers halt market for the day if it drops 20%. So my question is, what's the risk in selling these? Could the SPX settle down that much beyond the circuit breaker level?
 
I used to see these often. The clearing brokers for MMs have strict risk rules and sometime look way down and shock vol. It sounds like some big firm had downside risk and needed to fix it. It cost less to buy that many $0.05 options than buy back a large number of $3 options. Just a guess.

FSU said:
For all of you smooth brain folks out there, please explain this to me.

Yesterday just after the regular close, the SPX 3100 puts, expiring today, were .05 bid for 12,000 in the curb session. This was from a bidder who kept lowering the strikes he was bidding on until he was finally filled (they traded).

SPX went out at 4330. This would be about a 29% drop in the SPX, today, for these to be in the money. Circuit breakers halt market for the day if it drops 20%. So my question is, what's the risk in selling these? Could the SPX settle down that much beyond the circuit breaker level?
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People use smooth brain as a synonym for "idiot," "dummy," or "moron." This insult derives from the belief that the more folds a person's brain has, the smarter they are. So, the thinking goes, a person with a smooth brain is dumb as a rock.
 
maxinger said:
People use smooth brain as a synonym for "idiot," "dummy," or "moron." This insult derives from the belief that the more folds a person's brain has, the smarter they are. So, the thinking goes, a person with a smooth brain is dumb as a rock.
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I used it not as an insult, but thinking a "smooth brain" was someone smart. I learned something new today.
 
Robert Morse said:
I used to see these often. The clearing brokers for MMs have strict risk rules and sometime look way down and shock vol. It sounds like some big firm had downside risk and needed to fix it. It cost less to buy that many $0.05 options than buy back a large number of $3 options. Just a guess.
More...
Bob, our firm typically looks down 20% overnight in the SPX. If one of your customers sold a bunch of these, would it have been a problem?
 
Your broker clears APEX and goes by both their risk and APEX's rules. We use Wedbush. We shock broad based index positions with a 12% Price Shock / 25% Implied Vol Shock down and 10% Price Shock / 12% Implied Vol Shock up for risk purposes on PM accounts. This is subject to change.

FSU said:
Bob, our firm typically looks down 20% overnight in the SPX. If one of your customers sold a bunch of these, would it have been a problem?
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FSU said:
...Could the SPX settle down that much beyond the circuit breaker level?
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I'm guessing the settlement price is established 5 mins before RTH close, and if the market is halted into the closing settlement it would settle at last traded price. So how could it settle 9% below that?
 
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Overnight said:
I'm guessing the settlement price is established 5 mins before RTH close, and if the market is halted into the closing settlement it would settle at last traded price. So how could it settle 9% below that?
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Doesn't seem possible to me either. Thats why I posted here to see all possibilities.
 
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