Yes, they are compelled to make markets. The point is that they can bid on vol as they wish. I know because I was told so by an IBKR VP [re: long gamma comment].
24.75 is 50% retace on todays move,there must be another house like bear that they are trying to work out deal foor behind scenes, there may be a few
I would bet that ibkr is fairly hedged againt their own naked calls and naked put positions. Their biggest losses will probably be from large clients and institutions that were sellers of bsc puts and are now long the stock on margin from much higher levels. Many of these clients will need to liquidate other positions from their portfolio to cover the margin calls. This is the reason the fed is piling money into this. They are trying to avoid a massive liquidation of financial assets due to humongous margin calls.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=687388554&play=1 She is still smiling, things cant be too bad at the prop desk. No sign that there is panic in her face.
Would you visibly panic in front of national television if you represented a major broker no matter how bad things are? Look at enron/bsc/lehman.
If IB has stuck with its traditional philosophy treating both small and large customers alike then margin calls are not an issue. a little disdain goes a long way
I'm a pure futures trader, nothing else, and no one makes markets in the markets I trade, so I never really thought about it. thanks for filling me in.
I put in an ACH transfer to withdraw some funds yesterday afternoon and it hasn't been completed yet. It says "Processing". I'll let you know if it goes through later.