Here's from the article. "SoftBank bought a roughly equal amount of call options tied to the underlying shares it bought, as well as on other names, according to people familiar with the matter. It also sold call options at far higher prices. This allows SoftBank to profit from a near-term run-up in stocks and then reap those profits by unloading its position to willing counterparties."
According to my skew numbers it doesn't look like the 'sold call options at far higher prices' affected the skew measurably. Those calls could have been in the 1 or 2 delta variety that wouldn't have much effect even on the 5 delta skew we measure. As seen below the 5 delta / 75 delta skew is the highest since 2007 where as the 25/75 has hit the level two other times.
I was asked by an EliteTrader subscriber to show how I got the ratios. Here's a video of the chart making the ratios: https://gyazo.com/6f9ac1a34378b3da9c88a0bb95320c10
I know some people don't like ZH, but it's fascinating story. One guy who orchestrated this was MD at 28. Connecting The Dots: How SoftBank Made Billions Using The Biggest "Gamma Squeeze" In History And it's look like the game is over: SoftBank Has Closed Most Of Its "Nasdaq Whale" Positions
To access any WSJ article, just type the title into google, then click on the link from google. You will bypass their paywall.
Thank you again for putting your readers on notice something was out of whack. You saved a us some cash because I dumped into the crazy mark-up on Wed.
Question for Dest or Matt. Is this selling related to mm's/dealers now selling stock they bought to hedge calls? Rumor is that Softbank has covered most of what they bought. So no need to have as large a hedge.