Which would only be in the money if Goldman fell to under $2.50. Within 6 months. Reminds me of a thread I started when someone bought way out of the money Lehman puts.
The vega-players are "circling" GS. Those 2.5 puts seem to have the highest open interest of any strike price up to $50. :eek:
Reading between the lines, it's possible that the gov't., though incompetent, has GS in a corner. GS is hemming and hawing, delaying, and not knowing what to do. "The interests of the client always comes first", is the GS motto. But when asked before Congress, "have you always put the interests of your clients first?" - there's was lots of hemming and hawing. It's my guess that GS is caught somewhere on this issue.
A guess is one thing, but buying 1500 puts with that strike is another! Seems someone is willing to throw some decent coin down and given the LEH and BSC situations from a couple years back, it's definitely something to watch.
From my perspective, this is someone with a hunch, gambling his yearly bonus. The cost here is $4500 + commissions.
You're right, $4500 is really nothing in the grand scheme but $2.50 strike is quite absurd...or is it? Time will tell.
They short at $137 and then pay a few cents to buy PUTs 2.5. That scares the longs and sell their shares so the stock goes to $130. They cover it with $7 profit and forget about that 2.5 PUT. That is trade bluffing