For the TSLA June 18th 2021, $1 Puts, there are many contracts offered at a bid price .01 with the ask at .02. It seems like a low strike to have such activity/open interest (40,000 open interest) 1. Is there much/any risk selling those to open at that strike? (besides tying up money for so long) 2. Why would there be so many for bid at a $1 with the stock at its current price?
Someone thinks if tsla drops beyond a certain level their debts will be in troubl and are hedging it.
Just speculating, but bids could be there due to market making, since there is some demand/movement/trading around these, even in small qty like volume of 5 today. Some algos may automatically find opportunities and trade these, for example making $0.10 on $1 trade round-trip (excluding the risk). They could also sell one at $2-strike for each two they'd buy at $1-strike, thus eliminating the risk. They could also try preventing or performing some put-call parity arbitrage related to $1 calls. And who knows what else they could come up with.
So is there much risk (besides tying up money) to selling some puts at that strike for an average investor with TSLA?
Personally I don’t think so at that strike. But what would be your commission for selling $0.01 option? Unless you get free commissions? It could also tie up some margin. Let’s see if your order(s) would go through anyway.
It would bring in 1% of whatever is secured; i.e. 30 contracts would tie up $3000, and bring in $30 of premium. I know it's only a little money, but I was just surprised to see a strike like that with TSLA at its current price.
These used to be the 5 strike before the split, and TSLA was a lot lower at one time. Worth it for some people to cover their shorts for margin reasons. If they are being paid adding liquidity, they could even have a negative commission on the cover.
Are you sure 30 contracts only ties up $3000?? I thought the minimum charge is higher Reg T or Portfolio Margin??