I guess VN should listen to himself: "When you see excessive volatility, be careful; when you don't see excessive volatility, be doubly careful." Victor Niederhoffer (The Education of a Speculator)
Anyone know what the cap hit his for a 1 year 65% of spot option?? Other than margin arbitrage,I can imagine why that maniac loaded up the truck and sold them for 50 bps or so.
No, you had it right Risk. Here's the liqu on several thousand Dec/08 1000p and 1100p's. http://www.cme.com/daily_bulletin/Section50_S_And_P_500_Put_Options_2007153.pdf
12-23-07 01:36 PM So you don't think the locals on the other side of Vic's trade talked? Big deal. You and Vic are both so delusional y'all think the U.S. equity markets went through several trillion of market cap just so that Vic's short puts would explode. I know peoples positions all the time. Rarely is it valuable info.
So on average he collected apx 120Bps..... The respective deltas on those options are apx .01 and .03.... 15,000 contracts x .02(Avg delta) x 250(multiplier)=Delta long 75,000 S&P.. Delta Long 75,000 S&P =300 futures!!!!!Thats right.Vic chose to sell 15,000 puts with an underlying notional of 4 billion dollars,as opposed to buying 300 futures contracts with 117 million of notional... Ask yourself,why would anyone who considers themselves a speculator opt to sell 15,000 puts as opposed to simply buying 300 futures??Any derivative geek knows that if the market goes your way and trades higher,you wont make any real money as those garbage options will just go up in vol(skew),and the bid offer spread will probably negate any small profitability getting out... Could it be that the 70 million in premium Vic took in required little to no margin capital and it was "free money",enabling him to keep pace with real traders and remain atop the food chain??? Things that make you go hmmmmmm.....
looks like several want it.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290192318631&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=019 surf
T-Dog,I am afraid not.As you can see there is alot of finger pointing at those nasty evil folks over at the CME who waited for the right time to bump up the margin on the Barefoot Wonder.