Why are prices of ESTX50 ATM options so different ?

Discussion in 'Options' started by SumZero, Feb 25, 2016.

  1. i960

    i960

    It's not just him buddy, you're speaking out of your ass a lot and not realizing you're doing it. I suggest you check your ego in at the door lest the market teach you about that which you're ignorant about.
     
    #21     Feb 25, 2016
    OddTrader likes this.
  2. botpro

    botpro

    Dividend yield seems to be about 5.47%.
     
    #22     Feb 25, 2016
  3. rmorse

    rmorse Sponsor

    Unfortunately, it's not a constant yield. As newwurldmn wrote, dividends in many countries are only paid twice a year, rather than quarterly. I think the December dividend is the hardest to calculate. To do it properly, you need to know dividend flows and the future price for those options. As I told you earlier, they settle with the cash but trade before settlement vs the future.
     
    #23     Feb 25, 2016
  4. botpro

    botpro

    Hey, man what is your problem? I have the same right to be wrong like everybody here.
    I made a posting with a wrong assumption about the impact of dividends on Puts.
    So what? Am I supposed to be always perfect without any errors here? I'm here also to learn something. In this process making errors is not always avoidable.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2016
    #24     Feb 25, 2016
  5. botpro

    botpro

    Ok, thx, I see, a really complicated stuff. I had used the simple continous variant of dividends.
    No, I won't delve deeper into the dividend stuff. It was just a mathematical curiosity of me to calculate the
    dividend if all the other params are known and one wants to calculate it using BlackScholes as a rough estimate
    for the real dividend numbers.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2016
    #25     Feb 25, 2016
  6. Sig

    Sig

    The level of ignorance on basic option behavior on this thread is appalling. Look up "put call parity", ATM puts are definitely not more expensive than calls by pure mechanics unless you have a hard to borrow stock, which isn't the case here.
     
    #26     Feb 25, 2016
  7. Sig

    Sig

    Can you expand on that a bit, I'm missing something I think. I know SPX weekly options definitely cash settle at the S&P 500 closing on Friday, and consequently trade all week based on the actual SPX cash price, not the near month ES price. You can hedge with ES/ES options but you have to take the current difference in price between the index and the futures, which remains pretty much constant over that time frame and these interest rate/dividend conditions, into account. That seems to contradict what you posted, but I know you know what I just described, hence my thought that I must be misunderstanding?
     
    #27     Feb 25, 2016
  8. rmorse

    rmorse Sponsor

    Put/call party creates an interesting dilemma when you have varied cost of long/short and high priced underlying. The difference between my long rate and your short rate can be substantial. It is likely because of that and market demand for put buyers, that the puts can trade higher than the calls in many circumstances. Not enough to create an arb, but enough with wide markets that you can't make assumptions. You have to do the math for you based on your costs, to see what the best trade is. For a MM, long calls and short stock might be better but for a customer that gets crappy margin or rates, buying the put might be better.
     
    #28     Feb 25, 2016
  9. Agree. But sometimes no ATM options (straddle is not always available as wanted/desire), like the specific scenario with OP. Where pus is more expensive than calls!
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2016
    #29     Feb 25, 2016
  10. rmorse

    rmorse Sponsor

    SPX market makers hedge their positions with ES contracts because there is no SPX underlying and SPY is not efficient. So when their option skew is set in their platform, they use the futures that best corresponds to the month or week they are trading. Yes, they have to take into account that weekly options have no future and will settle before the future matches the cash. However, in this example, he was not asking about a weekly expiring in a few days. He was talking about the June options. If there is a JUNE future on that index, it will trade vs the future not the current cash.
     
    #30     Feb 25, 2016