Mar. 24 at 4:33 PM
$HPE This was an obvious long to add this past Friday 3/20 after
$SMCI was almost certain to lose business to this company and
$DELL. Dell rallied huge while
$HPE was totally pinned to
$22 and closed DOWN. Weird!
OH WAIT. WHAT A COINCIDENCE THERE WAS A GIGANTIC STACK OF
$22 CALLS EXPIRING ON 3/20 AND MARKET MAKERS KEPT ALL THE PREMIUM AFTER NOT FULLY HEDGING LIKE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY CAN PUT THEIR THUMB ON THE SCALE FOR EXPIRATIONS AND KEEP EXTRA PREMIUM AS USUAL AND THE CAPITAL OUTLAY TO DO SO FOR SMALLER MARKET CAPS IS STATISTICALLY HIGHLY LIKELY TO BE PROFITABLE.
Another example of options market corruption providing opportunities if you assume unnatural price action for large option expiries, and load then for a rebound when the thumb comes off the scale after opex.
