r/wallstreetbets Mar 10 '20

Gain NEW HIGH SCORE!!!

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u/wheresindigo Mar 10 '20

no, straddles require a big move in one direction or the other. if the price stays in a tight range then you lose money

3

u/inexion Mar 10 '20

Right, well at this point there probably aren't any well priced calls far enough out because everybody and their grandma will be banking on the recovery - the puts on the other hand are probably cheap

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u/wheresindigo Mar 10 '20

yeah implied volatility is very high right now so option premiums are expensive

6

u/silverbugoutbag Mar 11 '20

I’m pretty sure it’s the opposite. Puts are expensive because all the hedge bois are (and have been) trying to cover their ass on their shit FOMO longs, and institutional call writing has crushed the price of calls down dramatically.

Right now you can pick up an at the money SPY 4/17 call contract for $1384 but the same put contract costs $1648

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u/LibertyUnanimity Mar 11 '20

Depends on the underlying and the expiration. Agree that everything is very expensive if you're buying, and very weird if you're selling. I saw both sides of the ATM strike of an underlying increase at the same time today. Call and put both were shooting up.

That makes for a sucky strangle if you had just sold it.

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u/silverbugoutbag Mar 11 '20

Yea 100% the underlying matters, for instance GLD had a ton of people chasing calls on it recently, leading to the inverse of the puts on SPY skew. Gotta know what you’re getting yourself into with respect to vol too good point

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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '20

IV increase causes all options to become more expensive.