[Pearls Before Swine]

Gutsy? Or planning a little market manipulation? (Not that I have any idea how).

[txrefugee]

A lot like playing your hunches in Vegas. Aren’t you glad you have an “expert” playing the stock market with your money?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Shortly after noon ET, the trader purchased 50,000 Jan. 23 weekly 195-strike puts on the popular SPDR exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500, which trades under the ticker symbol "SPY." These options are perceived to have a low probability of paying off, which explains why they traded at a price of 9 cents a share, for a total outlay of $450,000.

I calculate $0.09 x 50,000 as $450. Why am I three-orders-of-magnitude off?

[99tango]

at 9 cents a share, only 4500 dollars.

[Mr. K]

It must be nice to have your market manipulation bet published so that everyone can help you win

I bet the shareholders of that stock are happy to be participating in a ‘bet’

All it would take would be a few of his friends dumping the stock to make the price fall. (and they don’t ‘lose’ they just get whatever the stock is worth now anyway)

[RummyChick]

Btw, your alert helped me make the decision to short the run up.

Looking good so far.

[bankwalker]

However, if the S&P falls 5 percent between Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET and Friday's close (to give an example) the trader will enjoy a quick profit of more than $12 million.

He doesn't have to hold them until Friday's close to profit. A move down of 5 or 10 S&P points will probably give him a quick double or triple. He was possibly making a bet on the ECB news with a good R/R ratio.

[SomeCallMeTim]

If he was betting on the ECB to not print money, he just lost.

[mad_as_he$$]

Same plot as “Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit”, only a little smaller.

[jaydee770]

Here’s a teachable moment!

For those of us who aren’t familiar, would someone be kind enough to explain how you buy something today and make money tomorrow when the market goes *down*?

And please excuse my ignorance on the matter.

[Hot Tabasco]

Shortly after noon ET, the trader purchased 50,000 Jan. 23 weekly 195-strike puts on the popular SPDR exchange-traded fund

I'm not familiar with stock trading so could you please decipher this for me?