Jeff--
Like your joke.
More on the MSH, but this time the joke's on me. At about 4:20, when the market started coming off, I had a talk with my broker about getting a play on. He called up prices, and we decided it'd be a gas to do the December 395 puts--at the moment the index was at 401 and, it seemed, the puts cost 3/8. So he sent in the order and said he'd call back in about an hour. Call he did, to explain that he'd waited around for a confirm for about twenty minutes, all the while watching the index drop off as the price of the puts didn't change. Perplexed, he called up trading and was told that they'd sent him a wire (they still do that, don't know why) explaining that MSH options don't trade on expiry day: the contracts close out the day before. He didn't know why, but now that I think about it I suspect it has something to do with their being European style.
But DAMNNNNNN! By now they woulda been in the money, and what a TERRIFIC cheap thrill it woulda been. Some days you just can't win.
Don't know what to do next: if you check out the Januarys and Februarys--both puts and calls--you'll see they're quite pricey. My broker checked the action in the January 395 calls for the last few days and discovered to his surprise that they haven't moved much at all, even though the index itself has been all over the place. Logical conclusion: these things are only worth messing with in the last two weeks before expiry.
Oh what will I do for my fix in the meanwhile??
Janice |
