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To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (68388)	8/18/2002 8:58:21 PM
From: X Y Zebra	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

how does that work anyway?...if someone wants to sell 25M dollars worth of puts in one fell swoop, are they guaranteed that someone else will take the other side of that trade? Let's see... if I am understanding this... then... So long the necessary equity required is in the account to cover the trade, (say in cash), and their trade meets whatever market maker(s) price is at the time... then the original transaction could have been a "sell put to open" and as Nancy indicated, they collected the premium. Most probably the option market makers are the ones taking the other side of the trade, (and don't cry for them as the spreads in options are in most cases larger than the equities) --no doubt the m/m hedged whatever position they had, that is supposed to be part of their job, for their own good. Then as the market went up, the value of the put premiums decreased.... following this scenario, the closing transaction was a "buy to close" at a reduced premium, making the difference a nice profit for the speculator(s) Or.... They could have had an open short position on the underlying (and possibly still do), then they sold the puts as a protection to the short position (similar to a selling a covered call if one has a long position on the underlying). Therefore... as the market rose and their short position gets heat, the profit on the short puts relieves some of that heat. If so.... whoever did this, is thinking: "we had a rally and now it is at its end.... closing the short put and having retained their short position with relative less risk. (and a nice profit) (of course that if the market continues to rally then their short position (if at all they had it or retained it), will continue to create a headache.... but in this market's volatility... I think we will still continue to have more downside... Just my opinion and interpretation of the described trade and the angle that Nancy gave to it. (volatility seems to be the key to this, I suppose) But I could be worng. btw... was this a single trade or a group of trades ? -hi Susie.

To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (68388)	8/18/2002 10:11:50 PM
From: Nancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

for this kind of size, i would guess brokerage houses take the other side of trade to meet client's request. and they most likely would put in hedge for their side of risk. all along my guess is smart money just want to earn the high premium when volatility is high and now volatility has dropped a lot they just take the profit and take the risk off the table as well. because the put is dec so far out i really feel it is a trade to reap premium.

To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (68388)	8/19/2002 12:25:49 AM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

The boyz will be away , so the mices will play Wall St Week Ahead - Stocks in belated summer rally biz.yahoo.com NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Stocks are expected to resume a tepid late summer recovery from multiyear lows, but don't expect spikes as Wall Streeters likely will crowd posh beach towns rather than sift through this week's meager economic data. Investors burned in prior months may dip another toe in a market helped by corporate top brass racing to vouch for the accuracy of their companies' financial results. The certification, which ended Aug. 14 for some 700 companies, helped ease widespread fears of financial skulduggery, pundits said. "I would say the market will have a slight upward bias as investors feel a little bit more comfortable with the bulk of the CEO certifications," said Joe Stocke, portfolio manager with the $800 million StoneRidge Investment Partners.