Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Another first for me trading options

I was executed on an options trade 15 minutes after the market closed. Has this ever happened to anybody else? I'm not complaining, I got filled at my limit price, just wasn't aware it could happen.

6 comments:

  1. I have gotten executed within a few minutes after the close...but not 15 minutes. But when trading crude options for example I have been executed at like 2:30 in the afternoon, probably due to the fact that crude can be traded 23 hours and 15 minutes a 24 hour day.

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  2. Just had a similar experience, filled a spread on SPY well after the bell at 3:07 pm CST.

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  3. Mine was SPY as well, so there is something about that that we need to find out.

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  4. It's happened before for me for other positions as well like RUT. On the platform, it says order "working" well after the bell rings and usually I don't get an alert saying "expired" until 10 or 15 minutes after the close. I've heard that market makers will look to hedge their positions at the very end of the day if they need to do so, so orders that might have sat around all afternoon sometimes will fill in the final trades. This doesn't really explain why they fill 10-15 minutes after the final trades are supposed to be finished though.

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  5. Jason, Options continue to trade until 4:15p EST (3:15 CST). It is not uncommon to get filled between 4 and 4:15 for a couple reasons:

    1) Market Makers are largely using this time to flatten positions for the overnight. Since futures also trade until 4:15 (except RUT), its an ideal time to go neutral with hedges and offsetting trades.

    2) Post-market news announcements frequently cause a sudden spike in activity which equals panic. When people or MMs panic, they often hit the bid or ask and your trade can get filled favorably. Of course, the post-market announcement might also mean you got filled because a MM was able to offset you and collect the edge.

    3) Any static buyer/seller on the same options you were trying to open/close who was artifically depressing/increasing the IV is now gone and the option prices re-stabilize and fill your order.

    The important thing is that you can continue to trade until 4:15, but with less liquidity and frequently less fills (unless you are offering or bidding against the market direction).

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  6. Chris, I wasn't previously aware you could trade until 4:15pm EST, thank you for the info.

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