Thanks Dim. That's what I generally understood. Back when I used a full service broker at SB, I asked him about what happened when I opened to sell and he told me the specialist usually matched the contract and bought or shorted an offsetting stock position becasue the liquidity didn't usually exist for matched trades. Liquidity, depending on the stock, is probably a lot higher now.
That's why I always had trouble reading anything into a big OI jump except where it moved max pain. Never know if someone is betting long, betting short or hedging. I would look for but not usually find a volume spike in the stock at the same time.
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