There seems to be very little time premium involved, so there is no time decay for the options involved. You or I would not get so favorable prices. Since there is very little premium involved and I think the entity will get similar no added premium charged when the closes his long PUTs at a profit. He is making a real serious bet that market is headed up by 2005 since if it isn't he is going to have to barf up more money then he collected on short PUTs if market goes down. He is most likely pledging cash or bonds which are only making 1% right now.
Zeev, They still have a $10 debit per share, $1000 per contract. It's a bear put spread, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to do it that far in the money (???).
Thanks, that is more rational, and makes a lot of sense, they are actually pocketing some money on this, they are probably going to close that (one leg at a time?) long before Jan 2005.
What is less rational though; who is taking the other side of these trades?
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