The Kobeissi Letter — record 4.0M S&P 500 call volume as put/call skew posts its biggest two-day drop since 2017
The Kobeissi Letter — record 4.0M S&P 500 call volume as put/call skew posts its biggest two-day drop since 2017
The two numbers deserve different weight: the record call volume partly rides five years of options-market growth (~700K daily in 2020–21, a 2M ceiling until late 2023), but the skew collapse is pure positioning — traders paying up for upside while abandoning downside protection, and the sharpest such move since 2017, the stretch that preceded the February 2018 volatility unwind. It lands the same week fear drained out of a consolidating tape: the options market is now saying what the volatility gauges said Tuesday.
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The two numbers deserve different weight: the record call volume partly rides five years of options-market growth (~700K daily in 2020–21, a 2M ceiling until late 2023), but the skew collapse is pure positioning — traders paying up for upside while abandoning downside protection, and the sharpest such move since 2017, the stretch that preceded the February 2018 volatility unwind. It lands the same week fear drained out of a consolidating tape: the options market is now saying what the volatility gauges said Tuesday.
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