Accessing the Data Supporting the Wall Street Journal Options Liquidity Article

Summary

ORATS data supported the Wall Street Journal article "Investors' New Headache: It's Getting Harder to Buy or Sell When They Want", showing how the quoted size on the bid and ask prices for average options have changed over the years. The liquidity diminished after the Feb 5th meltdown worse than the Aug 2015 crash, with the options market width going up 102% for the Feb '18 and the size on the bid ask decreasing 28% in Feb (vs 18% in Aug '15).

ORATS data supported the article, Investors’ New Headache: It’s Getting Harder to Buy or Sell When They Want in the Wall Street Journal today.

Using our snapshot data that is captured every 2 minutes, ORATS developed the following graphics showing how the quoted size on the bid and ask prices for average options have changed over the years.

Size on the Bid-Ask Already Much Lower Than Recent Years

Worse This Time

The liquidity diminished in after the Feb 5th meltdown worse than the Aug 2015 crash. Both had similar down moves in price and high daily volatilities, but the options market width went up 102% for the Feb '18 (vs 48% in Aug 2015) and the size on the bid ask decreased 28% in Feb (vs 18% in Aug '15).

Will Shrink Strike Again? DICK’S and Best Buy Highlight Week 2 of Retail Earnings

We profile two retailers that have struggled this year for signs of a turnaround

What Options Market Tells Us About Twitter

Amid a legal battle between Elon Musk and Twitter, traders can assess trends in options market for clues on where stock might go

Musky Options in Twitter Prior To SEC Filing Stake

Twitter call options have risen sharply since Elon Musk started tweeting about interest in the stock back in March 25th.