Traders have never paid more to place levered long bets relative to downside protection in US equity markets… perhaps that was the final straw on the endless-bull-market-camel’s back…
After all that excitement at the open – Dow 26k and nothing can stop me now… Things have gone a lighter shade of pale red with all but The Dow now red for the day…
Notably, as Bloomberg reports,
as U.S. stocks trade at all-time highs, the price tag on bearish options has dropped to a trough relative to bullish contracts. The spread between the price of one-month, 25-delta puts and calls for the S&P 500 is roughly two standard deviations below its five-year mean, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
It’s an indication of the greed — or lack of fear — in the market suppressing the Cboe’s volatility gauge.
This is a record low skew – bullish/greed – lower than at the peak of the market in 2007…
The persistent decline in put prices — paying less for downside protection — drove the downtrend in the measure known as skew during most of last year’s second half. Since Jan. 3, investors chasing upside have led to an increase in the cost of calls, contributing to the historically significant level of bullish positions, the data show.
