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Misleading reports: Michael Burry bought $1.6 billion of $SPY and $QQQ puts.

Many headlines are stating that Michael Burry just bought $1.6 billion of $SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.US)$ and $Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ.US)$ puts.
However, this is very misleading as the real value of the puts he bought is much LOWER.
NOMINAL VALUE is reported, not the amount Burry paid for the puts.
Misleading reports: Michael Burry bought $1.6 billion of $SPY and $QQQ puts.
Due to the way options are reported, this is a common misconception.
Calculated portfolio weighting for options is incorrect because nominal value is reported.
Nominal value is calculated as "the number of option contracts" × 100 × "the value of the underlying security."
Misleading reports: Michael Burry bought $1.6 billion of $SPY and $QQQ puts.
Given that 2,000,000 "shares" of each position are held, we can extrapolate that 40,000 contracts were purchased.
This is computed by taking (2,000,000 * 2) / 100 = 40,000.
The NOMINAL value of these 40,000 contracts is $1.6 billion.
However, in reality, Michael Burry spent much less than $1.6 billion to buy these 40,000 contracts.
He didn't report the price paid per contract but say we take the November 17th, 2023 puts for $QQQ and $SPY.
The expiration date on puts are 95 days out from today.
$SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.US)$ puts at a $440 strike are trading at $8.60 and $Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ.US)$ puts at a $369 strike are trading at $12.60.
Take 20,000 of each and you get (20,000*$8.60) + (20,000*$12.60) = $424,000.
While we don't know the price paid per contract, the total is MUCH LOWER than $1.6 billion.
Misleading reports: Michael Burry bought $1.6 billion of $SPY and $QQQ puts.
Misleading reports: Michael Burry bought $1.6 billion of $SPY and $QQQ puts.
While Michael Burry did buy shorts on $QQQ and $SPY, the value is MUCH lower than $1.6 billion.
When you see headlines about options on a 13F, remember nominal value is reported.
Misleading reports: Michael Burry bought $1.6 billion of $SPY and $QQQ puts.
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