S&P 500The market for extremely short-dated options on US stock market moves has boomed in recent weeks, sparking fears among analysts that the daily bursts of activity could be causing sharp sell-offs in equities.around events such as economic data releases or monetary policy meetings, have surged in popularity since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Analysts say demand for zero-day contracts has further surged in the past three weeks as financial markets have become more volatile. Last week global bond yields jumped to multiyear highs as investors adjusted their expectations thatFour of the all-time top 10 days for S&P 500 zero-day options purchases have come in August, according to Nomura, over which time the benchmark US index has slipped more than 4 per cent.
Goldman Sachs suggested that on Tuesday tens of thousands of orders for bearish zero-day put options worth a cumulative $45bn had forced market makers who need to manage their exposures to buy protective hedges. This pushed them out of equities and forced the S&P 500 down 0.4 per cent in just 20 minutes, said Goldman.