I show that the inventory risk faced by market-makers has a first-order effect on option prices. I introduce a simple approach that decomposes the price impact of trades into inventory risk and asymmetric information components. While both components are large for option trades, the inventory...

Conventional estimates of costs of taking liquidity in options markets are large. Nonetheless, options trading volume is high. We resolve this puzzle by showing that options price changes are predictable at high frequency and many traders time executions by buying (selling) when the option fair...

Do order flows in index derivatives play an informational role? Weekly index put order flow on the International Securities Exchange positively and robustly predicts weekly S&P 500 index returns. This result obtains mainly for net put buying and is stronger in high VIX periods and in periods...

The option implied volatility spread and skew predict stock returns. These variables also reflect the expected cost of borrowing stock to sell short. The stock borrowing fee implied from options prices predicts changes in quoted borrowing fees and stock returns; however, the volatility spread...

We examine how informed traders trade in the option market around news announcements. We show that their profits depend on whether positions are long or short, whether trades take place before or after news releases, and whether events are scheduled or unscheduled. We predict and find that...