[In Tuesday’s Team Trades we discussed a trade on the QQQ] Were you trying to put on a spread or buying or selling puts? What does 5.60 by 5.80 mean? If the market makers moved bid to hit stops were these people selling puts? I always had to buy at the ask and sell at the bid.

No, that was the bid and ask (5.60 x 5.80, a 20 cent spread). Whathappened was someone apparently put in a limit order to buy the puts at5.80, trying to shave the spread, and the market maker moved the bid up to5.80 while keeping the ask at 5.90. That narrowed the spread and we knewwe could get the ask pretty easily even if there was upward pressure onthe QQQ. We wanted to get in on at least one position, so we put in thesecond order at the 5.90 price. Then when the market ticked higher, theoption prices fell and the second limit order was triggered. We were justusing the market maker’s tinkering with the spread to get a quick fill.When they narrow the spread by raising the bid, we can usually get a fastfill at the ask price even if there is upward pressure on the option andit would normally rise on the ask. Seems strange, but that has been ourexperience.