"Call Volumes Are Just Extreme": Investors Selling Millions In Nickel Puts To Force Gamma Sqeeze As Market Loses Its Mind

Confirming our recent observations (here and here) that the current epic meltup is just one mindblowing gamma squeeze, similar to the one which was orchestrated by SoftBank in the summer of 2020 (and one which may well have been orchestrated by the same Japanese conglomerate to send ARM stock crashing higher), overnight UBS trader David Robinson made a stunning observation:

E-mini February wk3 4100 put paper sells 20k at 0.05 and is offered over in 55k, for Friday's expiry. They had sold 70k of Thursday's expiry 4120 puts at 0.05 on Wednesday. The desk sees this almost every day, and it works until it doesn't.

Translation: they may not be collecting pennies in front of a steamroller, but they are certainly collecting nickels in hopes of sparking a gamma squeeze, while also hoping that volatility doesn't suddenly spike and force a massive stop out resulting in a bone-crushing reversal in volatility, similar to the Feb 2018 Volmageddon.