So I'm sitting here watching the options on the SPY and all of a sudden around 11:00 PST the spreads go from 1 to 2 pennies to 10 pennies or more and stay that way for approximately five minutes, the underlying doesn't do much and then the spreads go back to 1 to 2 pennies. There must be a reason why the MMs cracked open the spreads but why? Thanks for your thoughts...
If you are going to trade you really ought to know when news is being released. My favorite news release site is Forex factory (even though I do not trade forex). https://www.dailyfx.com/calendar I trade the 6E futures contract and this one site seems to be all I need. It is a lot better KNOWING WHEN news is being released than sitting there in an open position and wondering why the order book got so thin and price is jumping around so much...... BTW- Friday is a big news day. 7:30am & 12:30pm CST would be good times to be flat.
%% That + lower the volume, the more they can+ should widen bid- ask spread . Mostly true in any market not just stocks; check out huge bid- ask-spread on new cars LOL