SoftBank unmasked
The finger has been increasingly pointed at option buyers as the driver of the speculative euphoria in tech stocks in the past month but the genesis of the trade was likely Japanese conglomerate SoftBank.
The FT reports:
SoftBank is the "Nasdaq whale" that has bought billions of dollars' worth of US equity derivatives in a move that stoked the fevered rally in big tech stocks before a sharp pullback on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company has made big tech bets before -- including a bad one on WeWork -- but never via derivatives.
"These are some of the biggest trades I've seen in 20 years of doing this," said one derivatives-focused US hedge fund manager. "The flow is huge."
