To The Moon

The gravity-defying bull market is handing stock investors a fresh conundrum as an unusually big pile of options expires Friday: Chase gains via bullish derivatives or hedge with bearish bets?It’s a decision traders face every month, but the stakes are higher this time. About $4.2 trillion of contracts tied to stocks and indexes are scheduled to mature, according to an estimate by Rocky Fishman, founder of derivatives analytical firm Asym 500. That’s 20% more than a year ago.The event known as OpEx generally sees Wall Street managers either roll over existing positions or start new ones. This month it also happens to coincide with the quarterly expiration of index futures and the rebalancing of benchmark indexes including the S&P 500. The process is ominously dubbed triple witching and