Option Block 174: Doing Whatever It Takes

Option Block 174: Doing Whatever It Takes   Trading Block: Another mixed day on the street: a stale, unchanged market today. Keeping our eye on Nvidia. Zynga making more headlines by firing their COO. ETrade ousts its CEO.   Odd Block: Calls active after E*TRADE ousts CEO.   Xpress Block: Sean Fitzgerald runs through a couple of use question for the OX crew: Why are Groupon options at a 100% margin commitment at OX? Why is OX showing my estimated commissions for closing out a short position for $.01 at full price? Also, unusual activity in Logitech.   Listener Mail: Puts Deep in the Money & Confused About Bid Price   Hi, I would like help please with a trade I made selling puts. I sold $90 puts (at a price of $9.00) exp Sept 2012 and they are now deep in the money currently trading at $53. When I sold the puts the share price was $130. I realize I have these 2 choices, a) buy back the options, b) accept the shares. However if someone can advise how to ease the pain of either of these and recommend a strategy for future put selling trades to provide some downside protection it would be much appreciated. (Via the Options Insider forum by helphelp)   I am trying to understand what the difference is between these two put options and why their bid values are so different. Both are UNG Jan13 puts with strike price 18. Thanks for help. (Via the Options Insider forum by akaspro)   Around the Block: Cisco earnings 8/15, Groupon earning 8/13.