I have followed the net OI numbers across the prices and periods for nearly 10 years. I don't recall ever seeing the puts at this level vs calls ABOVE the current spot price. Generally the peak puts are much below the peak calls giving the criminal slime a target price on OE. It will be a few days before I can confirm the levels in the next option month. From tonight's Midas:

Bill,..
Very contrarian signals to the current trading direction coming out of the Gold August Option Expiry data.

Anyone expecting further downside action in the gold sector over the next 2 weeks (which is most if sentiment indicators are anything to go by) may be sorely disappointed.

Below is a chart comparing the current open interest of all calls and puts between the $1150-$1250 range:

As can clearly be seen from the graph, the puts outweigh the calls. In fact across the whole range ($1150-$1250) there are some 36,383 puts against 28,839 calls.

However what is much more startling is how much the puts outweigh the calls below the strike price of $1230.

If one ignores all open interest from $1230-$1250 and considers only the range of $1150-$1225, there are over twice as many puts written to calls: 27,493 puts against 13,618 calls!

To say it is in the Option Writers interest to see the price of gold close towards the top of this range come option expiry day is under cooking it – I’d suggest it is of paramount importance!

And given how well we know these Bully Boys and how often they seem to get their way, I wouldn’t want to stand in front of this train attired in a pair of yellow shorts!..

With the price of spot gold currently standing at circa $1187, I bought some more today as I fully expect it to close at least $20-30 higher by 27th July. Of course if I’m right it will throw many of the present technical analysts who are warming their subscribers up to some sort of near term price plunge!
Kind regards,..
Rich (Live from ‘The Scarborough Bullion Desk’