RDBX keeps squeezing. Seems there is a bit of a standoff - as @Naked noted in TF, shorts have no desire to cover as the merger price is sub-$1, yet it’s unclear why the merger will be approved by shareholders if prices remain nearly as elevated as they are. Both boards have approved and they said deal will close in “the second half of 2022,” so there is time for things to simmer down.
Unclear if this is enough time, but grabbed 7/15 5C @1.00 each, when limit buys filled. 
Someone stated majority shareholder(s) of RDBX have already approved it.
A few funds own > 50% of the shares, so this makes sense, if they already got 50% of the vote then public shareholders don’t matter.
Yeah I got the info from the press release… believe it’s Apollo which has the majority of the voting power and signed a voting agreement:
Timing and Approvals
Redbox stockholders holding approximately 86% of the Redbox voting power have entered into a voting agreement to approve the transaction. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment stockholders holding approximately 91% of the voting power of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment have delivered a written consent approving the transaction.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Upon closing, the combined entity will retain the name Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and will continue to trade under the ticker symbol “CSSE” on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Noticed today right before close a metric butt ton of suspiciously deep ITM, near dated calls being opened. As I recall; purchases like this preceded the ESSC and SST sharp sell offs. It spooked me enough for me to close out almost my entire position and grab a couple of slightly OTM puts on the chance of a nose dive.
Gonna submit this comment now since the forums went down last night and it didn’t go through. Also have the benefit of PM data now. As of right now RDBX is trading at $14.16 with 121K PM volume according to TD.
I hope nobody here loses money on RDBX, but I’d love this to help confirm that theory. If it holds we’ll see a dramatic dump on RDBX today or by the end of the week.
For the record, I opened and closed a strangle while the stock was trading between $17-18 today. Sold it a few mins later for a couple bucks profit, but watched the prices throughout the day. My strikes were a 16p/18c, and even when RDBX dumped to 14 the put wasn’t up nearly as much as the call was down (I’d have been down ~10% at that point). This is with puts being much more expensive than calls. Frankly, for me, the IV isn’t worth the trouble, as it was around 400. You’d have to not only time the top near perfectly so theta didn’t kill you, but the stock would need to tank spectacularly to reliably make some cash IMO.
OI on TD doesn’t update until 6-6:30, I’ll upload a screenshot of current OI when it does.
Almost none of that deep ITM call action translated into OI. Meanwhile idiots dumped 8k OI into the 28c and the chain was extended, again, up to $34.
ETA: RDBX appears to be dumping, down to $12.20 right now.
https://twitter.com/JulianKlymochko/status/1536694482397081600
Note that the warrants are now effective apparently
Another big spike of deep itm call volume on the nearest dated OpEx just opened within the last ten minutes. 2k on 2.5 and and roughly 1.5k on the 5, the 446 on 3 strike was opened sometime earlier this morning and not with the latest batch.
looks like another 6k on the 5c, 7k on the 6c, and 1.5k on the 7c, all in addition to whats in your screenshot.
trying to get a few more puts to fill before EOD.
looking at the OI this morning, the only volume that translated to OI were the 7c. Everything else is gone.
Thousands of deep ITM calls bought and exercised yesterday. I’ll be looking for an open pump to hopefully grab a few puts on, followed shortly by another dump.
as of 11:40 there is 2.5k vol on the 6/17 2c, 800 on the 3c, 1.1k on the 5c, and 1.2k on the 7c.
Thats at least 3 days where there has been significant volume on deep ITM calls that didn’t translate to OI, and I’m betting today’s doesn’t either.
I’m in 2 10c @ 1.00 that are down now at .85. The dump I was expecting hasn’t happened yet, but I’m willing to wait and see for a bit.
Thanks for these updates I’m in 5 July 1 8p @1.78. Red but think they will end up just fine.
i just tried to buy one more at .75 and TD is telling me they’re not permitting any opening orders on the contract.
Can anybody else confirm?
I couldn’t buy them in TD either. Robinhood was restricting the amount to 500 total contracts. Not sure if these are good or bad things….I would think it would help reduce buying pressure but that’s just me
it also reduces the market you’re trying to sell your puts to, unfortunately.
Update on the deep ITM 6/17 calls:
2k 1c
2.5k 2c
800 3c
8.2k 5c
3.5k 6c
7.7k 7c
Huge jump from earlier.
Given TD blocking the buy button, and me missing that instant drop EOD where I might’ve gotten out green, I sold my puts at a loss to get out. I had 6/17s and theta was really gonna eat them up overnight. Hope for everybody else it tanks AH/PM.
Just checked, none of that deep ITM call volume translated to OI. In a shocking turn of events, RDBX is bouncing between +15% - +20% this morning.
So while we were scrambling to assess TD shutting off the buy button for our puts, a couple people on TF bought calls and will hopefully take profit at open. I don’t think I’ve had such a public “invert me” moment yet. If you had 6/17 puts, unless this thing dumps HARD, you’re likely screwed. If they were further out, you might still be safe – but if you’re on TD you can’t take advantage of any runs to average down. Good luck out there.
ETA: So far, all TD has said about halting options buys is they’re waiting on guidance from OCC to determine what they’re doing with RDBX options. As far as I know, none of us here know what they’re talking about. Mergers have SOPs so this is unusual. I don’t like market conspiracy shit, but this is starting to be a concerning trend with TD – anymore, they’re the first ones to meddle in “squeeze” type scenarios.
Buying restricted on E*trade as well now
Buying of contracts not possible with Interactive Brokers today.
