Interesting twist, dissappearing bids

One of my positions that was showing a loss was not in a bad state, just down a bit. This was not a position that I had great hopes of gaining a lot... testing and all.

The option was worth $2.25 and I bought 2 contracts, $450. This is a higher than I normally would place on an options trade now, this one was entered before I decided on full trade loss risk.

Today, as I was reviewing the prices after the market had been opened long enough to get the option prices set and the bids in I noticed a huge loss in one account. My $2.25 position was at zero value, which shouldn't happen unless the option expires or nears expiry...even then it SHOULD have some value. This stock is only $1.30 down from the $20 strike price so I might expect a 50-75 cent loss at this point...maybe even as high as 90 cents worst case.

So what's up? No bids. The current ask is $3.00... much higher than my $2.25 entry price. Zero bids means zero value as nobody is buying. Now, the open interest is 1227 contracts so there is SOME interest but the stock itself is trading on lowish volume, under 20,000 shares in the first hour and less than 150,000 daily on average. Technically the stock is at a good support level trendwise so there is potential.

The first thing that comes to mind is THANKFULLY I decided not to place a stop on my options as I am not sure what price I might have got for this stock had I stopped it.

I notice that now it is back to a 50 cent paper loss, so all is good and this is actually in line with what I expected...so it is back to normal. I may drop this one as a bit of a whit elephant once it gets into a breakeven position or if I end up at a stable -90 cent point.

Jeff.