London 07/09/2016 - The September LME traded options declarations, which took place late morning on Wednesday, were relatively routine, given recent price activity, and there was little immediate post-expiry market impact, traders said.
"It was OK - nothing too exciting - the (underlying) prices were not really near any significant stress levels, where we were concerned," a trader said.
In copper, the ATM (at-the-money) strike was $4,675, although open interest was modest at some 131 calls and 150 puts, so the expiry was calm.
"It (the market) held below $4,700 - there is resistance there," the trader said.
There was much larger exposure at the $4,700 strike, with some 1,800 lots of puts in-the-money, while the 1,218 lots of calls were abandoned. Recent three months business was at $4,660 per tonne, some $22.50 below intra-day highs.
In aluminium, the market was focussed on the $1,575 strike, where 1,000 calls were in-the-money and likely declared, while 927 puts were out of play. Underlying prices advanced above $1,600 after the declaration - at this level there were 4,452 puts that were declared earlier, while 3,220 calls were out-of-the-money.
In other metals, there was a cluster of strikes above $10,000, but apart from the 662 lots of puts at $10,000, which fell out of the money, open interest was low in either single or double figures.
For lead and zinc, recent price strength in these metals - the markets have hit their highest since mid-2015 - has pulled the ATM option focus up to levels where there is no notable open interest.
In zinc, there were some 2,345 calls at $2,400, but the underlying market was way below that level at $2,340. For lead, the highest strike was $1,950 - 125 calls - with the market briefly touching $1,959.50 today.
(Editing by Tom Jennemann)