MQGLOY, page-7

Hi Millibuster. Bank shares slide because they are mathematically worth less on ex date than the day before.

You can read the citi website or give them a call to discuss how they adjust the pricing, as they are quite friendly. I've forgotten the technicalities of this, but just wanted to comment more generally.

There are no free rides in trading. You can't expect as a trader, particulatly a newbie, to be gifted money like this. It was a well flagged dividend. Why wouldn't every fund manager in the country just take the same trade with an easy $2.40 on offer. Of course any such advantage is either adjusted in the underlying instrument or arbitraged away. If you see this sort of thing again then check that your assumptions are correct.

I trade both Options and mini warrants.

I looked at shorting MQG using options at the same time as you. But i knew the dividend was already priced into the option price, so I wasn't trying to arbitrage that dividrnd drop but wanted to short the underlying stock in spite of the ex date. So it was a question of working out whether the share would fall more than the value assumed on the option pricing.

I decided it wouldn't and didn't take the trade. That turned out to be the correct action. The July $72 put options were worth less after the ex date as the price effectively moved up the next day after adjusting for the div.

Hope that helps and not confuses.

Note I'm looking for another opportunity to enter a short. There is a lot of market risk around at the moment. Not saying MQG can't go up for you and I don't know your timeframe, but be careful with that leveraged long trade.

And I have an afr subscription!!.