Personally I find the reporting of underlying value more useful than the price paid in puts, since it reflects the asset itself rather than an arbitrary price for an option that could be any of many different strikes or expirations. The option price itself is not that meaningful.
Except it's literally what determines how much money is at risk in the trade. If you buy puts the actual underlying asset value doesn't matter as much as the value of the option itself (which is based on several factors such as time, strike price, etc)
The amount of money that is at risk with options is irrelevant because two different option positions with the same overall cost can have completely different risk profiles, which makes the actual value of those options not so interesting. In the absence of all the other details about the options trades, the actual amount paid for them is without much meaning.
It is the most meaningful thing. It's the exact amount of money you are risking. It's the exact amount you lose if it doesn't strike. If I buy a put for $2, the most I can lose is $2. It's meaningful even with no other information.
13F notional value, on the other hand, is meaningless without more info.
I disagree quite a bit, and in fact the notional value is exactly what you want to measure this, without more information about the trades. The amount of money that is at risk with options is irrelevant because two different option positions with the same overall cost can have completely different risk profiles, which makes the actual value of those options not so interesting. In the absence of all the other details about the options trades, the actual amount paid for them is without much meaning.
> Personally I find the reporting of underlying value more useful than the price paid in puts
How so?
If I buy TSLA puts at a $10 strike or a $500 strike they show up the exact same on the 13F as both have to be reported as if they are delta 1 when showing a share count.
One is a very meaningful bet and one is throwing money away.
More likely, it’s just a misunderstanding of what’s being communicated in this thread. Options are quite complicated and these comments here are rather brief so there’s probably a lot getting lost in the discussion.