Gradually, too, the culture of the Chicago Board Options Exchange changed. Initially, it was (as noted above) allowed to trade only call options, and it did so in a bear market, in which calls with high strike prices seemed always to expire unexercised, because the stock price remained below the strike price. A good income could therefore apparently be earned by selling those calls without bothering with theory or hedging. "Sell the 280s and drive a Mercedes" became the motto of at least some traders, referring to high-strikeprice ($280) calls on IBM, then the stock on which options were most heavily traded (Doherty interview).

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 743