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Suppose you are very bullish or bearish on a stock but its options are thinly traded. Some stocks have an options market that doesn't exceed $200,000 even around earnings time.
Say you want to buy $400,000 of these call options and you were so bullish that you entered your limit order as the ask price. Would an order that effectively triples the market be filled and what effect would it have?
With all quotes there is a bid volume and an ask volume. If you place a large buy order that exceeds the current ask volume then you will buy only that number of contracts. If someone else likes your offer price and comes in with a new sell order at that same price, you'll buy additional contracts.
If there is a put seller of the same strike and expiration and if its price is attractive enough, then the market maker might do an arbitrage strategy called a Conversion and provide some additional calls for you to buy.
In all likelihood, you're not going to get many contracts because since the options are thinly traded, price will be moved easily, limiting your fill.
