open interest Jan 15 puts with strike of $20

[TomCrooz]

Tom most likely these were sold puts , that investor collected a premium for that short sale . If the stock is above the strike $20 the seller gets to keep the money . The Wells Fargo fund manager likes to sell puts on Interoil. Most likely they thought that was a safe trade , They expected the stock at expiration to be above $20. The off setting put buyer to the seller of the puts would have been the market maker . The market maker will be the loser on the trade .

I understand how puts and calls work JFT.  I was just pointing out that when you are long puts, you do not RECEIVE money as you stated.  You lose everything you invest in the contract if you hold it to expiry and the stock is above the strike price.  You think the market maker does not want the stock to be BELOW 20( if indeed they were the buyers of all those open puts?