Deep in the money strikes may indicate desire to accumulate, unless paired with a buy as a spread.
Selling in the money puts is a way to (theoretically) acquire shares without running up the stock price. If assigned, the shares are cheaper than the stock would have been if purchased at at the time of writing/ selling the put due to inital time value.
If the stock jumps and the put expires out of the money, they still pocket all the premium, which is more than the price change from sale/ write to strike. They would miss out on rise above strike though.
On the other hand, they could also buy puts below the current price along with selling puts above it as a short term bullish volatility play. The spread between strikes (minus credit in premium) is the max at risk which allows for a larger position, more delta, and more potential profit in the short term.
All assuming those were sold puts...
Deep in the money (DITM) strikes is an excellent method to accumulate (or liquidate) significant positions while minimizing the overall impact to the security during the accumulation (or liquidation) period, especially when in concert with staggered expiration dates which align to when one wishes to complete the transactions. For smaller positions (generally under 8 figures depending on the security's float, definitely anything under 7 figures) one might as well simply purchase or sell the security directly. For larger positions, one would generally try to avoid placing a direct order which would quickly run thru the existing buy / sell order book that is anywhere near current price.
Note that this works with calls as well as puts. Let's assume one is accumulating a significant position (the reverse works the same for liquidating, of course). If one is selling DITM (high above current price) puts or buying DITM (far below current price), it generally shows clear intent to purchase a set block of shares over a set period, as most 'traders' in options will be seeking higher leverage from strike prices closer to the current price. Hence, accumulating via these methods provides the other party (market makers, generally, but also at times other investment firms) to acquire shares to satisfy those DITM sold-puts or purchased-calls gradually over time, rather than in a compressed manner, and also allows the other party to find alternative investments to replace the position one is buying from them. The primary difference between selling DITM puts and buying DITM calls is minor, but one could argue that buying DITM calls conveys an even stronger sense of commitment to acquiring the blocks of shares.
Naturally, there are times when one either doesn't care about the impact to the stock price and will just run thru the order book to complete their accumulation / liquidation (or perhaps they are intentionally trying to do so in order to change the current share price for some reason). But I would posit that DITM options are generally the preferred way to accumulate / liquidate significant positions.
What I find most intriguing with respect to the presumed large put sales by Mr. Koguan (I have no clear independent validation of the position(s) but also no reason to dispute the various numbers being posted by him and others) is that it is not clear at all that these were *DITM* sold puts to indicate clear desire to accumulate. It is quite feasible that these were initially sold by him when they were out of the money, with the expectation of TSLA rising (or at least staying flat) and the sold puts decreasing in value to be bought back cheaply or left to expire worthless. Or perhaps there was an intent to establish a base floor price, to discourage sales below that price (if so, it failed as share selling supply continued to exceed share purchase demand at each price step down). Mr. Koguan's commentary r.e. being 'forced' to purchase shares now lends credence to his sold puts *not* indicating a true desire to accumulate, IMHO.
