Forgive me but this is gonna come across as belligerent.

Taking your last statement first, in July the Aug 10 calls never traded near .05, in fact they were in the money until the 31st, when the underlying moved down from 12.56 to 9.64. so they opened up the 31st at 2.85 and closed at .80. And there were no 10k positions moved on the Aug 10 calls any time in July or August. Not even close.

That said, I'll address your strategy of using 1-3 strikes in the money positions. Your surrendering any delta by doing this, and if you're not holding the underlying, therefore not a hedge position, I don't see any benefit in taking the option position versus the stock. In fact you are increasing your risk with no upside. Just the opposite of good options strategy.

I'd love to hear the reason for 20 spreads if you're going out one month, why not 100. One month out seems capping your upside and taking a risk reduction position would be a better play.