Options Trading News

Stock indexes traded in a tight range on Friday and remained at long-term highs.

The S&P 500 fell 2.53 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1560.70, and remains about 1 percent below its all-time high in 2007. Resistance is at 1565 and support at 1525.

The Nasdaq 1000 dropped 7.89 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2799.41. It closed near the middle of its price range for the day. Unlike most other indexes, it remains well below its 52-week and all-time highs. Its underperformance results partly from weakness in Apple in the last six months. Resistance for NDX is at 2846 and support at 2760.

The Russell 2000 is the most bullish of the three indexes. It declined 0.59 points, or 0.06 percent, to 952.46, after hitting an all-time high of 954 earlier in the session. Support is at 920.

The CBOE Volatility Index was exactly unchanged at 11.30. It hit 11.99 shortly after the open, then settled into a range and finished just off its session low.

The VIX futures were mixed. The March futures have only two trading days left and were down 0.05 points to 12.50. The April futures gained 0.05 points to close at 14.65.

This left the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Note (VXX) up just 0.04 points at 20.57. It hit a new all time intraday low of 20.41.

More than 700,000 SPX options traded, with puts outpacing calls by more than 2 to 1. The VIX options turned over 475,000 contracts, led by 334,000 calls. Just behind were the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures Note options with 419,000, with 268,000 puts. The VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of the VIX options, was up 2.7 percent to 85.72.