Options Trading News

Equity indexes staged a strong rebound into yesterday's close, finishing mixed though mostly unchanged while driving the CBOE Volatility Index lower.

The S&P 500 ended the day up 0.63 points at 1433.82, climbing for the last two hours of trade after hitting a low of 1422.06. Support and resistance remain unchanged at 1428 and 1465 respectively.

The Nasdaq 100 fared the best of the indexes, ending the day up 16.25 points or 0.61 percent at 2694.56. It rode the heels of Apple, which was up just shy of 4 percent and regained all of Friday's losses. The NDX has support at 2650 and resistance at 2715.

The Russell 2000 also followed a similar intraday pattern but was unable to make up all of the
morning losses. It finished the day down 0.48 points to 820.52 and sits at support at 820, with another level at 816, while resistance is at 846.

The lack of volatility had the VIX finishing the day at 16.62, down 0.44 points, or 2.6 percent. It climbed to 17.98 going into the last two hours but then slid from there.

The November VIX futures were down 0.30 points to finish trading at 17.30, while the December futures were down 0.45 points to 18. The term structure had been flattening out but widened with the final hour.

More than 710,000 S&P 500 Index options traded, with 445,000 puts. The VIX options changed hands 296,000 times, led by 216,000 calls. The VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of the VIX options, had been higher all day but finished barely down at 92.48.