Options Trading News

The equity indexes were mixed with the Nasdaq 100 falling significantly, while the CBOE Volatility Index and the VIX futures were lower.

The S&P 500 gave up most of its gains in the last minutes of trade to close at 1409.28. It was up more than 2 points but fell from just shy of 1416 at the end of the session. The SPX had dipped below 1400 at the morning lows. Support and resistance remain at 1390 and 1420.

The Nasdaq 100 lost exactly 30 points, or 1.12 percent, to end the session at 2637.89 as heavily weighted Apple dropped more than 6 percent. The NDX was as low as 2625 at the morning lows. Support remains at 2600 and resistance at 2700.

The Russell 2000 Index was down as well but only by 1.52 points, closing at 820.6. It did dip down near 816 at the morning low but was positive into the last 45 minutes of trade. Support and resistance are at 810 and 830 respectively.

The VIX ended the day down 0.66 points, or 3.86 percent, to 16.46. It did climb as high as 17.53 during the S&P 500's morning lows but moved negative even before the SPX went green.

The VIX remains above the December futures, which lost 0.45 points to finish trading at 16.05. The January futures were down 0.55 points to 17.35.

A little more than 600,000 SPX options traded on the day, with 370,000 puts. The VIX options turned over 361,000 contracts, led by 256,000 calls. The VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of the VIX options, was down 3.7 percent to 82.98, not far above last week's lows.