Options Trading News

The big three equity indexes all finished the day fractionally lower, as did the CBOE Volatility Index.

The S&P 500 was down 3.05 points to close just below 1460 after climbing to 1465.47, its highest intraday level since Oct. 5. The SPX fell in the last two hours but did finish above the lows of the day. Support remains at 1420 and resistance at 1475.

The Nasdaq 100 followed a similar pattern but saw steeper losses. It was down 14.21 points, more than 0.5 percent, to close at 2732.26 after reaching a high of 2750 during the day. The losses leave the index back near Wednesday's open but still well above Monday's close. It has support at 2670 and resistance at 2785.

The Russell 2000 slipped 0.82 points, or just 0.09 percent, to close at 872.60. It was almost 6 points higher during the session at a new intraday high above 878. Support remains at 850 for the small-cap index, which hit a new all-time high of 873.42 on Wednesday.

The VIX ended the day down 0.12 points to 14.56 after dipping to 14.24 as the SPX hits its session highs. The two indexes usually move inversely.

The near-term VIX futures were higher, as the January contracts gained 0.25 points to 15.85 and the February futures rose 0.20 points to 16.95. These futures have seen consecutive record volume days this week.

The iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) and other short-term VIX-based funds and notes hit record intraday lows despite gaining on the day.
 
More than 847,000 VIX options changed hands, making it No. 2 on the total option volume list, led by 471,000 calls. The VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of the VIX options, closed at a new record low of 77.02 after giving up another 2.2 percent on the day.