Options Trading News

It was another day of red, with stocks and the CBOE Volatility Index closing lower.

The S&P 500 was down 4.74 points to close at 1457.15. The index had been as low as 1452 before midday but steadily climbed through the afternoon. Support remains at 1420 and resistance at 1475.

The Nasdaq 100 was down 5.5 points to 2718.72. It followed the same pattern as the SPX, falling below 2704 and then regaining much of that ground. Support and resistance remain at 2670 and 2785 respectively.
 
The Russell 2000 lost just 1.10 points to finish at 874.7, only about 5 points off last week's all-time high. A first level of support will likely be around 853, while resistance is at 880.

The VIX and the SPX usually move inversely, but yesterday the volatility index fell along with the stock market. It was down 0.17 points, or 1.23 percent, to close at its session low of 13.62 after spending much of the morning above 14.

The only time the VIX closed lower in the last five years was on Aug. 17. But that was before a weekend, which has a depressing effect on the volatility index.

The VIX futures finished the day mixed. The January contracts fell 0.10 points to 14.65, but both the February and March futures were up 0.05 points, to 16.59 and 18 respectively.

The action left the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) lower again. It set another all new low of 27.09 and a record low close at 27.18, down 1.24 percent.

The VIX options were second on the total volume list with another strong day at 736,000, led by more than 536,000 calls. The VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of the VIX options, was up 2 percent to 78.37.