Options Trading News

The major equity indexes were higher again yesterday, pushing the CBOE Volatility Index lower.

The S&P 500 was up 11.10 points, or 0.76 percent, to 1472.12--its highest close since the end of 2007. It was positive all day, climbing sharply in the afternoon to finish just off its session high. It is just below resistance, while support is at 1420.

The Nasdaq 100 was up 16.53 points to 2744.18. Unlike the SPX it did not finish above its morning high and remains below the close from the first day of 2013. Support and resistance remain at 2670 and 2785 respectively.

The Russell 2000 also finished below its morning high but did gain 1.73 points to end the day at 881.24, a new all-time closing high. It is still right at resistance, with support at 853.

The VIX fell 2.32 percent to 13.49, its second-lowest close in five years and just above that of Aug. 17. The volatility index and the S&P 500 usually move inversely, though they had departed from that correlation in recent days.

The VIX futures were also lower. The January futures fell 0.50 points to 14.20, while the February contracts were down 0.30 to 16.10. This left the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX), which is composed of those two nearest-month futures, down 2.46 percent to a new record low of $26.57.

The VIX options turned over 626,000 times, led by 478,000 calls. Despite the activity, the VVIX, the volatility index of the VIX options, was down 1.3 percent to 77.49.