Options Trading News

The major equity indexes were mixed at the end of yesterday's session, but the CBOE Volatility Index and its futures jumped.

The S&P 500 closed at 1500.18, down 2.78 points from from Friday's five-year high but off the session lows. The index could see some resistance at Friday's high just above 1503, while support remains at 1470.

The Nasdaq 100 was up 5.70 points to 2742.43 but closed below the day's highs. The index also remains below levels of a week ago. Support and resistance remain at 2704 and 2770 respectively.

The Russell 2000 was up 1.47 points to 906.71 after climbing to 907.91 shortly before the bell. Those are new all-time highs for the small-cap index. Support remains at 880.

The VIX was up 0.68 points, or 5.28 percent, to 13.57. Its February futures gained 0.50 points to close at 14.60, while the March contracts were up 0.15 points to 15.30. This pushed the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) higher by 2.7 percent to 23.57.

The VIX options traded just shy of 296,000 contracts, light compared with the recent action, though calls did outpace puts by 2 to 1. That had the VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of the VIX options, up 1.6 percent to 78.16 but still near lows.