CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) hit a high of 23.55 Tuesday morning, but was recently up 1.00 to 22.53. VIX is up 1.33 points on the month. Meanwhile, 143,000 puts and 70,000 calls traded on the volatility index through midday. One of the top trades is a Jan 27.5 – 35 call ratio backspread, in which the investor sold 10,000 Jan 27.5s at $2.20 to buy 20,000 Jan 35s at $1.05. 10 cents was collected and possibly closes a ratio spread, as open interest is sufficient to cover in both contracts. In fact, the Jan 35s, with open interest of 260K, are the largest open position in VIX, and followed by the Jan 27.5s, with 181K of OI.