Surprisingly Light!
Overall options volumes remain surprisingly light for a Thursday prior to a Quadruple Witch options expiration. 2.9 million calls and 3.1 million puts traded in the first two hours . The projected volume, of 14 million, is about 88 percent the average daily, according to Trade Alert data. It’s the last day to trade June S&P 500 options and, although open interest in June SPX options is 5.4 million contracts (36 percent of the total open interest in the product), volume is running below normal in the SPX pit as well. 125,000 calls and 190,000 puts so far. The lighter volumes might be related to the whippy market action. After sliding 16.7 points Monday, the S&P 500 gained 14.9 points Tuesday, only to fall 9.3 points yesterday. SPX is up 10.7 points today, bringing its weekly change to about +1 points. The S&P is also at the same levels as it was one month ago.
Still, while volumes are light this morning, they are likely to pick up this afternoon and into expiration Friday. VIX is down .54 to 23.73. Crude is up .69 to 83.31 as OPEC meets today and gold gained $4.5 to $1624. The ten-year is losing a bit of its flight-to-safety bid, falling 12 ticks, as the Athens General Index surged 10 percent in front of Greek elections..and investors also look towards a Jun 20 FOMC meeting for Fed officials to signal another extension of Operation Twist.
Category: All Indexes
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About the Author (Author Profile)
Frederic Ruffy is a well-known trader, writer, and strategist who has spent years educating investors and creating intelligent, insightful, unbiased market observations that are frequently cited by the Wall Street Journal and other financial publications. As senior analyst, Fred provides frequent and regular notes and daily updates for activity of interest.
