After spiking to 1.17 yesterday, and its best levels since July, the total put-to-call ratio has eased back to .62 Thursday. With an hour left to trade, 13.2 million calls and 8.2 million puts have traded across the options exchanges. (register to read more …) [...]

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1.2 million puts and 710,000 calls already traded across the exchange-traded funds today, which is 3X the normal. Nine of of the top ten contracts are put options. iShares Small Cap Fund (IWM) Mar and Apr 79 puts are the (register to read more …) [...]

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Volume is respectable today. In the exchange-traded funds, for example, 4.2 million puts and 2.8 million calls traded (in Flow Monitor, use symbol @ETF for ETF volume and symbol @ALL for total volume). Five of the top six most (register to read more …) [...]

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March call buying in a number of banks Tuesday morning. Bank of New York (BK) is up 24 cents to $32.08 and 5,061 March 31 calls traded (85 percent Ask). PNC gains 75 cents to $63.50 and 3,603 Mar 60 (register to read more …) [...]

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Impressive volume for a non-expiration Friday. 7.1 million calls and 6.9 million puts traded so far. The put volume represents about double the normal levels. Meanwhile, the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) hit its best levels since early-December and is up (register to read more …) [...]

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Four trading days remain until the January 2011 expiration.

Have a great weekend!

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Today’s speculative activity in the options market on a down session is impressive. The S&P 500 is off 4.3 points and breadth is negative, with 175 S&P 500 components higher and 320 in the red. Yet, the tech-heavy NASDAQ is (register to read more …) [...]

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A very slow trading day is winding down with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 10 points on the day, 574 points for the month, and 1,152 (11 percent) on the year.

4.6 million calls and 3.3 million puts (register to read more …) [...]

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Volume is light again today and the total put-to-call ratio is distorted due to heavy ex-dividend activity. About 7.2 million calls and 3.3 million puts traded so far. Nearly 1 million calls traded in Kraft (KFT) due to the dividend. (register to read more …) [...]

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Not much action today due to the holidays and the massive storm across parts of the Northeast. Trading is mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened lower and has stayed confined to a narrow 54-point range. The Dow is off (register to read more …) [...]

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