The VIX rallied 16% even though the SPX index was only down 0.7%. CBOE Put/Call Ratio closed at 1, though skew steepened significantly as traders became more concerned about the downside tail.
- VIX – Over 700k calls trade, but the most active line was actually the Oct 16 put (which expires this morning). Outside of October expiry, the Nov 23 calls were the most active line, trading nearly 40k on the day.
- XLF – Trader sold around 60k of the Dec 17 puts at 0.07 to close, early in the session.
- GE – Buyer of around 25k of the Dec 25 calls for 0.42. GE has found resistance near $25 on 2 separate occasions since July.
- LEAP – Trader rolled 26k of the Oct 16 calls out to the Nov 16 calls, paying 0.16 for the privilege. AT&T announced its intention to buy LEAP in July, and LEAP shareholders vote on the deal on October 24th.
- X – U.S. Steel hit its highest level since February on big volume. Someone traded 20k of the Jan14 23/20 put spread for 1.11, looks like rolling up puts.