Too Many Options: $SPY, $VIX, $XLU, $TLT, $CMCSA

by Enis October 17, 2013 4:58 am • Commentary

Single stock options took a back seat to the ETFs and VIX on Wednesday.

  1. SPY – Implied volatility was down 2 points in November, and skew was crushed too.  The Oct25th 169 puts were the most active, trading over 100k.
  2. VIX – The 3 most active lines were puts.  The Nov 14 puts, Dec 14 puts and Nov 13 puts all traded over 55k.  VIX spot hit its lowest level of October.
  3. XLU – Trader did a risk reversal, selling 30k of the Nov 36 puts to buy 30k of the Nov 38 calls to open, traded around 0.23 for the package.
  4. TLT – The Oct25h 106 calls traded almost 30k at an average price of 0.57.  TLT had its largest volume day of October on the reversal, and is higher again this morning ahead of the jobs report.
  5. CMCSA – Trader bought the Nov 48/50 1×2 call spread, 10k x 20k, for 0.29.  CMCSA reports earnings on Oct 30th.  It made a new all-time high yesterday.