Traders Meet The MNX
There was green across board today. All of the major indices
closed positive. There was enough strength in the Dow to drive it
back above the infamous 11,000 mark.
The S&P 500 closed at 1471.84.
The OEX closed 804.75.
The AMEX Computer Technology Index closed at 1491.73, up 6.23.
The 30-year Treasury Bond Index closed at 57.07.
The VIX remains near an extreme level at 21.19, down .38.
The top five calls by volume were:
- DELL January 50s
- VRTS September 115s
- CSCO August 65s
- CSCO January 27 1/2s
- AMAT September 70s
It’s interesting to see this activity in the CSCO January 27 1/2s,
considering that they are so far ITM.
The top five puts by volume were:
- QQQ August 90s
- CSCO September 60s
- DELL August 40s
- DELL August 42 1/2s
- CSCO August 65s
Intraday on Friday we saw resistance just over 90 on the QQQs — perhaps the heavy put activity played a role in this problem.
Otherwise, most activity was in the old names.
Option traders will see Genomic Solutions
(
GNSL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) listed
on the CBOE effective August 11. The option root is UNU. Other
new listings this week included CHCS, DPAC, KEYN, LEXG, KEI,
PLXT, SBSA, UTR, TCM.
Don’t forget that 2003 LEAPs are also now available. Because
they are new, they may be somewhat illiquid, but that can be
advantageous for the option seller.
The CBOE is scheduled to launch the new MNX soon, which is the
Mini-NDX. It looks like the CBOE is out to compete with the CME,
as more and more traders are trading index futures. The pricing
will be based on 1/10 the value of the NDX. Thus, if the NDX is
at 3800, the MNX will be 380. As always, the options will use a
multiplier of 100. Traders will be able to use these options
either for hedging or speculation.