The markets opened in positive territory this morning, but almost immediately headed south and didn't hit bottom until late afternoon. SPX traded as low as $1850 and recovered a bit to close down $9 at $1857. RUT traded down harder, but recovered somewhat, closing down $16 at $1178. Trading volume was lower than triple witching Friday across the board, so that comparison isn't terribly useful. But in absolute terms the trading volume in S&P 500 stocks today was just slightly below the 50 day moving average.

I think the most significant data point I saw today was in volatility. VIX really didn't spike up as we might expect as the market traded off this morning. VIX opened at 14.7% and only moved to 16% before starting to soften, closing at 15.1%. In fact, thirty minutes before the close, VIX was very close to where it opened.

Earlier today, as the market traded lower, I took that opportunity to close my Apr RUT 1270/1280 call spreads for a 13% gain. Later in the day, especially after seeing volatility remain relatively low, I sold the Apr RUT 1100/1110 put spreads just above the 200 dma. If RUT rebounds, I will sell more call spreads.

As I watched RUT trade lower today, I couldn't help thinking about my losses last week on my RUT Mar 1200/1210 call spreads. This sell-off just came a couple of days late. Timing is everything.