After setting another all-time closing high yesterday at $2011, SPX decided to take a breather. SPX opened at $2013 and ran as high as $2019 before pulling back to close down one dollar at $2010. RUT, as usual, traded much more weakly, closing down $12 at $1147. It looks like traders are unloading their small cap stocks at every opportunity. Volatility is flat with the VIX unchanged at 12.1%. trading volume spiked up with quadruple witching to 3 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks. Trading on the NYSE was up 107%, probably aided by Alibaba's IPO. Trading volume rose 64% on NASDAQ.

The risks of holding a European style index option into expiration was demonstrated today. SPX closed Thursday at $2011, and opened this morning at $2013. But the settlement price came in at $2022. That may have surprised some traders who were short those $2020 calls, thinking they had plenty of room when the market closed Thursday. I keep a spreadsheet of closing prices versus the settlement price for RUT and SPX. The average change between the Thursday close on SPX and its settlement price for 2014 is now $6.82; it was $3.68 last year, but 2014 brought two surprises, one in March with a $21 gap upward and today's $11 gap. As of my writing this blog, RUT's settlement price has not yet been posted, but the average change between the Thursday close for RUT and its settlement price for 2014 through August is $4.85.

My Oct iron condor on SPX at 1860/1870 and 2080/2090 stands at a net gain of 12%, and the Nov SPX iron condor at 1810/1820 and 2090/2100 is getting started, but is up 2%. If the bullish trend continues, I will close the October call spreads rather than give up any of the gains.  But it certainly doesn't look like much is going to stand in the way of this bull. Of course, that is what everyone says just before the crash...

Enjoy your weekend.