Option Block 209: 2012 Year in Review

2012 Year in Review Block:

A lot of whip-saw action in the market today, given the uncertainty in Washington. ETPs have added substantial end-of-day volatility. Scandal in the retail market, specifically the implosion of PFG, has lead to a steady decline in retail options volume. Peak 6 acquired Penson and created Apex Clearing, which caused a lot of problems. A lot of price movement in the underlying in Apple this year. A big SPY dividend trade ended up costing millions of dollars due to a clearing error. VIX is cheap, vol is low - we've heard this non-sense all year. Knight trading collapsed. Hurricane Sandy closed the markets in New York for two full days. ICE acquired NYSE Group. The expansion of weeklies continues to be a big story. Mini Apple will be release next year in March. Worst trade of the year: Someone had the bright idea to buy 20,000 VIX Feb 70 calls.