Option Block 323: Rebar Futures Extravaganza

Trading Block: Russian President Vladimir Putin is an investor in Swiss-based oil trader Gunvor Group Ltd. Time for the global derivatives volume guessing game! Put on your thinking caps and guess the winners in the various product categories: indexes, ags, metals, and more.

Odd Block: Calls spreads trade in Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (ANR); calls trade in Mast Therapeutics Inc. (MSTX); calls trade in Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS), and: puts trade in iShares Japan fund (EWJ).

Xpress Block: New enhancements to the OX trading platform.

Mail Block: Thumped by Theta

Question from Theta Thumper: Here's a question for one of your shows (Options Insider maybe?): You often talk about hedging a portfolio. If you decide to do it the simple way and hedge by buying a long dated 'put' on the SPY (instead of using the VIX) is it better to buy a put at say 15-20% below the market for the full amount of your portfolio or use the same amount of cash you would have used for that to hedge closer to the money but with a smaller percentage of the portfolio? My concept is to use 1% of my portfolio per year as a hedge. Jim (Theta Thumper) Sisters, OR

Around the Block: Stock market edges higher after encouraging economic reports offset interest rate concerns.