With the three days left to trade on the August contract, options traders are voicing the opinion that the market will remain rather tepid through expiration. The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) is seeing both calls and puts sold in August.
On the call side, the Aug $16 and $17 strikes are seeing the most notable action. The $16 call was sold 1,113 times, on the bid for $0.25, quickly followed by another block of 776 contracts at $0.25. Volume has since risen to over 3,000 contracts on open interest of 26,624.
The $17 strike saw 3,000 calls sold, on the bid, for $0.10. Soon afterward, blocks of 3k, 1k, and 1k were all traded on or near the bid for $0.10. Total volume on the strike has since risen to over 10,000 contracts on open interest of 34,460 contracts.
On the put side, the Aug $20 and $18 strikes are seeing the heaviest action. The $20 put was sold 5,000 times, on the bid, for $4.70. On the $18.00 strike, 6,000 contracts were sold for $2.80, followed shortly after by another 4,000 contracts, all at $2.80. Volume on the strike is 10,451 compared to open interest of 98,507.
Given the open interest on all strikes, these are more than likely closing transactions.
In other notable VIX activity, The October $15 call was purchased 2,005 times, near the offer, for between $5.89-5.94, while 1,000 October $22 calls were purchased, on the offer, for $2.40.