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Strategies & Market Trends : Tech Stock Options -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ViperChick Secret Agent 006.9 who wrote (55085)	10/9/1998 2:01:00 AM
From: ViperChick Secret Agent 006.9	Respond to of 58727

+duke60 (8525 ) From: +Les Horowitz Thursday, Oct 8 1998 11:02PM ET Reply # of 8550 U.S. OPTIONS/Investors chase puts as stocks tumble CHICAGO, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Nervous investors continued to chase index puts on Thursday as anxiety about a global financial crisis deepened. The Market Volatility Index , a key gauge of investor fear, cut its gains in the final hour of the session to finish 0.29 point higher at 48.56. Earlier, the VIX, which measures implied volatility of several strikes on OEX options, climbed as high as 60.63, the highest since the 1987 stock market crash. Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) member firm CNA LP said it unloaded some 85,000 options on the OEX, the S&P 500 and other stock indices, involving hundreds of strikes. The entire position was valued at $8.75 million, the firm said. One of the managing partners of Chicago-based CNA said the firm put the position up for auction to pare down its exposure to the stock market. Asked why CNA unloaded the options, he said, ''We had a large position, and given the current market conditions we wanted to downsize, but we're still open for business.'' Traders said there had been concern that the firm was suffering a severe liquidity crunch. One website, which later issued a correction, intimated that CNA was about to close its equity options division. ''That definitely could have contributed to volatility,'' said one options analyst. ''People were uncertain about what was happening and they want out.'' Yet even as the OEX trimmed its losses later in the session, index puts remained well bid, traders said. By 1500 CDT/2000 GMT, 15 minutes before index options closed, OEX put volume exceeded call volume 101,036 contracts to 82,479, the CBOE said. The exchange, the world's biggest options market, said volume in all index and equity puts totaled 706,961 contracts, well ahead of the 554,864 call contracts that traded. >>>New lows were 1561 on Nasdaq which is about 30% of the 5221 issues. >>>New lows on NYSE were 953 for 3535 issues.