'The Witch' Not Spooking Options Market

Today's triple-witching, the simultaneous expiration of futures options, index options and equity options contracts, has had very little impact on volatility in the options market.

Historically, "the witch" has caused an increase in volatility and higher volume in the overall market because the futures and options positions that are exercised require simultaneous buying and selling of the individual stocks that comprise an index. In recent years, less emphasis has been placed on the impact of triple-witching on volatility due to the fact that equity options and index options expire monthly rather than on a quarterly basis.

Volatility Index
Today	% Change
26.27	+0.27
Source: ILX

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