NASDAQ Close To Going Negative

Today is options expiration, and the markets are a little more volatile than they have been in recent OPEX's, as the VIX is elevated on global economic concerns. As such, the NASDAQ has given up most of its gains from earlier in the session. At last check, the NASDAQ was up 2.5 points, but had been up as much as 9 points earlier in the session. We have been trading in a range today, but given the fact that today is options expiration, the last hour may be more volatile than normal. We have also seen that crude oil is down another $2 per barrel today, on concerns that the global economy is slowing. It looks as if crude oil may be headed to $90 per barrel, or perhaps $85, if it breaks past $90. If the NASDAQ breaks to the downside, and oil continues to slide further, yesterday's dead cat bounce will be short lived, and there will be more pain ahead for the bulls. Traders can play this by going short the NASDAQ 100 ETF QQQ, going long the ProShares UltraShort NASDAQ ETF QID, and shorting oil related names, such as Occidental Petroleum OXY, and United States Oil Fund LP ETF USO.