what is oex 
oex which trades on the chicago board options exchange cboe is the ticker symbol used to identify standard poor s 100 index options understanding oexoex options were the original standard for index options trading on the domestic stock market over time options on the s p 500 spx passed them in popularity to the dismay of oex followers the calculation for the cboe volatility index called the vix changed from using oex options to spx options in 2003 1 traders can watch the old version via the symbol vxo the standard poor s 100 index is a subset of the broader standard poor s 500 index and tracks the performance of the 100 largest stocks by market capitalization in the u s market it is a capitalization weighted index and the stocks are chosen from a broad range of industries thus making the index a proxy for u s corporate performance each component stock is weighted according to the total market value of its outstanding shares therefore the impact of a component s price change is proportional to its market cap or market value which is the share price times the number of shares outstanding 2although it may not be as popular as the s p 500 it remains an important benchmark for many asset managers with money invested in the big blue chip arena the key criteria for the inclusion of a stock in the index include having options available and at least 50 of the stock must be available to the general public to trade 2options tradingoptions give the holder the right but not the obligation to buy or sell the underlying asset at a specific price at or by a specific date in the case of oex options it would be the right to buy or sell the s p 100 index since an index is not a tangible item oex options settle for cash traders use oex options to hedge or speculate on the performance of the large cap segment of the stock market strategies such as vertical spreads and strangles are possible with oex options just as they are with individual stock options for example a money manager holds a portfolio of blue chip stocks but is worried short term market conditions could impact it negatively the manager might hedge by buying an oex put option with a near expiration as insurance in case the market drops suddenly while the portfolio managed may not hold all 100 oex stocks in the same proportions the correlation between the two might be strong enough that the hedge makes sense 