Another day of back and forth as the Dow fell 63 points on light volume. The advance/declines were slightly negative. The summation index continues sideways. We had an early sell off as the Dow was down over 250 points. The market managed to make its way back and the NASDAQ finished with a slight gain. My SPY September calls didn't fare as well, they are now solid losers that should have been sold on the close yesterday. Only one day left to go here and it will take a rally of a couple hundred points to bring these back now. It looks like the SPY will not finish above the 450 level and the market makers will rejoice. Gold got hammered today as the futures fell forty bucks. The US dollar was higher along with interest rates. The XAU lost 6 1/3, while GDX shed 1 1/3. Volume was heavy to the downside. I am no longer considering the GDX October calls. I'll consider the January calls here if we break below the 30 level for GDX. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up today and that makes sense considering how much prices moved around. Not sure what the techncial indicators on the VIX are pointing to now. They are mid-range. Also not sure what to expect with option expiration on tap for tomorrow. Higher prices will cut my loss in the SPY call trade while lower prices will most likely wipe it out. The entry timing on this trade was off and then I got greedy after yesterdays rise. Greed kills. Europe was slightly higher and Asia generally lower overnight. We'll close out the expiration trading week tomorrow.