This week, stock market bulls received significant affirmation as the S&P 500 reached all-time highs, and options volumes set records.
On Friday, the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) fell to its lowest level since January as the S&P 500 added 0.6%, bringing the week's advance to 3.6%.
More than four million S&P 500 index calls traded on Cboe Global Markets Tuesday as the benchmark gauge surged above 7,700 for the first time in history.
"That's what it used to sound like," one trader on the Cboe floor in Chicago told me after Tuesday's roaring rally, referring to when thousands of traders crammed the pits in decades past.
Zero-day-to-expiry call options accounted for 2.4 million trades in the S&P 500 on Tuesday.
Total open interest in the S&P 500 ended the week at 27.4 million contracts.
Where that open interest is concentrated can help give investors an idea of where the stock market might find support or resistance going forward.
The most popular strike in the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is the 760-strike.
"Sell in May and go play" is over, and advisors are getting back to work," Ed Rumell said.
Beaten-down semiconductor stocks jumped, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) advancing more than 7% on the week.
S&P 500 earnings are on pace to grow 47% in the second quarter.
