. >> i used to term non-traditional mortgages because it was easier to mtm rather than talking about a sub-prime mortgage and an altlifealt-a mortgage. a sub-prime mortgage is simple because it was defined in 2001 and they said any mortgage made to a person who has a credit score of 660 i think, it is called a fico score, but if your score is 660 or less that is a subprime mortgage no matter what you might say about the house. what kind of house how big the down payment was and so forth. it is sub-prime if below 660. if if data shows that is much more laky to fail. there is an alt-a mortgage and that phrase came from the fact that agencies which were fannie mae and freddie mac, called in the market agencies would not except mortgages that had low down payments below 10% for example, were not mortgages that paid or only required interest payments. they didn't decline in the -- they didn't make principal payments as part of the mortgages. they would not accept those mortgages before 1992. it was only after 1992 they began to accept those mortgages. so i lumped them both together and th

joining me for today's options insight is derivatives strategist at mtm holdings.fact that it is monday, there's a lot of deals but it is the beginning of a holiday-shortened week. how much faith can we take that these gains will hold? maybe a lot of people are absent? >> it is the end of the quarter as well. we talked about choppiness. everyone has experienced that and it continues. the s&p was down 2.5% last week. a big bounce today. something i continue to watch is where the the 13.5 level is elevated. we are not near that now. if we come through that over the next few weeks that will be an inflection in the volatility cycle. same with vvix which measures the volatility of the vix. as long as the volatility measures remain elevated you expect choppiness. scarlet: the choppiness continues. u.s. markets are pretty much finishing with little change. if the dow is lucky it will hold onto gains of .9%. a lot of movement and we kind of end of nowhere in contrast to europe. jim: you start earnings next week. we have been sort of without a catalyst the last couple weeks