Investors are paying almost the least they've ever had to for options on stocks and ETFs as volatility levels dip into record-low territory.

The VIX is at rock-bottom levels.

According to the Chicago Board Options Exchange, out of all the days the VIX has fallen below 10 in its history, nearly half of those instances have taken place in A level of "10" on the VIX is rarely broken, but that has been a routine occurrence this year. Cheap options are either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who you ask. For investors looking to hedge their portfolios against a market decline using put options, or for speculators interested in betting on more gains in the stock market using call options, it's seldom been cheaper to do so.

The opposite is the case for options sellers. They aren't getting much in the way of a premium for writing options contracts. In any case, low volatility is certainly not a knock on the options market—which remains as active as ever—particularly when it comes to exchange-traded funds.

Below, we look at the 15 ETFs with the most liquid options markets. Even though SPY is the largest ETF and has the most liquid options market, that correlation doesn't always hold true. There are plenty of big funds with illiquid or even nonexistent options markets. The second-largest ETF by assets only has total options open interest of 2, That's nothing for a fund of that size. After SPY, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF EEM has the most deep and liquid options market.

The fund boasts total open interest of 6. The iShares Russell ETF IWM , the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF , the SPDR Gold Trust GLD and the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF EFA are a few other behemoths with active options markets. Then there's also a number of ETFs on the list that are punching well above their weight. These ETFs have some of the most liquid options markets, even though they don't have a tremendous amount of assets.

That suggests these funds are popular with short-term traders—not a surprise considering that the VIX, oil, Brazil, gold miners and China are among the most volatile areas of the markets. View the discussion thread. Skip to main content. Seldom Been Cheaper To Use Options Cheap options are either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who you ask. Some ETFs Punching Above Their Weight After SPY, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF EEM has the most deep and liquid options market.

For a full list of the top 15 ETFs with the most liquid options, see the table below: Find your next ETF Asset Class: All Asset Classes Alternatives Asset Allocation Commodities Currency Equity Fixed Income.

All Regions Asia-Pacific Developed Markets Emerging Markets Europe Frontier Markets Global Global Ex-U. Greece Hong Kong India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Latin America Malaysia Mexico Netherlands New York New Zealand Nigeria Nordic North America Norway Pakistan Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa South Korea Southeast Asia Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey U.

United Arab Emirates Vietnam.

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