pulls csv files from the CBOE and converts them to xts

CBOE_csv_to_xts

library(quantmod)

# we're pulling the Google VIX index (VXGOG) but this also works for VXAPL, VXGS etc.
# see http://www.cboe.com/micro/equityvix/introduction.aspx
url <- "http://www.cboe.com/publish/ScheduledTask/mktdata/datahouse/VXGOGDailyPrices.csv"

# use read.zoo to read the data directly into a zoo object
z <- read.zoo(url, header=TRUE, sep=",", skip=1, FUN=as.Date, format="%m/%d/%Y")

# convert to xts
x <- xts(z, frequency="d")

chart_Series(x)