In a recent podcast, I was asked about the sharp spikes and steep drops in VIX levels and what that reflected; I was able to get through that with minor scars, but it got me thinking about the volatility of Volatility. Below are a couple of charts that tell the story. Chart 1 displays the [...]
Watch Part 2 of CBOE’s Fact & Fiction five part educational series, where Jamie Tyrrell of Group One Trading discusses the VIX, whether it indicates fear or uncertainty and what it means when the VIX “heads down.”
Over the next five years, some projections indicate that the annual GDP of Brazil could surpass that of both France and the United Kingdom, and that Brazil could rise to become the fifth largest economy in the world. More investors now are concerned with the issue of managing Brazilian volatility. Today CBOE Holdings announced today [...]
In recent years I often have heard the following questions: Are there other indexes that use the VIX® methodology to create implied volatility indexes for options on other asset classes and other stock indexes? How does the volatility of the S&P 500® Index compare to the volatility of other asset classes? The answer to question [...]
Some investors who are new to options have asked these questions: How can I determine how much premium will be generated by a covered call strategy? Is a high VIX level related to high option premiums? If VIX is at a high level, does that mean that a covered call strategy will perform well? Many [...]
Watch Part 1 of CBOE’s Fact & Fiction five part educational series, where Dominic Salvino of Group One Trading explains what the VIX measures and why it is often referred to as the “fear gauge”.
The last three months saw the VIX spot dropped quickly from 30-ish to 10-ish. No wonder XIV, the inverse ETN to the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index, was among the top performing ETPs in January. Its return was 30.88% in January 2012 and 14.02% in December 2011. S&P Indices General Disclaimer XIV collects daily [...]
Today I’m going to discuss three prepacked investment solutions that seek positive exposure to the equity market with different volatility reduction approaches: S&P 500 Low Volatility Index: uses stock selection and alternative weighting to minimize portfolio volatility without the use of derivatives or active hedge. PowerShares has issued an ETF (ticker SPLV) that tracks this [...]
Recent Increased Interest in Risk Management with VIX-based Products
While the VIX Index has been below 24 so far in 2012, and the VIX closed at 16.80 last Thursday (Feb. 23), the trends in trading volumes in VIX-related products indicate that there could be more recent interest in using VIX-related products for purposes of risk management for investor portfolios. The average daily volume for [...]