Volatility Views

Volatility Views 106: HFT and Volatility Volatility Review: It was a mild week with the VIX around the 13-handle for most of the week. Did premiums increase going into the non-farms announcement, or did the market shrug as with other recent non-farms? March VIX futures rose 20% year-over-year. VIX futures also set a new quarterly volume record when 12.38 million contracts traded, up 35% compared t...

Volatility Views 105: Happy Anniversary, VIX! Volatility Review: VIX Futures turns 10 years old! VIX spot products - when could we see them? Russell VIX and metals - gold volatility. Volatility Voicemail: Question from Burt Skerton - Hello Options Insider! I have been listening to your podcast for quite a while, and have been trading successfully as a result of the valuable information that you ha...

Volatility Views 104: Revisiting Risk Management Volatility Review: Vol is being bid up. VXST options coming April 10, and the full day of VIX futures trading in mid-June. Nat gas futures tapering off a bit. Metals chat includes gold, silver and copper.   Volatility Viewpoint: A review of the many panels at the Risk Management Conference from this last weekend.     Crystal Ball: An outlook for VIX...

Volatility Views 103: The Russian Ripple Effect Volatility Review: A mild selloff on the street caused by the ever-growing tensions in Ukraine. This would be a perfect time for VXST, but you will have to wait until April 10. TVIX gets a second life, whether it merits it or not. CBOE to expand VIX hours.  Volatility Voicemail: What do you want to know? Question from Charles Engel - Is there any way...

Volatility Views 102: What Is a VIX Covered Call   Volatility Review: VIX jumped 14% on March 3 to nearly 16, with the tension in Ukraine, but on the following day fell 12%. Monday was the big day across the board for VIX, volumes trailed off the rest of the week.  May 18/Aug 20 straddle swap - paper sold Aug bought may 5k-6k times for $1.65. A good month for VIX Futures. CBOE February VIX also hi...

Volatility Views 101: Buying Vol at Any Price Volatility Viewpoint: The team is joined by special guest Jared Woodard, Founder Clinamen Financial Group and Condor Options.   He gives an overview of the Vol Tracker and global map of implied volatility. Goes over some of the interesting findings you pulled out of your piece "Buying Volatility at any Price". Discusses his your take on what we have be...

Volatility Views 100: Volatility Tourists and Shoe Shine Boys   Volatility Viewpoint:  This week’s guest is Chris Cole, Managing Director at Artemis Capital Management.   They discuss: How he incorporates vol into his trading? How he defines a low vol market? His feelings about VXST? Volatility Review: The first week of VXST. The long term Jan 30-40 put spread that went up this week. Was that risk...

Volatility Views 99: Debunking BXM vs. PUT Volatility Viewpoint: Jason Ungar, volatility researcher, co-creator on the Put-Write index with the CBOE, financial advisor, and restaurant owner joins the gang to discuss the Put-Write index.  They discuss: How he got involved in creating the put-write index with he CBOE  What the response has been to the put-write index Why he thinks the Put-Write rema...

Volatility Views 98: The Rise of Short-Term Volatility Volatility Review: A crazy week for VIX call buyers - they did not get the pop they were expecting. Looks like that big VIX call writer last week was on the right course.  Volatility Viewpoint: Our guest today is Jay Caauwe - CBOE Futures Exchange. Hot on the heels of two new records: 2013 was a record year and January was another record month...

Volatility View 97: Consulting Volatility Volatility Review:  So much for single digit VIX cash in Q1. VIX options call/put nearly 3 to 1 right now, hovering at record size. People still loving VIX upside - size open interest all the easy up to the Feb 60 strike. Current RVX open interest at 2700 contracts, traded 250 lot yesterday, the zealots are out in RVX. Volatility Voicemail: Comment from Ja...

Volatility Views 96: Harvesting Volatility Risk Premium Volatility Review: An ugly, ugly day across the board for Vol. S&P down 2%. VIX settlement last Wednesday. What is it about Feb that brings out the VIX call buyers en masse? Volatility Viewpoint: Today’s guest is Scott Maidel, Senior Portfolio Manager of Equity Derivatives at Russell Investments. They discuss: Short volatility strategies & fr...

Volatility Views 95: When the Crazies Emerge Volatility Review: Activity review for VIX futures, VIX options, RVX and VIX-related ETPs. Extended hours working for VIX. VXST approval expected in February. The 2013 numbers are in: VIX futures 2013 annual ADV - 159K - Up 67% from 2012. VIX options 2013 annual ADV - 567K - Up 28% from 2012. SPX options 2013 annual ADV - 823K - Up 18% from 2012. Volati...

Volatility Views 94: We Are Back! Volatility Views is back from hiatus and in this episode, Mark is joined by Mark Sebastian and Pat Fay, Director of Listed Derivatives, Russell Indexes Volatility Review: RVX options and futures are back.  Why bring them back? What’s unique to the RVX relative to the VIX? An overview/analysis of all the recent trading activity in VIX options and futures as well as...

Volatility Views 93: Returning in Style Volatility Viewpoint: Mark’s guest is Russell Rhoads, Senior Instructor, Options Institute.  What does The Options Institute do? What is your opinion on the massive influx of retail traders into sophisticated institutional products like VIX options? What is your opinion on this new shorter-duration VIX products? Volatility Review:  Last-minute hedging activi...

Volatility Views 92: Zero Sum Game? Volatility Viewpoint: We shake it up a bit and discuss the biggest news of the week first, namely the New York Times article, "Growth in Options Trading Helps Brokers but not Small Investors." The Crystal Ball: We discuss the future of Vol Views itself. A short summer hiatus will cover the rest of June, but we're hoping to be back in July with a new and improved...

Volatility Views 91: Historical Lows Volatility Review: Realized volatility plummeted. NASDAQ sits at 12.06 and S&P is even lower at 10.01. Don and Mark Sebastian called it. Listener Mail: We answer listener questions. Question from Jackson Engles, Garden City, NY: When you are analyzing historical volatility, what time frame is most relevant?   The past 30 days? The past three months, six months,...

Volatility Views 90: Sell or Sell Not, There is no Buy. Volatility Review: The dollar hit a historic level with the Yen last week, and this has had an effect on the currencies Vol. The inversion of realized volatility, where it's higher than VIX, continues -- a rather unusual occurrence.  Volatility Viewpoints: Dennis Chen. He is the co-author, along with Vol Views's own Mark Sebastian, of The Opt...

Volatility Views 89: Moving in Lockstep Volatility Review:  Market up 1% after some surprise news from the non-farms report -- better than expected. We had a unique week where the market was up and VIX was up as well, for 4 days in a row! Listener Mail: Mark and Don take your questions. Comment by AsymmetricRisk on the Value of Gamma episode: Best Vol Views ever, by far, full of actionable insight...

Volatility Views 88: Reestablishing the Norm Volatility Review: Vol has spiked in the last week, going nearly as high as during the Italian elections. CBOE computers go down. How does the inability to trade VIX affect the overall markets? Listener Mail: Mark and Don will take your questions now. Question from Phil Z. - Mark, love the show! Could you explain what you, Don, and Mark S. mean when you...

Volatility Views 87: It All Comes Down to Timing Volatility Review: The VIX shot up at the beginning of the week, but was selling off by the end of the week. There was a broad vol story happening this week, particularly in the commodities with gold vol spiking 500% over two weeks.   Volatility Viewpoint: Bob Krause discusses the RealVol Index, available at VolX, which features nine daily indexes....

Volatility Views: The Value of Gamma Volatility Review: Gold vol is getting crushed and is off about 4%, with similar action happening in silver.   Money is leaving gold and entering bonds and stocks. The Bernanke straddle is in full effect as money flows in from Asia. Lowest realized vol in Gold was charted in early April, with vol spiking ever since. Vol of vol is around 170, and is likely going...

Volatility Views 85:  Responding to Great Listener Questions Volatility Review: It is somewhat surprising to see how little the recent European crisis has impacted the VIX. Perhaps the market over-reacted to the news in Cypress. NASDAQ 21-day realized volatility is below that of the S&P. Listener Mail: Keep those questions coming in. Question from Jim Petchi: I have been listening to Volatility Vi...

Volatility Views 84: May You Live in Interesting Times Volatility Review: We are back after a short break last weekend. Most major indexes have reached near-record lows highs.  As a consequence, because of the inverse relationship, volatilities are extremely low.  Could this be the norm going forward? Is there a line drawn in the sand with options' implied volatilities? Listener Mail: Our team tac...

Volatility Views 83: Check Your Levels Volatility Review: We had quite a roller coaster week in terms of implied and realized vol. The importance of vol of vol has been showcased. Listener Mail: We have a huge mail bag today. Question from Big Ned: Is it possible for an options trader to ever truly be flat, aside from closing his positions? Question from Alex Gumble: How do market makers manage th...

Volatility Views 82: Scalp Gamma, Trade Vega Volatility Review: What is going to shake up the world of volatility? We did see a small pop this week. The weekend effect. The Mail Bag: So many questions! Question from Tim Ross: I’ve heard the hosts refer to "scalping gamma" before on the program. What does that mean and should I be doing that in my own trading account? Question from Nitin Gulati: Ma...