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Playing Volatile Oil Prices (Guest Columnist at Barronâs)
Today I penned my eighteenth guest column for Barronâs, filling in for Steve Sears and the venerable The Striking Price options column. Looking back, I was surprised to see that this is the eighth...
View ArticleVMAX and VMIN Poised to Be Most Important VIX ETP Launch in Years
REX Shares is launching two new VIX exchange-traded products on Tuesday in what is likely to be the most important VIX ETP launch in several years. The REX VolMAXX Long VIX Weekly Futures Strategy ETF...
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Updated VIX ETP Landscape, Including VMAX and VMIN
Now that the recently launched REX VolMAXX Long VIX Weekly Futures Strategy ETF (VMAX) and REX VolMAXX Inverse VIX Weekly Futures Strategy ETF (VMIN) VIX exchange-traded products have started to...
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Economic Data Surprise Index Shows Continued Weakness
Today we get another glimpse into the behind-the-scenes machinations of the âdata dependentâ Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) with the release of the minutes from the April 26-27 meeting.While...
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VIX Median Reversion and Five-Year Moving Averages
When people talk about the VIX you often hear them refer to mean reversion, which refers to the tendency of the VIX to be pulled inexorably in the direction of its long-term mean. With 27 years of...
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How to Play a Volatility Spike (Guest Columnist at Barronâs)
Yesterday, I was pleased to once again have an opportunity to pen a guest column for Barronâs, pinch hitting for Steve Sears in his The Striking Price column with How to Play a Volatility Spike. If...
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VIX Sets New Record with Nine Up Days in a Row
Over the course of the past few days I have been tracking the slow grind upward in the VIX on Twitter, noting that it had been up seven, eight and eventually nine (as of Friday) days in a row. As the...
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Top VIX Crushes in History
Yesterdayâs sharp downward move in the VIX gave me a reason to tweet that the volatility crush as seen in the SPX and VIX was among the top 25 in history. Upward pressure on the VIX toward the end...
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Post-Election Risk Trending Up in Treasuries and the Euro, Down in U.S. Stocks
You can always tell when the crowd gets long the VIX and ends up on the wrong side of the trade. âThe VIX is broken!â becomes an oft-repeated refrain, as does âThe markets are rigged!â and the...
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Average VIX and Volatility for Last Fourteen Presidents
What kind of VIX is appropriate for the Trump Administration? For investors in general and volatility traders in particular, this is one of the more interesting questions going into 2017. Should the...
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My Low Volatility Prediction for 2016: Both Idiocy and Genius
A year ago, Steve Sears of Barronâsasked me to pen a guest column for The Striking Price and use the opportunity to opine on how I saw the volatility landscape unfolding in 2016. Without thinking...
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The Year in VIX and Volatility (2016)
The consensus called for a big uptick in volatility in 2016 and while there was a lot of drama, the VIX spikeswere relatively manageable and short-lived. The VIX opened the year at 22.48 and ended the...
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The 2016 VIX Futures Term Structure: Extraordinarily Average
Two days ago, in The Year in VIX and Volatility (2016), I made no mention whatsoever of the VIX futuresterm structure. Traders of the full range of VIX products (futures, options and ETPs) hopefully...
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VIX ETPs Flash Some Green in 2016
Last year I shocked quite a few investors and media outlets with the publication of Every Single VIX ETP (Long and Short) Lost Money in 2015. My intent was not to tar and feather the VIX...
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Putting Low Stock Volatility to Good Use (Guest Columnist at Barronâs)
With spring training just getting underway in Florida and Arizona, I think it is appropriate that I once again have an opportunity to pinch hit for Steve Searsin his The Striking Price column for...
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SPX 1, 2 and 3-Year Returns Following Top and Bottom Five (and Ten) VIX...
On Saturday, I posted Putting Low Stock Volatility to Good Use (Guest Columnist at Barronâs) and used that opportunity to expand upon some of the points I raised in my February 18th column for...
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Clustering of Volatility Spikes
Last week, my Putting Low Stock Volatility to Good Use (Guest Columnist at Barronâs) triggered a bunch of emails related to the clustering of low volatility. Most readers expressed an interest in...
View ArticleThe VIX Summit: CBOE RMC (March 8-10 in Dana Point, CA)
I often get asked about where to go to learn more about the VIX and volatility. Well, if there is one event each year that falls in the absolutely-do-not-miss category, it is the CBOEâs annual Risk...
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Ten Years Since the Biggest VIX Spike Ever
Ten years ago today, we witnessed that largest one-day VIX spikein the nearly three decade history of the VIX. On that day, the VIX rallied from a prior close of 11.15 to 18.31 â a 64.2% gain. The...
View ArticleEuro Zone VSTOXX ETNs Land on U.S. Beaches!
Think the market is too complacent about this weekendâs election in France? Worried that the euro area is going to crumble under the weight of Italyâs struggles? Convinced that Greece, Portugal...
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