Some volatility-related items of note, ranging from the obvious to the esoteric, in that order.
1. On Friday, the VIX closed at 31.16, its highest
level since April 2003. Today, it spiked up to 35.60, which does not
exceed the highs from January 22, 2008 or August 16, 2007 - but
remember that the VIX is just an index calculated from SPX options
prices, it’s not a tradable entity in its own right, and it’s really
being asked to bear too much of a predictive burden these days. Sure,
this spike may be short-term tradable, but by itself VIX 35 may or may
not mean much of anything: remember that this index spent most of 2002
in the 30-50 range.
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