I’m not that enthusiastic about the benefits of managed futures, at least in their current form.
Hedging Tail Risk with the VIX
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Using VIX Hedges To Reduce Strike Dependence
Equity investors who want a broad-based hedge have essentially three vehicles from which to choose: equity index options (SPY, SPX, ES, etc.), VIX futures (or their ETF permutations), and VIX options.
Double-Diagonals Have You Seeing Double (Margin)?
Options-centric brokers don't require double margin on a balanced iron condor or butterfly (i.e., where the vertical spreads are equal and all contracts have the same expiration date)?but thanks to a regulatory crack-down in the wake of the 2008 credit crisis, it's increasingly likely that any deviation from a balanced iron condor or butterfly will cost you margin on both sides, at least until the regulations are updated (and the most optimistic estimates for when that might happen are on the order of several months).
Weekly Options Volatility Tracking Report
Volatility Tracking Report for February 8, 2010: Long Gamma Pays Off
Weekly Options Volatility Tracking Report
Weekly Volatility Tracker
Tracking The Commitments Of VIX Traders
If you hold a position larger than a specified threshold in a futures or options contract that is regulated by the CFTC, your clearing firm must report it and classify your position as either commercial or non-commercial. Futures traders have been tracking these reports for years, but I'm not aware of any studies that analyze the history of VIX futures commitments…
Equity-Dollar Correlation: The Long View
A major story in late 2009 was the negative correlation between equities and the U.S. dollar. It appears the attention has been well deserved: both the 3-month and 1-year rolling correlations are the lowest they’ve been in at least two decades.
Weekly Options Volatility Tracking Report
Last week, I noted the very wide spread between short-term realized and implied volatilities. Although the selloff on Friday alleviated conditions slightly, [5] the spread is still large enough that traders inclined to be net sellers of options need not fear occasional daily increases in realized volatility.
The Allure Of Deep OTM Options
For an options trader, one of the most remarkable aspects of the 2008 financial crisis was that it featured months in which many options closed in or near the money when, even weeks before, they were deep out-of-the-money (DOTM) and "worthless." The lesson is that ostensibly overpriced options are totally devoid of value, until they aren't…
Trading QQQQ Options With Precision
The Powershares Nasdaq 100 Trust (QQQQ) is a highly liquid, very popular ETF with actively traded options. But for traders who want to implement an options strategy on the Nasdaq 100 with any precision, QQQQ may not be the optimal product…
Weekly Options Volatility Tracking Report: Why Index Volatility Is Holding Steady
My sense of the markets at this juncture is that elevated implied correlations are truthful, even oracular, with too-high index implied volatility representing not so much the jump risk with which the VIX is usually associated as the unwelcome prospect of individual equities tracking each other too closely.
Weekly Options Volatility Tracking Report
The jump in volatility indexes noted in our previous report was met with a similar decline last week. The VIX could easily make a new 52-week low before 2009 is through. Gold implied volatility advanced sharply on Friday's price decline, with GVZ closing just shy of my 30% short-term target. The shift in the volatility skew in gold deserves attention: if traders continue to pay higher premiums for downside protection this week, that should be confirmation that the parabolic run in gold is over for the moment.