Upside Call Action in VIX

CBOE Volatility Index, trading 15.54 with an IV30 of 80.09, saw upside call action today.? Two customers sold similar strikes in different ways.? In trade one, a customer sold the May 25 calls at .77 and the May 28 calls at 1.10 creating a short call stupid.? A call stupid is when one trades that same way on both legs of a spread.? This stupid went up a total of 20,000 times mostly crossed.? Shortly thereafter, a different a trader bought 35,000 of the May 19 calls for 2.40 then sold 35,000 of the May 25 calls at 1.10 and 35,000 of the May 28s at .75 creating a call tree.

While this could have been the same customer putting on a ratio it also could be two separate trades.? The main difference is that one is a play on a small rebound in VIX between now and May expiration with the trader betting that VIX will get above 19.85 by May expiration, it is likely a hedge. The other a bet that VIX will stay well below 25 between now and May expiration.

These trades should be considered short vol in VIX and neutral to slightly bullish VIX.