Volatility Views 301: Trade War Vs. Real War

Volatility Review: A look back at the week from a volatility perspective.

• VIX Cash is back in the teens. Could it possibly reach 15 again?
• The market is tanking and rallying on both trade war and real war concerns.
• VVIX - 97
• VIX Options - ADV: 1.05M, VIX call/put: 2.2/1, Total 8.50m (5.85m Calls, 2.66m Puts)
• Paper sells May 20/22 call spread and buy May 17 puts 84,000 times.
• VXX - 47, almost unchanged from last week.
• Bitcoin futures up another 400 today.

Volatility Voicemail: Volatility Flash Poll

• Which product/segment do you think will experience the most Volatility over the coming trading week (through the close on Friday 2/20) SPY SPX VIX WTI Crude Gold Bitcoin BTC GLD USO
• S&P500: SPY, SPX. VIX
• Gold: GLD, Comex
• Crude Oil: WTI, USOF
• Bitcoin: BTC

Listener questions and comments:

• Question from Loades - What will it take to get VIX back into the 15 handle? Comment from Jack -I'm with the questioner from last week. It's a huge pain to figure out which VIX future the weekly options are trading on. CBOE needs to hold more brokers feet to the fire to surface that stuff much more readily.
• Question from Alfred - Any updates on the VIX whistle blower?
• Comment from Chingis - Dudes, how about a weekly rundown of the hot VIX ETFs and ETNs?
• Question from Elandra -If you could have your ideal volatility product what would it be?
• Question from DKMan - Why no options on TVIX?

Crystal Ball: Wild prognostication

Last week:

• Mark L. - 17.15
• Mark S. - 17.89
• Russell - 19.99

This week:

• Mark L. - 17.17
• Mark S. - 15.00