Cboe Blogs

The first round of the French Election occurs this coming weekend and the implied volatility of broad based options in Europe is taking notice.  The European version of VIX is VSTOXX which is based on Euro Stoxx 50 Index options.  Today VSTOXX closed over 24.00 as Euro Stoxx 50 options are pricing in high volatility over the next few weeks in anticipation of the market’s reaction to the French Election.  The VSTOXX futures market also (correctly) anticipated a rise in VSTOXX[...]

I was discussing the current state of the markets with a trader today and noted that VIX is perking up based on the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming French election.  He challenged me on this and said the geopolitical situation had more to do with the recent rise in VIX, not the French election.  I know I’m right and the picture below proves it.  Above is a depiction of the at the money implied volatility for SPX options expiring each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the[...]

The S&P 500 lost about 0.3% last week and VIX rose.  I think the VIX to S&P 500 relationship is only part of the story related to VIX rising last week.  It appears the pending election process in France is starting to influence US volatility.  Note that April is a bit higher than May volatility in the orange circle on the chart below.  This is a fairly rare occurrence for the futures considering the current low level of VIX.  As long as there is a cloud of uncertainty[...]

About a year ago, we were all starting to focus on the Brexit referendum which we ‘knew’ wasn’t going to pass.  There were several lessons from the Brexit experience with the top one being do not discount an election until all the votes are counted.  This played out again in November, but that’s not what this blog is about.  This blog is about how VSTOXX and VIX are behaving in front of the pending French election process.  First, going back to June 2016[...]

The Friday to Friday change in the VIX term structure was as orderly as I’ve seen it in some time.  VIX has had a lower average daily close during a quarter only once, the fourth quarter of 2006.  However, the low to high range for VIX has never been tighter than what we experienced in the first quarter of 2017 with the range of 2.54.  On average the range of closing VIX prices is about 10.60 so the VIX market may be a bit wound up to the point where a big move to the upside[...]

The shift lower in the VXST – VIX – VXV – VXMT curve was 75% parallel and 25% dramatic.  The dramatic move was at the shorter end of the curve where VXST dropped 28% moving from a premium to discount relative to VIX.  As noted volatility was lower across the board.  Of interest below, VVIX finished below 80 and TYVIX remained at very low levels. For the volatility bulls the only glimmer of hope is SKEW around 140, but it is pretty difficult to get excited about[...]

I spent the day with my academic hat on at Ohio University in Athens discussing all things VIX, SPX, and RUT along with answering some questions about the Social Media indexes that are quoted by CBOE.  There were also some questions about the French Election and the potential impact on the US markets.  I noted that VSTOXX futures have been elevated in anticipation of the French election, but that there wasn’t too much going on in the US, yet.  Yet is the key word because as I[...]