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

• VIX Cash - 26.5, nearly 4-points higher than last show.
• VVIX - 105, 8-points higher than last show
• Mnuchin Blames Volcker Rule, High-Speed Trading for Volatility
• VIX Options - ADV: 575k down nearly 20k from last show. Total 5.50m (4.23m Calls, 1.27m Puts)
• VXX - 46, 6.5-points higher than last show.
• SVXY - 43, almost 3 handles lower than last show.

Volatility Voicemail: Options question of the week

Which upcoming volatility product are you most excited about trading in 2019? Or are you content to stay with the original despite lingering issues?

• SPIKES
• Realday/RealVol
• Voldex/Skewdex
• I'll stick with VIX

Comments, questions, and musings:

• Mark Twain on Volatility - "October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February." -Mark Twain
• Comment from Pat Hennessy - There are a total of 6,600 $VIX Dec puts that will be ITM if the VIX settles above 24. 1.66 million VIX puts will expire totally worthless. This represents over 64% of all open VIX puts. Thanks for playing. Better luck next time.
• Question from JLVC - What's the vol crew predicting for 2019?
• Question from Sangfrois - Why no options on $TVIX?

Crystal Ball: Wild and reckless prognostication

Last week:

• Mark L. - 19.25
• Mark S. - 27.25

This week:

• Mark L. - 23.45
• Mark S. - 28.85