Volatility Views

By The Options Insider Radio NetworkBusiness Investing

Volatility Views episodes

January 09, 2012 Volatility Views 35: Aggressively Selling Volatility in the New Year
Volatility Views 35: Aggressively Selling Volatility in the New Year
Volatility Review: After a holiday hiatus, Mark, Don, and Mark Sebastian discuss and review current and upcoming vol in 2012. The $64,000 question: Why is vol getting crushed? What's happening in the Euro zone?
Volatility Viewpoint: A grab bag of volatility topics in this viewpoint section, including: VIX futures--how they trade, the nature of their term structure, contango, etc., and actual realized vol in the market for the past year.
Mailbag: Best method of volatility measurement?
"I've just found this show on iTunes and I find it very enlightening. Thank you for producing a quality show on this topic. I'm relatively new to options and I'm looking to do some basic modeling to get a better handle on options pricing and performance, but I'm hung up on which volatility measurement to use in my model. Close to close volatility certainly seems easiest but I'm not sure if it would be accurate enough for my needs. Should I try for something intra-day or should I stick with the easy path? Thanks, John."
Crystal Ball: Vol, S&P, VIX, EuroVol Contracts, and Jan futures--where are they moving this year? A few new contracts may be in the pipeline over at VolX.
1 hr 3 min
December 19, 2011 Volatility Views 34: A Break from the Insanity
Volatility Views 34: A Break from the Insanity Volatility Review: This was an intriguing week for volatility action. Strange week in the world of VIX, with it finally returning to "normal." The novel concept of being fully insured. The seasonality of VIX--general uptrend in market plus professionals taking money off the table equals a perfect storm in VIX. Euro VolContract updates--December one-month went out at 11.12, three-month at 12.84. Volatility Viewpoint: Mark and Don discuss volatility with Stephen Figlewski, Professor of Finance at NYU's Stern School of Business, founding editor of the Journal of Derivatives, and Director at the Nasdaq OMX Derivatives Research Project. Crystal Ball: VIX at a much more tolerable level, but Mark thinks it will vascillate in this "new mean" for quite a while. January Euro VolContract is fairly new, but volatility is forecasted to be lower going out. Click here to access the Salomon Center that Prof. Figlewski spoke about in Volatility Viewpoint. Prof. Figlewski's personal webpage is available here.
55 min
December 12, 2011 Volatility Views 33: The Art of Managing Volatility
Volatility Views 33: The Art of Managing Volatility

Volatility Review: VIX has been up and down around the 30-handle, but now it is time for it to begin to settle at a more normal level. Friday was quarterly expiration day in the Euro VoContract futures, with the front one-month and the December three-month going out.

Volatility Viewpoint: Today's guest, Chris Cole, Managing Director at Artimus Capital Management, sits down to discuss VIX options and futures, volatility doldrums, and the trading approach at Artimus.

Crystal Ball: VIX is a coin flip with regard to both the long-term and short-term mean. The gang looks at the January one-month and March quarterly Euro VolContracts and their implied volatilities versus potential realized vol.
52 min
December 06, 2011 Volatility Views 32: Larry the Legend
Volatility Views 32: Larry the Legend In this episode, Mark, Don, and Mark Sebastian are joined by Larry McMillan. Volatility Review: Last week saw a lot of volatility action. VIX downside positions are just starting to pan out. Are people buying insurance or are they buying gamma? Seasonal drain to volatility. Euro VolContract update--one week left to go in the front-month contract. Volatility Viewpoints: Larry McMillan, recent winner of The OIC's Sullivan Award, discusses how volatility derivatives have changed the landscape of vol trading. Larry waxes nostalgic on the days when there weren't puts on every stock. The virtues of upside VIX calls versus SPX puts to hedge a portfolio. Discussing the fine art of gamma scalping. Crystal Ball: Wild prognosticating from the panel. The market will have trouble supporting current vol levels. Sebastian likes buy-write opportunities in gold right now. Larry still has a bullish bias to the market. With expiration week for the front month upon us, Don sees Euro vol settling at around 12.40-12.75.
53 min
November 22, 2011 Volatility Views 31: Live from Las Vegas
Volatility Views 31: Live from Las VegasVolatility Review: It's been a rough week for the equity markets. With the weekend decay out, and the super committee's report due this week, is it time to buy or sell the VIX? Is leverage causing a rise in volatility? What's going on with the Euro FX VolContract, and what does realized volatility look like right now? What's the latest news on the Dec one-month VolContract?Volatility Viewpoints: Bob talks about the long-term future of volatility, the volatility of volatility, and how efficiency affects the market. Also, Bob discusses his initial thoughts of the article in Futures magazine written last week. Volatility Interview: Dan Cook, Director of Business Development at the Nadex Exchange, joins Mark and Bob in the interview segment.Crystal Ball: With the VIX at 33, we need the market to move 2% per day to pay for VIX. Is that possible, or are we looking at a potential meltdown? If we see the VolContract fall anywhere below 13%, should we be looking to get long FX vol?
44 min
November 14, 2011 Volatility Views 30: Epithet Etymology
Volatility Views 30: Epithet Etymology Volatility Review: Only four days into the new front month of December, we have a ton of volatility. Greece and Italy are leading the way, dictating how the market will trade day to day. Mark Sebastian's week in review. Is Europe ramping up or winding down? The trend of net unit buyers continues into today. Volatility Viewpoint: This segment was kicked off by an article in Futures Magazine, "Stock Market Trends and the Volatility Premium by Marco Erling. We felt the article would be right up the alley of Volatility Views listeners. Mailbag/Crystal Ball: WHERE ARE WE ON THE EURO VOL CONE? I know the guys over at VolX are big fans of the vol cones. I'd like to know where the Euro VolContracts currently fall on the vol cones spectrum. It sounds like they would be a screaming sell at these levels. Am I correct, and do the hosts agree? Until the VIX proves it can hold 30 and lower, it may be a good time to hold premium – good for gamma scalping.
1 hr 4 min
November 08, 2011 Volatility Views 29: Other Volatility Indices
Volatility Views 29: Other Volatility Indices

Volatility Review: The VIX cash and the VIX, in general, have been on quite the roller coaster ride. With further concerns about Greece, and now Italy as well, the VIX bounced right back to the 32 level. Greece continues to set the Euro on fire. Don discusses the recent expiration of the front month November Euro VolContract.

Volatility Viewpoint: Don discusses some of the hedging aspects of using VolContracts against options positions or equity portfolios, and some general logistical issues for listeners who are looking to add VolContracts into to their portfolio for the first time.

Mailbag: Volatility on Other Indices. Hello Vol Views Crew: Love the show. Keep up the good work. My question concerns the viability of volatility products on indices other than the S&P. For whatever reason, none of those products have managed to attract volume or attention like the VIX, even when the ones that were created by the CBOE. To what do you attribute their failure? Is there something inherent to those indices to make them poor candidates for vol products, or is the S&P simply an ideal candidate for vol products? Thanks for your insight.

Crystal Ball: With so much uncertainty coming out of Europe, how long will sentiment factor in vol remaining high? Can Euro volatility at 15% last for the rest of the month? Plus, Mark Sebastian's weekly outlook.
1 hr 1 min
November 02, 2011 Volatility Views 28: Day-Trading VolContracts
Volatility Views 28: Day-Trading VolContractsVolatility Review: Mark Sebastian's week in review. Euro vol a roller coaster ride recently -- two big moves during the first two and a half weeks pulled the one month Nov up and down.Volatility Viewpoint: Trading VolContracts intra-day, and some of the opportunities and mathematical applications inherent in this type of trading.Listener Mail: How Would You Update VIX?Hello: Since VIX is still the brand name for volatility with much of the investing public, I would like to know what tweaks/upgrades you would suggest for future iterations of the VIX.Crystal Ball: Euro vol outlook -- will we move lower from here? Also, Mark Sebastian looks into his crystal ball.
57 min
October 26, 2011 Volatility Views 27: Stealing the Mean
Volatility Views 27: Stealing the Mean Volatility Review: A bit of a roller coaster ride with the S&P 500 and VIX -- A general rally in the broad market and a resulting sell-off in the VIX going into this weekend. Don gives a review of the ever-unfolding and crazy world of Euro vol. Plus, Mark Sebastian's week in review. Volatility Viewpoint: A continuation of the discussion about skew, kurtosis, etc. Why don't we remove the mean in our volatility formula and why doing it this way is a better hedge for options traders. Listener Mailbag: Volatility Trading for RetailHi Guys: I imagine I am one of the many retail options traders who regularly tune into your program, even though much of it is way over my head. I've heard you guys discuss delta neutral trading in the past. My question is whether you think this is an appropriate strategy for retail options traders to adopt. Is it viable to trade delta neutral with a regular online brokerage account these days? Also, I know Mark Longo has said on previous programs that retail tends to be directionally oriented and professionals trade vol. I'm sure that's the case for a reason. Why do you think so many retail traders fall into the directional vs. vol camp? Thanks for the show. I'm learning something new every week -Facebook question from Dabney K, Ontario, Canada. New VolContractsDon's hinted at new vol contracts coming soon on equity indices. Will these utilize the same formula as the euro or will there be slight tweaks for the different underlyings? - Twitter question from Oseo Crystal Ball: Mark Sebastian weighs in on the upcoming week. Also, an outlook of Euro vol for the remainder of October.
59 min
October 17, 2011 Volatility Views 26: Live from FIA Chicago
Volatility Views 26: Live from FIA Chicago Taped live before a packed audience, Mark, Don, and Mark Sebastian are joined by Chris Strong, Director of Research for Liberty Funds. If you can imagine Crossfire meets Sports Center meets Fast Money, then you're half way to understanding how great this episode is.
58 min

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Volatility Views is the premier radio program for volatility traders. With leading industry guests and detailed analysis of volatility products, this program takes you inside the world of volatility…