Volatility Views

Volatility Views 10: Options Die A Little Every DayVolatility Review:  Hit the bids and then hit the road?  Significant fear uptick.  Should VIX skew exist?  Commodities adjustments set volatility running.  Euro vol: simultaneous expiration of the June 1- and June 3-month VolContracts on Friday.  When do remaining time frames open the door for arbitrage opportunities?Strategy Session:  If realized volatility is such a good way to capture and trade vol, what incentive is there to short a realized-vol product?Mail Bag:  What are Mark and Don's views of trading vol going into earnings?Crystal Ball:  Super low realized vol for IBM. Euro vol expiration Friday.  Will "sell in May and go away" apply here as well?

Volatility Views 9: Managing Ratio and Calendar Spreads Volatility Review: The May 1-month Euro VolContract settlement ended at 12.77, more than 50% higher than March or April.  What will June bring?  Two contracts currently trading: June 1-month and June 3-month, creating an interesting arbitrage opportunity. Strategy Session:  1x2 ratio spread.  Don discloses that he sold premium.  Spread management, or finding the right parking place.  Resisting the dark side.  Calendar spreads and choosing which way to cheer.  Greek management.  Position management goes beyond expiration dates. Listener Mail: A suggestion comes in for a potential new segment reviewing OTC trading activity.  What do Mark and Don think of the listed versions of OTC vol products?  See: OTC cabal.  Blackjack tips. Crystal Ball: Looking at potential arbitrage opportunities through June Euro VolContract expiration.  Volatility cone updates.

Volatility Views 8: Live From OIC 2011Live from Savannah, Mark is joined by Robert Krause, CEO and Chairman of the Volatility Exchange. Volatility Review:  Euro vol contract update: stable, but at a high level, hanging out at the 12.50 range.  Bob gives a detailed overview of how the product works.Crystal Ball:  The news makes it reasonable to think that volatility will stay high.  What is coming up next for VolX?  New volatility indices: three different time periods for three new indices, a historical lookback, the volatility of volatility, and a GARCH-based forecast.

Volatility Views Episode 7: Venturing Into The Volatility Mailbag Week In Review:  Market and IV both rally, crushing call spreads.  Euro vol has surprising pop, with May settlement significantly higher than March or April. Listener Mail:  Selling ITM Covered Calls To Capture Skew; What is the time frame for new VolX Products? Will there be realized volatility contracts on AAPL? SPY? Volatility cones for equities? Comments on Robert Engle interview. Crystal Ball:  Commodity selloff continues.  Volatility is priced like there might be an increase in realized vol. Volatility begets volatility. June Euro vol contract now available.

Volatility Views 6: Volatility Discussion with Nobel Laureate Robert EngleMark and Don have the honor of speaking with Professor Engle on various aspects of volatility, including: Professor Engle's move from physics to economics ARCH and GARCH models, and how the ARCH model was born The Volatility Institute Vlab SoFiE Professor Engle's work with the SEC's Flash Crash Advisory Committee The Professor's viewpoint on Dodd-Frank, particularly as it applies to derivatives & counterparty risk.

Volatility Views 5: The Thwack of VolatilityVolatility Review:  Sell-off of VIX cash going into the long weekend, with the normal pattern of a pop on Monday.  Euro VolContract update.  Sebastian talks about the thwack of volatility.Strategy Session:  Dynamic vs. static hedging for professional traders.  Don recommends two articles: Volatility Hedging - Turn Up the Static! Volatility Exposure for Strategic Asset Allocation Listener Mail: Keep those cards and letters coming!  Don and Mark tackle the disadvantages of variance swaps, the stickiness of ATM volatility, and individual name VIX products.  To access the Volatility Views section of the forum, click here.Crystal Ball:  Stabilization of vol? Keep an eye on commodities.  Euro vol is half way through the one-month May contract.

Volatility Views 4: The Many Flavors of Volatility ConesVolatility Review: We get a real-time look at the volatility of volatility with a big one-day move in the Euro vol contract.  "Sell" was the word in vol last week.  Contango craziness.Strategy Session: Contango - a basic introduction; Mean reversion - beyond basic introduction; Volatility cones as a trading signal: they come in many flavors.Crystal Ball:  Interesting vol ahead, both in the Euro contracts, and in the market in general.  VIX cash fluctuations.  Sebastian predicts that S&P will downgrade U.S. debt on Monday.  Are you ready for "Sell in May and go away"?

Volatility Views Episode 3: Root-Mean-Square Week in Review: Slow and low? That's the volatility understatement of the year.  Ten-day realized vol is near two-year lows.  Is this the eye of the hurricane or the calm after the storm?  Implied vol really low, although IV ended up on the week in the S&P 500.  Market doesn't completely trust the low vol levels.Strategy Session:  Continuing last week's discussion, we begin looking into logical errors when deriving volatility over discrete periods.  The simple answer: Root-Mean-Square.  Don walks us through the math, as well as the usefulness of this method when looking to hedge volatility exposure over a longer period of time.  Cheap volatility and buying or selling premium?  Mark and Don discuss their own thoughts on these two matters. Crystal Ball:  Yay...no government shutdown, which may actually put a damper on upcoming vol.  However, if oil continues to rally, and indications of interest are rates rising, we'll see increases in IV.  Good news doesn't rall

Volatility Views Episode Two: The Shadowy World of Volatility SwapsMark and Don are joined by Mark Sebastian from Option Pit.  There is no shortage of opinions on volatility this week. Volatility Week in Review: VIX cash down, but how much does the weekend take out of it? Review of the new skew index; Euro VolContracts (TM) show a sharp volatility decline over March; VolX adds RSJ as a market maker. Volatility Viewpoint:  Exploring the shadowy world of volatility & variance swaps; Using OTC volatility and variance swap markets to capture vol.  The nature of the payoffs. Realized volatility options in the cards. Inferred vol. Crystal Ball: Sebastian thinks that vol has hit a bottom and that it will be ticking up.  Don wonders if that means that the market will fall? Not necessarily...

Volatility Views Premiere Episode: Can Delta Neutral Capture Pure Volatility?In the debut episode, Mark and Don are joined by Dan Passarelli from Market Taker Mentoring. Volatility Week In Review: Volatility taking a steep downturn as concerns lessen; Skew Index - Can it predict Black Swans?; why has volatility dropped; the phenomenon of markets dropping precipitously and rising more steadily; Euro vol discussion. Strategy Session: Delta neutral trading: what is it? why do it? how to do it. Crystal Ball: Good time to pick up downside protection; currencies looking to the upside for vol

Volatility Views: Preview TwoIn this second sneak preview of Volatility View, Mark and Don record live from the croquet fields in Boca Raton.Topics discussed include:     Japanese devastation spikes volatility     How the volatility smile turned into a smirk     A brief history of portfolio protection     VolX contracts on the Euro move 32% in the first month In the Volatility Viewpoint segment, Don and Mark discuss the new volatility products being rolled out on specific names, and how or if they are useful to retail investors.

Volatility Views Sneak Preview Welcome to Volatility Views, the latest addition to The Options Insider Radio Network.  Volatility Views is brought to you in collaboration with VolX - The Volatility Exchange.In this preview episode, Mark introduces the audience to Don Schlesinger, Chief Strategy Officer & Vice Chairman for VolX.  Learn about Don's diverse history from school teacher, to Morgan Stanley, to blackjack aficionado. Listeners will also get a bit of history on the Exchange, plans for the future, and an idea of what to expect from the new show.To leave questions for Mark and Don, you can log onto The Options Insider website, and go to the forum area, or you can call 312.544.9356.Also, you can reach the VolX group at info@volx.us, or by calling 888-VOLX-CORP, or 888.865.9267 You can also check out VolX at www.volx.us.