Veteran’s Day VIX Blahs

So it seems like only yesterday they were manipulating the SPX options to gin up the VIX settlement price for October.

Well guess what, we’re only a week until November expiration. As I discovered recently, there’s reason behind the seeming randomness of the VIX options expiration; it’s 30 days ahead of the next SPX expiration.

So what’s going on? Jamie here says lots of buyers in the OTM Nov calls, specifically the 70’s, 75’s and 80’s. Insurance against further market dippage, or pure speculation? Time will tell.

My personal opinion right now, subject to change without any particular reason, is that options (stock and ETF options, not VIX ones) are a better sale now at VIX 60ish than they were at higher volatility levels. We’re in a bit of a trading range for now, and actual stock volatility has tamped down from the recent extremes.