Good call to the few of you who cautioned me about TVIX. Don’t worry, I wasn’t ignoring you. And I’d say this proves you right.
Absolutely riveting, watching that thing today…
That being said, I’m not exactly scrambling to sell my .4 (going on .3)% of assets here. The position is an extreme hail-Mary pass. If we get a substantial correction, today won’t matter. If that correction never comes, I’ll let these things go to zero.
I honestly don’t care.
So let’s all have a big laugh at the bankers that just blew up all us poor jackasses in the name. And hope no good men got taken out in these, the instruments of Satan.
Um…Amen
(I don’t know when this turned into a prayer)
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lol. At least it’s closer to NAV today than it was yesterday. It’s still in my “science experiment” to protect against just such an event. Oh well.
I laughed at this a lot more than I should have.
I can safely say that no one, except for maybe a few people out there that blew themselves up, has traded TVIX worse than I.
I decided to put out a few feeler shorts back in the fall once the thing ran up over 200%. Did exactly what you will probably do and ate a 100% loss by coming within a few days of top ticking the bitch.
Could have damn well blown myself up if I made it anything worthwhile in size, like I have with shorting VXX in the past. Just goes to show how small volatility bets need to be. Makes you question if it’s really worth it.
“Just goes to show how small volatility bets need to be. Makes you question if it’s really worth it.”
Or you need to be able to scale in in very small dribs and drabs over a multi-week period.
I’m inclined to disagree. This trade taught me to think of volatility ETF’s as options trades. All or nothing.
When volatility futures are in backwardation you don’t need the VIX to even come close to new highs for VXX and TVIX to make new highs. All that needs to happen is for the VIX to stay elevated. So adding to any position can quickly turn into disaster. If the market had made new lows in mid October, TVIX could have seen 130-150 and a 100% loss turns into a 200% loss without the VIX ever seeing new highs. What would have happened if the VIX actually hit significant new highs (60+) and you were adding to your position?
I should sum all that up by saying, how small does your position/adds need to be if you’re willing to possibly sit through a 200% loss? And is it really worth it given how small they need to be?
Yup. LeftCoast, that is the conundrum. Are you trading for excitement or to make $$$? Are you trading to prove a point / win, or to make dough?
Those comments are not directed at anyone. They just came to me after reading your last comment.
for the record ive been a seller of stocks for a few weeks now and even took some losses in gold stocks to get out
I figured it out, bond yields are rallying because people are selling and buying USD