50 cent, the mysterious VIX call options buyer...

Discussion in 'Options' started by JackRab, Feb 1, 2017.

  1. JackRab

    JackRab

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/404...ifp=0&utoken=8e6b05b488bed9d29c076b7e02308de8

    Interesting read... I wonder what the strategy is.

    This guy has bought $33 mln worth of VIX Feb/March calls in the last 2 weeks (allegedly).

    But VIX futures for Feb/March have only gone down... Wasn't much of a delta in it at the start I think (20-ish?), so even if hedged with short futures there would be some risk in VIX to the upside for him.
     
  2. newwurldmn

    newwurldmn

    There were huge buyers of April a week or so ago. Like 40,000 April 20s
     
  3. JackRab

    JackRab

  4. Perhaps 50cents works for Soros, and is responsible for hedging > 10% SPX drops (pick a better number). (But must be hedging a huge pile of positions). I have no idea, but when I first wrote that, it did not stink too bad. (the stench is building, however) ;-(
     
  5. JackRab

    JackRab

    Yeah maybe...

    So 50ct has got about 660k calls. If there's a 10% glide... VIX would be at what... 30? A bit below 30? So on average the calls will be $10 ITM. So he's sitting on $660mln payout. Hedge for 6.6bln long position, where 10% loss is offset with these calls? For a 0.5% insurance fee per 2 months....

    Could be...