Okay. We can't trade vix directly (spot) but is it possible to use one of the spread betting firms to place a bet? I presume it's possible but I never tried spread betting. Anyone here who did something similar? Ps. Vix closed at 17.78 today I was wondering if someone with spread betting account could post a quote here. Thanks
Nobody can replicate vol at 17.78, so no, you're not going to find a quote. Look to the nearest VIX futures or the synthetic, which is currently trading at a $0.30 premium.
The VXX ETF. Understand what you are doing before betting on it. This ETF uses futures so there is a rolldown. This shit tends to zero long term so no you can't just park money in it waiting for the next 400% pop.
...and of course options on VIX. But they trade on the futures not the cash price, with the front month options valued against the front month futures contract, natch. Quick quote here: http://www.cboe.com/micro/VIX/vixintro.aspx G2 is the front month.
The ETF being a portfolio of futures and cash I guess it performs as good as that if you assume that banks and Hedge funds are doing the arb. And I would bet they do. I think the holdings are available in Bloom and dudes just arb it when it is skewed. So I think the ETF or futures are a similar trade (close in effectiveness). But of course it is far from the index itself.
You could also have a portfolio of options on the S&P500 that is hedged for everything except the volatility.
Thanks guys... tried number of times with ETFs and mini futures, but my daily bets on VIX itself ended up being almost unprofitable even if I correctly predicted VIX. Simply because futures and ETFs are not as volatile (or shell I say responsive) as VIX... price action is kind of smoothed in futures and ETFs and that's exactly what I don't want.. I'll keep trying to find right vehicle and keep enhancing my VIX models Any experience on spread betting as a vehicle? Thanks