The VIX Futures market has been on a bit of a tear—driven by inflows into volatility ETFs like Barclays’ VXX, VelocityShares’ XIV and TVIX, and ProShares’ UVXY. The chart below shows the resultant growth in the short term futures open interest and volume. The data doesn’t look as dramatic if we change the vertical axis to a logarithmic scale—a scale that makes it easier to …
Wednesday night, March 21, 2012, I was wondering if there was a graceful way for Credit Suisse to restore TVIX to working order and get its share creation process working again. The Wednesday close was $14.43, roughly 2X the $7.62 indicative value (IV) giving a market capitalization of $587 Million. The correct market cap, based on the indicative value was $310 Million. Somehow $277 …
It’s clear that the volatility ETN/ETFs have begun to dominate the VIX Futures market. What isn’t clear is whether it matters. Volatility isn’t a commodity like gold or corn that is physically limited, so future position limits don’t seem applicable. When the price of VIX futures is attractive, more can be created—and appropriate hedges put in place. But are these hedges distorting the overall market? …
Since Credit Suisse’s recent pause on TVIX share creations I have been trying to figure out some of the hedging / rebalancing dynamics underlying the current crop of volatility ETNs and ETFs. Traditional equity ETFs like SPY, the S&P 500 index tracking fund don’t require much behind-the-scenes action. Shares are created or redeemed in conjuction with baskets of securities changing hands. The only dynamic part …
In February 2012 VelocityShares‘ TVIX ETN was on a tear. Its volume surged from an average of 6.67 million shares a day in January to 22 million shares a day in February. The assets under management (AUM) also grew dramatically. At the end of January TVIX had $413 million in assets—fourteen days later it has $279 million more for a total of $691.0 million. Credit …
