A Very Simple Model for Pricing VIX Futures

Serious volatility watchers are always observing a three-ring circus. The left ring holds the general market. Center ring has options on the S&P 500 and the various CBOE VIX® style indexes and to the right are VIX futures, Volatility Exchange Traded Products like VXX, UVXY, TVIX, and XIV plus associated options. Activities in the three rings usually follow a familiar choreographed pattern. The VIX moves …

Read more

VIX Futures Prices vs. Predictions from a “Simple” Model

It’s been said that we learn more from failures than success. Hopefully the chart below will be an illustration of that. It displays the near real-time prices of VIX futures vs. the predictions of a “simple” model I’ve created.  My intent with the model is not to achieve high accuracy (it won’t) but rather to distinguish between when VIX futures prices are truly unusual, and …

Read more