Barclays’ XXV —the first ETN with nowhere to go?

Update.  Barclays’  responded to the problems noted below with their IVOP ETN.  It has now has a similar situation that XXV has—near its max price and very low leverage.    See this post for more information. ************************************************************* Originally Posted December 11, 2011 Question: What would the value of Barclays’ inverse volatility XXV ETN be if Barclays’ volatility VXX ETN goes to zero? Answer $40 / share …

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XXV: Dancing the contango—without getting mugged

Update  redirected to https://www.sixfigureinvesting.com/2010/04/going-short-on-vix/ I do not recommend XXV.  At its current price of around $30/share  it does not deliver the sort of performance you would expect an inverse volatility security to deliver.   This security can go no higher than $40 per share and can only get there slowly.  See this post for more information.   If you want to be short volatility use XIV …

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XXV behavior—it’s a pretty good VXX short

Update: I do not believe XXV is a good way to short VXX, or volatility in general.  It has very little upside remaining (maximum value will be $40/share),  see this post for more details. ********************************************************** With the recent action in the VIX and VXX I thought it would be good time to go back and check the performance of Barclays’ new ETN product XXV to see …

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XXV Prospectus

Update: Barclays terminated XXV in April 2018.  There is no replacement product. ********************************************************** XXV Prospectus:   XXV:  Barclays Inverse VolatilityETNs Usually getting the prospectus for a new ETF or ETN takes a Google search and a couple minutes of browsing.  The prospectus for Barclays’ new XXV inverse volatility ETN proved to be a much more elusive search—it didn’t show up in the top 20 hits. …

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Betting that fear will fade

Made my first trade in XXV yesterday, buying at 23.07.    During corrections, like the one we are in right now, the VIX index tends to spike up pretty early, a day or two in.   Later, even when the market drops are larger, the VIX does not seem to match the earlier highs–unless of course the market moves into a more panicky phase.