Showing posts with label derivatives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label derivatives. Show all posts

Friday, April 14, 2017

How many layers deep are we?

With the market closed for good Friday I'm getting a little stir crazy, I NEED A GREEN TICK!  Here's a quick aside I contemplate when thinking about derivatives and how many layers we have, where we've come from and how much deeper we could go.
I also mention this when explaining the journey from stocks (which most people understand) to how we get to SVXY options. 

So here is the dive to the Challenger deep:

S&P Stocks- this is where we start, where everyone understands. Apple, Microsoft, etc.
S&P Options- the first layer of derivatives, based on the above stocks.
Spot VIX- the actual VIX index, based on the Black-Scholes calculation of 30 day S&P options (above)
VIX  Options- we can't trade the spot VIX, its just a number, so VIX options allow bets on the index and are cash settled.
VIX Futures-  the futures /VX and further out are based on the VIX options at the money price at the corresponding expiration.
VIX ETFs- These are trade-able products that act like stock, based on combinations of VIX futures, constantly being rebalanced between the first 2 months or further out depending on the product.  Here we have VXX, XIV, UVXY, SVXY, TVIX and more.
SVXY Options-  Of the VIX ETFs, just UVXY and SVXY have options so far, thus that is the main product I use, allowing access to time decay and varied leverage on short/long volatility.  At this point we are on the 7th layer down of derivatives, sunlight does not penetrate this far down.

How much deeper can we go? Obviously increased volume/liquidity would lead to options on all the ETFs, as well as new ETFs (VMIN, VMAX are slightly "more accurate" versions of VXX, XIV).

While I do revel in how arbitrary all of this is, I do have to remember that even at 7 layers down in derivatives, these all eventually lead back to S&P stocks, so I guess we still are in reality.  Thanks for joining me on the dive!