• 825 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 826 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 827 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 1,227 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 1,232 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 1,234 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 1,237 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 1,237 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 1,238 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 1,240 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 1,240 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 1,244 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 1,244 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 1,245 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 1,247 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 1,248 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 1,251 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 1,252 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 1,252 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 1,254 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

Trouble In Paradise

A chart is considered good when you do not have to add any commentary to make a point. The following is one such candidate.

Below is a chart of the spread between the volatility skew and the vix compared to the SPX. For those new to skew it simply measures the distribution of option implied volatility. When speculators price in tail events they buy out of the money options which "skews" or shifts the distribution of volatility from a normal bell curve.

To oversimplify skew one could argue it is an early warning system that tail events are being priced which likely will lead to a jump in volatility as measured by the vix. On Monday the skew did something pretty interesting while the vix dropped to a near six month low. The skew jumped 11.6% to 139.25 one of the highest levels on record (142.02 the record). The level is significant but more so is the rate of change as indicated on the chart below. This spread is greater than anytime during the 2008 equity selloff.

Skew VIX Dvergence versus SPX

 

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment