Thursday, 1 September 2011

Volatility Protection Getting Cheaper As Far As The Eye Can See

As short-term volatility slides, the VIX is falling back in line with VIX future premiums, a reflection that demand for short-term disaster protection roughly matches demand for longer-term insurance.

Futures on the  CBOE's  Volatility Index are "flattening" as the VIX falls 1.7% to 31.08. This means that "fear" about the next 30 days is roughly in line with "fear" about each month through May.

Typically, "long-term fear outweighs fear over the next 30 days," says OptionsPit's  Mark Sebastian . In an unusual move earlier this month,  S&P's  US credit downgrade pushed the VIX to48, well above its futures readings, meaning investors bid up the price of short-term options protection relative to longer- dated protection.

By Mark Gongloff

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