Monday, November 23, 2009

December pseudo covered call on VIX

In the next couple of weeks I'm expecting a slight correction in the markets, so I expect VIX  / VIX futures to jump up a bit from their current 21 / 23.20 levels.   I bought 30 Dec 10 (VIXLB) calls at 13.19 and sold 30 Dec 20 calls (VIXLD) at 3.54 for a net debit of 9.65.   I will put a close out order in place around 9.90, hoping to cash out early if the markets switch into fear for a while.  Any serious uptick in the VIX should drive the time value in the short options towards zero, while the long 10 calls should closely track the underlying December VIX futures.

As usual, I found that you can buy/sell VIX options at prices that split their bid/ask prices plus .05.  So for example if the 10 Dec call  quote is 12.80/13.50  -- a large .70 spread, the call can be bought for about 13.20 and sold for about 13.10.

No comments: