Can you actually trade the $VIX or is it just an indicator?
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alanj answered one year ago …
I just realized the actual meaning of your question. I had misread it. Yes, you can trade the VIX, but only with options. I have not seen anywhere, where you can trade it as you would like a direct purchase of stock.
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warren answered one year ago …
Yes you can, I sometimes play the options on the VIX which recently have moved both up and down in quick fashion making "killings" possible! Good luck.
Warren
www.preciousmetalstockreview.com
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alanj answered one year ago …
I've used the VIX as an indicator only. Prior to the recent VIX runup it had been trading at 20 or slightly lower for the low and a high of 30-35. Had you bought a call options contract when it had reached the 30-35 range you would have been a loser. Or if you had bought a put at 20 and sold when it had reach the 30-35 range you would have missed out on a lot of profit. It would suggest using your other indicators along with the VIX to determine your trades.
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zinfool answered one year ago …
Yes on the options part. You can buy options, but individuals can not sell (write) options. On the big
spike up, I bought put options while VIX was above 80 in anticipation that the here to unheard of rise
to almost 90 would be unsustainable. Well you know the part about markets can hold unsustainable longer than your checkbook, well I hope that's not the case here. I bought with a Dec.19Th expiration date, so we will see. The option chains are very hard to find, and they look funny VIX XD, VIX XG, VIX XF.
On buying the index, I have not tried that, but if there is a derivative of it, it probably trades. I have 6 weeks to close this, but I would like to close it with some time and value left.
zinfool
