CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE®) announced today that it plans to launch trading of futures with weekly expirations on the new CBOE Short-Term Volatility IndexSM (ticker symbol: VXSTSM) on Thursday, February 13, pending regulatory review.
Chicago Board Options Exchange® (CBOE®) developed the CBOE Short-Term Volatility Index ("VXST Index" or "Short-Term VIX Index") in response to proven demand for WeeklysSM options generally, and volatility contracts that measure a shorter time period in particular. Like CBOE's flagship CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX® Index), the Short-Term VIX Index reflects investors' consensus view of expected stock market volatility using CBOE's proprietary VIX methodology. Both indexes use S&P 500® Index (SPXSM) options in their calculations. The VIX Index uses SPX monthly options to measure expectations of 30-day volatility, while the VXST Index uses SPX options that expire every week (including SPX Weeklys) to gauge expectations of nine-day volatility. The VXST Index's shorter time horizon makes it particularly responsive to short-term volatility triggered by market events such as corporate earnings, government reports and Fed announcements.
"We can't help but be excited about launching Short-Term VIX futures, which combine the best features of our SPX Weeklys options and VIX futures. Traders will have at least four weekly expirations available at one time, providing tremendous flexibility to hedge around event-driven and unexpected market moves," CBOE Chief Executive Officer Edward T. Tilly, said. "We also expect professional traders to create strategies to take advantage of price differences between VIX and VXST products."
The 30-day VIX Index and the nine-day VXST Index are highly correlated, but the VXST Index is generally more volatile than the VIX Index. As an example, when Standard & Poor's downgraded U.S. debt in August 2011, VXST Index values rose 81 percent, while the VIX Index rose 50 percent.
Spot Trading will be the Designated Primary Market Maker (DPM) for the Short-Term VIX futures traded at CFE.
In 2005, CBOE pioneered the Weeklys options product with SPX Weeklys. In 2013, SPX Weeklys accounted for approximately 24 percent of all SPX options trading. Average daily volume for SPX Weeklys during 2013 reached an all-time high of 197,126 contracts, a 98-percent increase from 2012. Last week, consecutive single-day SPX Weeklys volume records were set on Thursday, January 23 and Friday, January 24 when 426,955 and 747,051 options contracts traded, respectively.
"Given the extraordinary appeal and record-setting volume of SPX Weeklys options and VIX futures, we expect futures traders who haven't had the benefit of weekly expirations to embrace Short-Term VIX futures similar to options traders' acceptance of Weeklys options," Tilly said.
CBOE is the home of volatility trading. An innovator in the volatility space and leading creator of measures that track market volatility, CBOE currently publishes data on more than two dozen volatility-related benchmarks and strategies, including indexes that track broad-based indexes, sector and commodity-related ETFs, individual equities and others.
For more information on the CBOE Short-Term Volatility Index, see www.cboe.com/VXST. Additional information on VIX futures and options and CBOE's entire suite of volatility products can be found at www.cboe.com/Volatility.