VIX Options Volume Hits All-Time High As Stock Speculators Risk Record Amount On Continued Calm

Jon Alternative Media, Blogosphere, Market Commentary

A record 2.61 million options on the VIX traded on Monday, surpassing a previous peak reached in August.
Shockingly, Bloomberg reports that the activity appeared to be led by one investor, who rolled over a massive bet on a return in market turbulence to the end of the year.
Shortly after Monday’s market open, an investor rolled over a position of more than 486,000 Oct. 25 calls to December.
Monday’s trade was effectively an extension of a bet that volatility will more than double by the end of the year — the wager was initiated in July but that didn’t come to fruition since the VIX gained only 2.5 percent in the period.
While the trade was big — it accounted for almost half of Monday’s call volume and 11 percent of the total calls outstanding — wagers that the VIX will rebound have multiplied in recent weeks as shorting volatility has lost some of its appeal.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Sep 26, 2017.