The Global Margin Call | Volatility Veteran Noel Smith on Dispersion, Vol of Vol, and How He’s Trading VIX Spike & Stock Market Crash

Bullish:

• $DELTA 1 INSTRUMENTS (E.G., S&P 500, NASDAQ) - Buying Delta 1 instruments that benefit from a bounce.

  • “I bought some Delta 1 instruments that benefit from bounce.”

    Noel·0:00
• $S&P 500 (INTRADAY) - Long the S&P 500 index intraday.

  • “We are along the index. We're not going to be along the index by the end of the day.”

    Noel·0:00
• $VOLATILITY (BACK MONTHS) - Long volatility in a defined risk manner in the back months.

  • “We are long volatility in a defined risk manner in the back.”

    Noel·0:00
• $SVIX - Buying SVIX.

  • “You can buy something like SVIX.”

    Noel·0:00

Bearish:

• $VOLATILITY - Selling volatility due to it being overly bid.

  • “I am selling volatility today. I am opportunistically seeing where I think it's overly bid.”

    Noel·0:00

  • “If I had to do anything, I would probably sell volatility in a risk-defined manner or something like that, like a really wide condor.”

    Noel·0:00
• $VIX - Shorting VIX with the expectation it will go lower.

  • “I think it's gonna go lower.”

    Noel·0:00
• $VIX FUTURES - Shorting August VIX futures.

  • “The August VIX future as I speak is trading 2857. Lot lower than 65, isn't it?”

    Noel·0:00
• $VXX - Selling VXX if borrowable.

  • “You can sell something like VXX if you can get borrowed, but you probably can't.”

    Noel·0:00