Arabic version: خيارات فيكس تشير إلى توقعات بتقلبات أعلى

According to Cnbc, a sell-off in AI-related stocks pushed the Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, above 22 for the first time in four months. A cluster of VIX options trades indicated that some investors expect the market’s volatility gauge to remain elevated through November.

One trader bought 9,200 November 18, 20-strike VIX calls for $1.7 million and 12,500 November 18, 23-strike calls for $1.1 million. The positions wager that the VIX will close above 23 by the third week of November. VIX calls can pay off when the index remains high.

Brent Kochuba, founder of SpotGamma and a CNBC contributor, said the rapid increase in the VIX and heavy options activity pointed to hedging activity. “The speed at which VIX increased today, combined with elevated VIX options volume suggests traders are actively monetizing October VIX positions and rolling to hedge a larger market downturn. We note several +$1 million call VIX prints for November,” he said.

Concerns over cracks in the AI complex and neo-cloud provider CoreWeave contributed to a 2% drop in the Nasdaq, its worst day since June 5. CoreWeave lost 13%. Of the 10 most popular VIX contracts bought during Friday’s session, nine were calls, while six had strikes above the level where the VIX settled after its initial spike.

Nearly $27 million in premium changed hands across those nine contracts, representing about 36% of total premium traded in VIX options during the day. The market faces another key test next week when Tesla, SpaceX and Meta report earnings.