Apr 16, 2012
Volatility Views 49: How Best to Price Variance and Volatility Swaps
Volatility Review: It's funny how it didn't take long for our prediction of a range-bound VIX to be proven wrong! The VVIX has been high. Is a tradable VIX of VIX in the works? What have the NASDAQ and SPX vol of vol six-month averages been? One-year? Don gives some remarkable numbers. Apple on the move downwards; some are eager to buy Apple at 600. NASDAQ vol cones, like most volatility readings, are at historical lows.
Volatility Viewpoint: Today's guests, Thomas Thorsen and Emil Stamp, are the authors of the master's thesis, "Pricing of Variance and Volatility Swaps in a Stochastic Volatility and Jump Framework." The gang discusses pricing models of OTC variance swaps, the different models the authors created, and the accuracy of the models for both forecasting realized volatility, as well as pricing of variance swaps and GARCH models in real-world applications.
Crystal Ball: Are you still shorting the VIX? Are higher levels forecasted for the future? Perception versus reality.