Volatility Index
Volatility Index is a measure of market’s expectation of volatility over the near term.Volatility is often described as the “rate and magnitude of changes in prices” and in finance often referred to as risk. Volatility Index is a measure, of the amount by which an underlyingIndex is expected to fluctuate, in the near term, (calculated as annualised volatility, denotedin percentage e.g. 20%) based on the order book of the underlying index options.
Volatility Index is a good indicator of the investors’ perception on how volatile markets are expected to be in the near term. Usually, during periods of market volatility, market moves steeply up or down and the volatility index tends to rise. As volatility subsides, option prices tend to decline, which in turn causes volatility index to decline.
India VIXIndia VIX is a volatility index based on the Nifty 50 Index Option prices. From the best bid ask prices of Nifty 50 Options contracts (which are traded on the F&O segment of NSE), a volatility figure (%) is calculated (detailed calculation methodology enclosed) which indicates the expected market volatility over the next 30 calendar days. Higher the implied volatility higher the India VIX value and vice versa.There are some differences between a price index, such as the Nifty 50 and India VIX. Nifty50 is calculated based on the price movement of the underlying 50 stocks which comprises the index. India VIX is calculated based on the bid-offer prices of the near and mid month Nifty 50 Index Options. Nifty 50 Index is an absolute number, e.g. 4500, 5000 etc., whereas India VIX is a percentage value (eg. 20%, 30% etc.). Whereas Nifty 50 signifies how the markets have moved directionally, India VIX indicates the expected near term volatility and how the volatility is changing from time to time.The implied volatility as captured by the volatility index is not about the size of the price swings, but rather the implied risks associated with the stock markets. When the market is range bound or has a mild upside bias, volatility is globally observed to be typically low. On such days, call option buying (a position taken on the view that the market will move higher) generally outnumbers put options buying (a position taken on the view that the market will move lower). This kind of market may indicate lower risk. Conversely, when the selling activity increases significantly, anxiety among investors tends to rise. Investors rush to buy puts, which in turn pushes the price of these options higher. This increased amount investors are willing to pay for put options shows up in higher readings on the volatility index. High readings indicate a higher risk market place. Volatility index can also be used as a contrarian indicator. Various tradable products, such as futures and options contracts are available on the volatility index internationally. The derivative contracts on Volatility Indices allow investors to trade ‘volatility’. Volatility is one among the various factors that affect the option prices.Volatility index isolates expected volatility from other factors affecting option prices, such as changes in the underlying price, dividends, interest rates, time to expiration. As such the volatility index offers a way for investors to buy and sell option volatility directly, without having to deal with other risk factors that would have an impact on the value of an index option position.
Uses of Volatility IndexVolatility Index offers great advantages in terms of trading, hedging and introducing derivative products on this index. Investors can use volatility index for various purposes as mentioned below:
• Investors’ portfolios are exposed to the market volatility. Investors could hedge their portfolios against volatility with an off-setting position in India VIX futures or options contracts.
• Volatility index depicts the collective consensus of the market on the expected volatility and being contrarian in nature helps in predicting the direction. Investors therefore could appropriately use this information for taking trading positions.
• Investors could also use the implied volatility information given by the index, in identifying mis-priced options.
• Short sale positions could expose investors to directional risk. Derivatives on volatility index could help investors in safeguarding their positions and thus avoid systemic risk for the market.
• Based on the experience gained with the benchmark broad based index, sector specific volatility indices could be constructed to enable hedging by investors in those specific sectors.
Find out the daily VIX from the above mentioned site
LINK :
http://www.nse-india.com/