Brian Stutland was featured on the closing bell to the discuss the implied volatility of the market. He was asked to comment on why the VIX was trading at higher levels despite the market moving higher. Typically, the VIX trades lower as people sell covered calls to take profit on long underlying positions and as we tend to see the market consolidate, taking a breadth, on each move higher. However, there is some belief that the market will have a big move following the Fed’s rate decision this week and thus people want to own volatility, thus bidding up the VIX index level, regardless of the direction of the market move this week.
What will the Fed do and how will this effect the market? Currently, there is over a 90% chance they cut rates 25 basis points based on the fed funds rate futures.