JPMorgan’s Kolanovic Warns of Event Risk on Scale of 2018 Volatility; VIX Surging

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s top-ranking strategist, Marko Kolanovic, has warned that the explosive rise of 0DTE options is creating an event risk on the scale of the stock market’s early-2018 volatility implosion, with daily notional volume in such short-term options estimated to be around $1 trillion.[0] This has been reflected in the VIX, often referred to as Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, which measures the volatility traders expect the market to be over the following 30 days based on demand for options contracts, and has risen to its highest level since early January.[1]

Danny Kirsch, head of the options desk at Piper Sandler & Co., stated that the rise in the VVIX is a sign of increasing uncertainty ahead of the U.S. January consumer-price index reading due out Tuesday.[1] The S&P 500 is on track to finish the week down 1.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average are both headed for their worst weeks since mid-December and January 20th, respectively.[2]

0. “Zero-Day Options Are Like Betting on ‘Horse Race,’ Tchir Says” Yahoo Finance, 16 Feb. 2023, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zero-day-options-betting-horse-154911404.html

1. “Traders brace for a blowup as cost of protection for U.S. stocks hits highest level since October” MarketWatch, 10 Feb. 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/traders-brace-for-a-blowup-as-cost-of-protection-for-u-s-stocks-hits-highest-level-since-october-84dadfa0

2. “Traders brace for a blowup as cost of protection for U.S. stocks hits highest level since October” msnNOW, 11 Feb. 2023, https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/traders-brace-for-a-blowup-as-cost-of-protection-for-u-s-stocks-hits-highest-level-since-october/ar-AA17leKI