Skip to main content

Low Volatility Portfolios

With today’s sell off in US equities accelerating we have been getting questions from about how we are managing downside risk. Our primary risk management tool is our proprietary SVIX (“synthetic VIX”), which allows us to replicate the performance of the VIX without the decay found in other long volatility vehicles like VXX. One strategy clients have been very pleased with is our Low Volatility Large Cap strategy, in which we aim to meet or exceed the S&P 500’s returns with a fraction of the downside volatility. We recommend this strategy to clients who would traditionally own large cap stocks but want to remove the tail risk of black swan market crashes.

We achieve our target performance via an actively managed portfolio of stock options and an allocation to SVIX. Below is the performance of this strategy month to date, which as you can see has matched the S&P 500’s return with a fraction of the volatility.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Is the KCJ Foreshadowing a 2008 Repeat?

The CBOE Correlation Index (KCJ) is close to the lowest level we have seen since it was first listed in 2007. The KCJ measures the implied movement of the S&P 500 components options, compared to the implied movement of the S&P 500 index options. Simply put, the higher the number, the more likely all stocks are going to move together. Conversely, a low number will be characterized by sector rotation, and flat markets; one sector moves higher, another moves lower.  (Source: Access Hollywood) Correlation, for lack of a better term, is correlated with volatility. Not surprisingly, 30-day S&P 500 historical volatility is near the low level of 6.5%. Currently at 33.5, KCJ is sitting close to rock bottom, lower than where it was in 2007, (but not lower than where Lindsay Lohan was in 2007).  So far this year, the market has been able to grind higher, characterized by leadership in FANG(Facebook Apple/Amazon, Netflix, Google) and sector rotation. A...

Heading into Summer

With the dog days of summer almost upon us, it's time to start thinking about option strategies. Most of the time, the summer is when markets are calm. However, this may not necessarily be the case for options. Playing both sides, options give you an edge as you decide where you think the market may be. On Options Action, the panel had many interesting topics on their plates. As volatility continues the shrink, the fear in the market is slowly deteriorating. However, this may not mean a jump is coming. There is still a lot of uncertainty out there. Putting this all in prospective click below to hear all the newest option strategies. http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1131628744&play=1 http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1131630253&play=1 http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1131628723&play=1 http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1131628711&play=1