Exchange traded funds linked to the CBOE Volatility Index, or “VIX,” jumped Monday and Tuesday as the recent turn in the Eurozone financial saga soured markets.
The ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (NYSEArca: VIXY) increased 5.1% at last check Tuesday.
On Monday, the volatility index spiked to an eight month high on the worsening Eurozone debt crisis, with the VIX surging as high as 17%.
The VIX is considered Wall Street’s “investor fear gauge” as it is a widely used measure of market risk.
“Investors are coming to the realization that things are slowing down here, and it’s not getting better abroad,” Terry L. Morris, a manager at National Penn Investors Trust Co., said in a Bloomberg article. “Complacency has gotten pretty high. The combination of Greece and Spain, and the China slowdown put investors in a more bearish mode.”
The VIX was 6.6% higher Tuesday.
The popularly traded VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Short-Term ETN (NYSEArca: TVIX) was up 8.1% during trading. The exchange traded note was trading at a 90% premium after issuer Credit Suisse halted creation of new shares. TVIX currently trades at a 5.9% premium to its net asset value. [Volatility ETFs: Checking in on the TVIX Premium]
Volatility-linked exchange traded products are complex investment vehicles designed to track VIX futures, not the spot price. As such, these instruments are intended to be used as a daily hedge, and their performances will begin to diverge from the underlying index if held for longer than one day.
ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF
For more information on the market volatility, visit our volatility category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.