There is a new sheriff in town among volatility exchange traded notes: The VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term ETN (NYSEArca: XIV).
Investors’ ongoing desire to profitably harness volatility pushed XIV to the top spot among volatility ETNs Friday morning, marking the first time since 2009 the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSEArca: VXX) is not the largest volatility-based ETN.
“VXX has been the largest volatility ETP in the world since its introduction in 2009. XIV surpassed it today in terms of total assets due to a combination of factors: Strong performance relative to VXX, significant growth in shares outstanding relative to VXX, and increased adoption of short volatility strategies in the market,” said VelocityShares Chief Investment Officer Nick Cherney in an email exchange with ETF Trends.
Based on roughly 29.5 million shares outstanding and a share price just under $30 at this writing, XIV has $778.1 million in assets under management compared $710.6 million for VXX, according to VelocityShares data.
Increased market volatility boosts the allure of products such as XIV, a notion confirmed by a 60% increase in shares outstanding for the ETN last month.