- Summary:
- eToro has extended the trading hours VIX Futures Contracts. We tell you how this affects trading and why it’s important.
Online broker eToro has made major improvements to the trading of $VIX.FUT by significantly extending the trading hours at the contracts to a total of 23 hours per day, Monday through Friday. For eToro investors, this means more options for monitoring and fine-tuning their holdings of one of the market’s most important assets. Traders who are interested in keeping tabs on VIX Futures Contract prices can do so by adding the ticker symbol “VIX.FUT” to their eToro watchlist.
VIX Futures Contracts and relevance to trading
In March of 2006, the market got its first exposure to futures contracts based on the VIX index. They were developed so that traders and investors may have exposure to the future performance of the CBOE Volatility Index. In addition to utilizing the VIX directly to price derivatives, traders can also trade the index through a number of options and exchange-traded instruments.
Based on the current mid-quote values of S&P 500 Index (SPX) call and put options, the VIX Index is calculated to create a measure of constant, 30-day projected volatility of the U.S. stock market. The VIX tends to increase during stock market losses and decrease during market advances.
It is a measure of how strongly investors anticipate the S&P 500 Index’s price will fluctuate in the near future. It’s one of the most popular measures of volatility in the financial media . Furthermore, a wide range of market participants monitor it on a daily basis, making it one of the most generally recognized indicators of volatility worldwide.
The Volatility Index (VIX) is a popular tool among investors for gauging the level of anxiety or concern surrounding the market. Therefore, many traders commonly refer to it as “fear” index. Direct purchases of the VIX are not possible. Rather, it is tradable via exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded notes, options, and futures contracts.