VolDex® Implied Volatility Indexes

  

See: Implied Volatility.

Implied volatility measures the likelihood that a particular price will make a big move in the near future. It's like a consensus opinion about how far a price is likely to move in a given time frame.

The measure is helpful in making investment decisions. Times with high volatility mean big swings...high risk, potentially high reward. Low volatility is like sailing with no wind: calm waters, but it's hard to get anywhere.

There are a few indexes that measure implied volatility. The most famous is the VIX. The VolDex index (official name: the Nations Large Cap VolDex Implied Volatility Index) is another alternative. The VolDex index uses a different formula for determining implied volatility than the VIX. It focuses on at-the-money options for the SPY (the S&P 500 index), while the VIX uses all options. Despite the different underlying basis, the VIX and the VolDex move in almost lock-step with each other, making either a worthwhile way to track implied volatility.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is the U.S. Mint?4 Views

00:00

Finance allah shmoop what is the u S mint It's

00:09

this tasty sweet smelling plant that can be grown in

00:12

the united states So it's you know us mint But

00:16

it's not the u S Mint that would be this

00:20

place and these three places actually yeah there are currently

00:24

for mints in use one each in philly san francisco

00:28

denver in a west point So what exactly do they

00:31

do there Take mint plants and convert them into delicious

00:34

melt in your mouth treats so we can cleanse our

00:37

palace after a hefty meal at our favorite garlic filled

00:40

italian restaurant Well no not quite The u S Mint

00:43

is responsible for one hundred percent of our coinage That's

00:46

pennies nickels dimes quarters of this one Whoever that busty

00:50

woman is if it can be found in a change

00:52

purse It started out here or here or here or

00:55

here Well the u S Mint was created by congress

00:58

in seventeen ninety two when our forefathers realized that there

01:01

was no way to make any of the jukebox is

01:04

work So yeah we needed small change because well back

01:07

in their day pretty much the only thing that cost

01:09

over ninety nine cents was a thirty foot yacht or

01:13

a trip around the world on a mule so we

01:15

needed something other than paper currency that started at a

01:18

dollar And while the u S Mint was born well

01:21

the mints use precious ish medals but not so precious

01:25

that they're not willing to melt them and crush them

01:27

and form them into likenesses of dead presidents Well the

01:30

medals are fed through a series of fancy machines until

01:33

coins pop out on the other end Well typically the

01:36

quarters and dimes and so on that we use on

01:38

a semi regular basis but sometimes also commemorative coins Yeah

01:43

that's included in there too Well like when the country

01:45

turns two hundred years old when we want to recognize

01:47

an important person or event from history or when you

01:50

know workers that the men are bored of coining aeneas

01:53

Now this is all what they do Additionally there's a

01:55

facility at fort knox where all of the u S

01:58

Bullion is stored and no gold and silver bullion not

02:02

bullion Birbal yang's you difference in french but don't get

02:06

any crazy ideas about robbing the place That would be

02:08

like while trying to break into fort knox common misconception

02:12

the mint doesn't print paper currency that would be under

02:16

the purview of the bureau of engraving and printing which

02:20

will also put your loved one's name on a champagne

02:22

flute for just twenty nine ninety five So yeah the

02:25

u S mint does coins The bureau does dolla dolla

02:28

bills right Those annual crosstown softball cames really gotten pretty 00:02:31.958 --> [endTime] fierce

Up Next

Finance: What is Volatility?
77 Views

What is volatility? In the world of investing, volatility basically means riskiness. It looks at the returns for stocks or indexes, and if they are...

Finance: How does duration affect bonds (risk and volatility)?
2 Views

How does duration affect bonds (risk and volatility)? The longer the duration, or length of maturity in bonds, the greater the exposure that econom...

Finance: What is the Black Scholes Model?
11788 Views

What is the Black Scholes Model? The Black Scholes Model is used to determine the price of call options. It looks at the change in stock price over...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)