Implied Volatility - Volatility Instruments

Volatility Instruments

Volatility instruments are financial instruments that track the value of implied volatility of other derivative securities. For instance, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is calculated from a weighted average of implied volatilities of various options on the S&P 500 Index. There are also other commonly referenced volatility indices such as the VXN index (Nasdaq 100 index futures volatility measure), the QQV (QQQ volatility measure), IVX - Implied Volatility Index (an expected stock volatility over a future period for any of US securities and exchange traded instruments), as well as options and futures derivatives based directly on these volatility indices themselves.