Friday 21 December 2012

Volatility fractionally higher

The main indexes saw something of a choppy day, with two very distinct bounces. The VIX suffered as a result, and despite the indexes closing around 1% lower, the VIX only closed 1% higher to settle @ 17.84. Across the week, the VIX climbed around 5%


VIX'60min



VIX'daily



VIX'weekly


Summary

Today was a bit of a mess in volatility terms. The opening high of 19.93 was teasingly close to breaking the key VIX 20 threshold.

Yet..no..not today. The VIX soon put in a black candle on the hourly and daily charts, and this weakness was indeed seen across the day.

The closing daily candle is really something of an oddity. A giant black candle...a higher close, but massively below the opening gap levels. Normally I would get pretty concerned at such a black candle, but...considering everything going on, I think bears should not get too worried. The indexes did close a fair bit lower, and the weekly index charts are sporting what could be a spike high.


Weekly cycle still warning of upside potential

The big VIX weekly chart remains one of the charts for the bears to keep in mind. It remains the case that I await the first weekly VIX closing >20. Once that is achieved, then bears can be more confident that much higher levels..in the 30s..even 40s are viable in the subsequent 2-4 weeks.

Today was the fourth consecutive weekly gain for the VIX, perhaps next week - despite being a shortened Christmas trading week, perhaps we can see VIX break into the 20s.

More later, on the indexes.