An S&P 500 RSI(2) rule (short VIX futures if below 30, long if above 90, else cash; daily) produced 225% vs 213% gross profit and -28% vs -69% max drawdown for a continuous short VIX futures position (2007–2023; gross of costs).
Does the S&P 500 Index (SPX) or the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) yield better short-term trading signals for stocks and VIX futures? In the May 2024 revision of his paper entitled "Chicken and Egg: Should you use the VIX to time the SPX? Or use the SPX to time the VIX?", Robert Hanna explores mutual predictive relationships between SPX and VIX, with an eye toward exploitation via market timing strategies. He considers several long-term trend indicators to investigate whether SPX or VIX data offers better SPX return predictions. He considers two types of short-term overbought/oversold predictive rules: (1) short-term relative strength index (RSI) readings of 2, 3 and 4 days; and, (2) short-term high and low readings of 5 to 25 days in length. He applies both sets of short-term rules separately to SPX and VIX to predict movements of SPX and VIX futures. Using daily SPX and VIX levels since 1990 and short-term VIX futures prices since 2007, all through 2023, he finds that:
Using SVXY to Capture the Volatility Risk Premium PremiumMonthly Skim (SVXY gains above the initial stake moved to BIL monthly; 0.2% switching frictions) ended with a higher terminal value than Buy and…
Shorting VXX with Crash ProtectionFreeVXX shorting with monthly crash protection (switching to cash after negative returns) generated attractive returns but still suffered material drawdowns (Feb 2009–Mar 2020; Fixed…
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Identifying VXX/SVXY TendenciesFreeVXX futures roll return shows modest predictive power for SVXY returns over 1-21 days, with highest roll returns associated with weaker SVXY performance (2009-2019;…