VXX – S&P VIX Short-Term (Last:15.01)

Because this vehicle was designed to tempt suckers into buying puts and calls, we don’t bet on it very often. Only when it has fallen to a compelling, precisely targeted low do we consider buying options, and even then we buy only cheap ones with just a week or two left on them. This time, a 15.66 target that seemed too enticing to pass up drew our interest. On Friday, $200 worth of calls we’d bought a week earlier to satisfy a gambling jones vanished in a puff of smoke when they expired worthless. Looking ahead, I see little likelihood of jumping back in until such time as the 9.92 target shown is hit or closely approached.   The S&Ps would probably have to rise well above 3400, and the Dow above 30,000, before this happens. It seems incredible, but that’s what the chart says, and it says it clearly.