It has been a long day full of wild moves in equity markets.

Below is the chart of the Euro Stoxx 50 futures (VG1) over past 2 days. We can see how much the index has moved, but interestingly enough the VG1 is unchanged on the day as we write this.

 

 

Today the European fear index, V2X, closed at highest levels since the March spike. Buying protection is not a bad thing itself, but it needs to be priced accordingly. Volatility here is pricing rather big moves, but the market is actually not moving that much on a close to close basis. It feels people buying protection here is like buying the insurance for the house after the house has burnt down.

 

 

Last time V2X closed here, VG1 put in the low after the February sell-off. Nothing really new, but people tend to confuse direction with pace.