The Holy Grail of volatility investing would be an ETN or ETF that matched the movements of VIX—CBOE’s volatility index on the S&P 500. As a hedging vehicle it would be nearly ideal—negatively correlated to fast moves of the S&P 500 with a stable floor during quiet times. So far no one has figured how to economically offer a fund that does this. Instead …
For ex-dividend and pay dates for IWM see this post. If you would like the dividend history for another security, see this post.
For updated information about SPY, IVV, and VOO’s dividend see this post. See here for my list / dates for iShare S&P related funds and here for the Russell related funds. Vanguard treats their ex-dividend dates like state secrets. See here for my estimates on Vanguard ETF ex-dividend and pay dates. .
This morning I took the plunge, buying equal amounts of IEF (93.10) and DTYS (52.95) this morning, with the goal of getting a low risk return of 1.7% annualized return or better. Before I bought I was surprised / dismayed to see that DTYS had fallen more per share than IEF had risen—casting doubt on my planned 1:1 hedging ratio. I looked back …
I have been loading up heavily in XIV during this correction. I certainly haven’t been bored, watching big gains one day go away the next, but the contango associated with VXX is currently structural—so as long as that situation continues XIV, which is short contango, will be a long term winner. If this correction turns out to be more than the minor setbacks we’ve …
