Can you short vxx

News Markets News. Markets News Trading News. Table of Contents Expand. A Primer on the VXX. Significance for Traders. Looking Ahead. Article Sources. Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy.

Compare Accounts. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where listings appear. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace.

Related Articles. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Part Of. Volatility Explained. Trading Volatility. Options and Volatility. Table of Contents Expand.

ETFs vs. Best Times to Day Trade Volatility. The Bottom Line. Key Takeaways Day trading volatility exchange traded funds ETFs can be attractive at times, but there are other times when volatility ETFs should be left alone. An ETF is an exchange-traded fund, which holds underlying assets in that fund.

An ETN is an exchange-traded note, which does not hold any assets and is structured as a debt security. Article Sources. Are these the reasons, or is there something more complex about it?

Improve this question. KDecker KDecker 1, 1 1 gold badge 8 8 silver badges 10 10 bronze badges. DStanley: look at any longer time period — Ben Voigt. BenVoigt you are correct that it tends downward over time. But that is fairly slow, and not worth the risk of events like this week.

That said, if you catch it on the way down after a big spike, that can be a good opportunity to sell calls or maybe short the stock. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Here's a PSA, and a short answer. Do all of those points make sense? And yes, this is pretty complex. Improve this answer. It certainly wasn't meant to come across that way.

It was a warning, not a disclaimer. I'll expound Jeutnarg Jeutnarg 2 2 silver badges 8 8 bronze badges. The precise amount can be higher or lower, but what happens next is the same: If the value of your shorted VXX shares happens to move up higher than the available balance, you will need to either liquidate other positions or deposit additional funds into the account. Alex R Alex R 8 8 bronze badges. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook.

Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name. If you want to sell VXX short directly you need at least three things: a broker that has shares of VXX available to short, a margin account, and assets cash, securities that you can deposit in your margin account. The Short Squeeze. My guess is that a little shopping around would yield a broker that would be happy to facilitate your short sale.

In a regular cash account setting up a margin account usually just involves a small amount of paperwork. If you are shorting a stock or an ETN the initial transaction deposits money into your margin account. Any margin account will require some assets to be present in the account to serve as margin.

At this point, you will either need to put up more assets or liquidate enough of your position to bring your asset to debt value back into line. This is not fun. If you are interested in other ways of going short on the VIX index this post has more information.

Question is how much sense it makes to start the trade now? Would you recommend waiting for a VIX spike before starting a short volatility investment at all or start now and double down on VIX spikes?