Today I’d like to share with you five sites which I feel can have a positive impact on your trading if you trade VXX or any type of equity volatility. These sites are the ones I either subscribe to or regularly visit.
Please note, if a site is not mentioned here it doesn’t mean I don’t like it. It could mean either I’m not aware of it, or for the sake of time efficiency I’ve primarily focused on these five.
If you have your own favorite sites on volatility trading please let me know at lconnors@cg3.com. In a future issue I may aggregate the list and share it with everyone who subscribes to The Connors Research Traders Journal.
I hope you enjoy these sites.
1. 6-Figure Investing (https://sixfigureinvesting.
I like this site – a lot!
Vance Harwood has built an impressive information site which pretty much provides you with everything you need to know about VXX and the many other Volatility Exchange Traded products. It’s broad, it’s very deep, and it’s a wealth of information. The navigation takes time to get used to but, on the plus side of this is that you may end up on a page you didn’t expect and on that page there will be information you never even knew about. One of my favorite sites on trading volatility.
2. The CBOE Website: http://www.cboe.com/
There’s a great amount of information here. Start with subscribing to their daily blog newsletter. It’s filled with information on options trading and volatility trading.
3. Russell Rhoads on Twitter: @RussellRhoads
Russell is one of my favorite trading authors. He’s was also one of the senior professionals at the CBOE. He’s in the heart of volatility trading and he does a great job with his twitter feed not only teaching you about options and volatility trading, but also keeping updated on current market moves and what they may mean. Also, Russell is an accomplished author – if you haven’t read any of his books, the two I recommend are Trading Weekly Options, and Trading VIX Derivatives.
4. VIX and More: www.vixandmore.blogspot.com
I really enjoyed this site and unfortunately it doesn’t update anymore. The good news though is that it has a number of back-tested strategies which are still applicable today. If you’re looking for unique ways to trade volatility that includes test results up through the time they were published, this site has them.
5. SSRN: www.papers.ssrn.com
Living in Los Angeles in the pre-Internet years, I would often spend my market-related research time in the library basements at UCLA, USC, and Pepperdine University reading academic studies in the back issues of the Journal of Finance. Some of the best ideas at the time came from these studies. Back then there were large competitive edges having access to this knowledge.
Today, you don’t have to leave your computer or even your mobile phone to gain access to those studies. What is lost in scarcity is gained in sheer volume with SSRN. If you enjoy learning from academic studies, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with SSRN. There are over 3/4 million academic papers across 30 disciplines on SSRN. Using their search function, you can focus in on any trading topic which has a study (or studies) on it. A search on “Volatility Trading” will lead you to numerous studies and you can then sort them a number of ways including by most recent. An additional bonus to using SSRN is that you can basically search for any trading subject – I’m often surprised at what it brings.
A few caveats to these studies (and you may already know this):
1. Publish or Perish is inherent in academia. So keep this in mind when reading these studies. Are there gems in the study or was the study published because it had to be published in order to meet other criteria?
2. Some finance-related journals are better than others. Spend some time on SSRN and the better journals will become apparent.
3. Be careful of the how the study was done. This is an endless topic debated on in hundreds of other fields. I try to look carefully at how the test was done and for those of you with STEM-related backgrounds you’re especially qualified to do this.
4. As with all research, past results are not indicative of future results. With that said, if you see a study that is confirming your own trading observations it may be a sign of a green light for you to run with.
All in all, SSRN is a worthy site, especially if you enjoy looking for new trading research ideas.
That’s my list. As a whole, these five sites combined provide you with daily insights, professional knowledge, new strategies to trade, and ongoing new research.
Again, if you have a favorite site for volatility trading, please email it to me and also tell me why you like it. I appreciate your insight.
Enjoy your trading!
Larry Connors
Connors Research LLC
P.S. Are you looking for private one-on-one trading mentoring to further improve your trading? If you are call 888-484-8220 ext. 1 for additional details.
