A $905 Million VIX Note Goes Wild After Barclays Halts Sales
- VXX surges, trading activity jumps as premium hits 2018 high
- Sosnick says short squeeze is likely catalyst for Tuesday jump
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A $905 million exchange-traded note betting on stock volatility endured a roller-coaster session on heavy volumes Tuesday after becoming untethered from the value of its assets following Barclays Plc’s move to stop issuing new shares.
Trading in the iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (ticker VXX) was halted five times in the first hour as the product jumped as much as 45%. Volumes were at one point more than 50% above the 30-day average. The note later reversed gains to close lower in the wild session.