I believe we are naturally attracted to a strategy based on our personality. I am a trend follower most of the time, until the trend gets to an extreme. That is, I identify the directional drift of a price trend and intend to go with it. If it keeps going, I’ll usually stay with it. If it reverses the other way, I’ll exit. I completed scientific research over a decade ago that led to what I believe, and I have real experience observing it. I prefer to ride a trend until the end, but I notice when they start to bend. Or, maybe when it becomes more likely.

Before it bends, I may start expecting the end. I usually notice certain things that alert me the end is nearing. If you walk outside and throw a ball into the air you may notice something happens before the ball comes back down. Its rate of change slows down: its slope changes. The line drawn with a price chart isn’t unlike a line we may draw illustrating a ball travel.

So, I’m not naturally attracted to “mean reversion” as most investors would define it. I point this about because when I do deal with mean reversion its only when its meaningful. When a stock, commodity, currency, or bond drops, I don’t necessarily expect it to “go back”. I find that many people do. They think because a trend drops it will snap back. They only need to be wrong about that once to lose a lot of money. You may remember some famous money managers who kept increasing their risk as losses where mounting during the 2000 – 2003 period or 2007 – 2009 period. It not stocks it was real estate.

My beliefs and strategies aren’t based on just my natural inclination, but instead based on exhaustive quantitative research, empirical observations, and real experience. I want to determine the direction of a trend and go with it for that reason, and then take note when one goes to extreme. The VIX reaching its lowest level since 2007 is such an extreme, though it could certainly stay low for longer than anyone expects.

Some people love hearing about potential reversion, so they’ll naturally be drawn to the CBOE Volatility Index. I’ll be the first to say that is not my main attraction. My natural state is more the cool high performance Porsche that is in demand rather than the ugly car no one wants, but is cheap. Though a cool Porsche at the right price is a good thing. Demand is ultimately the driver of price trends in everything, including listed options.

When we speak of the CBOE Volatility Index we are talking about a complicated index that measures the premium paid for options on the S&P 500 stocks. Robert Whaley of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee developed the CBOE Market Volatility Index for the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 1993. He had published a paper in the Journal of Derivatives with a self-explanatory title as to the intent: “Derivatives on Market Volatility: Hedging Tools Long Overdue,” which appeared in The Journal of Derivatives.

We can talk about all kinds of pricing theories and option pricing models that drive option prices and the VIX, but at the end of the day, the driver really is supply and demand.That’s what makes it my realm of expertise.

I trade volatility, and VIX derivatives specifically, for profit and for hedging So, I am not normally a writer about it, or in options sales (like a broker), but instead a fund manager who buys and sells for a profit. When I think of volatility and the VIX, I think of how I can profit from it, or how it may help me avoid loss.

That’s where I’m coming from.

The VIX is at a point we don’t see very often, so it’s a good time to take a close look.