Listed Derivatives

Volatility is playing an increasingly important role in markets and portfolios. We sat down with two experts to ask them how investors use listed derivatives such as VSTOXX and VIX futures and options to trade market swings.

The STOXX Europe 600 has become the underlying index for Total Return Futures (TRF), launched today on the derivatives exchange Eurex.

The TRFs were listed on September 30, expanding the leading pan-European benchmark’s trading ecosystem. TRFs have seen strong demand from market participants as a way to efficiently gain exposure to price-plus-dividend returns of shares and indices.

The TecDAX index has tracked the performance of German technology stocks since 2003. Through a broad yet focused industry taxonomy, the index covers companies with a core technology business across multiple industries.

The STOXX® Europe 600 SRI index is aligned with the new ESMA guidelines on fund names. Investors, meanwhile, will have a say whether other derivatives’ underlying methodologies will change. We asked experts from Eurex and STOXX what this means for the segment.

The STOXX US Nexus 100, STOXX US 2000, STOXX USA Titans 30 and STOXX USA 500 underlie futures as of today, expanding the possibilities for investors to trade baskets of US stocks.

The so-called time-weighted average price (TWAP) period employed in the calculation of the index’s daily settlement level will expand thismonth. The change should help increase liquidity in derivatives tied to VSTOXX.

Eurex’s Mezhgan Qabool explains how demand to invest in chipmakers drove the launch of the STOXX Semiconductor 30 index futures in March, and what the new product offers for portfolios.

The German blue-chip benchmark was introduced in July 1988. Its impressive 1,575% rally since then is a reflection of the global economy’s transformative growth and the corporate successes at home.

Asset TV caught up with Hamish Seegopaul, Global Head of Index Product Innovation at STOXX; and Zubin Ramdarshan, Head of Equity & Index Product Design at Eurex, to understand just how VSTOXX and its derivatives work. They were joined by Yangyang Hou, Executive Director for Global Quantitative and Derivatives Strategy at JP Morgan, who explained how investors and traders are using VSTOXX futures and options in a market with plenty of sources of potential risk.

Weekly expirations allow market participants to finetune hedging and accurately implement strategies around specific events such as economic data releases. The new options further expand a comprehensive derivatives ecosystem around the STOXX Europe 600.

The STOXX Europe 600 turned 26 this month, a lifetime during which the index has become a trusted barometer for the region’s equities. Used widely for the benchmarking of funds, the index is also the center of a growing ecosystem of investment products.