Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on October 14, 2026 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
This was boosted by a decline in AI-related stocks. CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) It exceeded 22 for the first time in four months. The heavy trading volume suggests the stock could rise further.
In a series of eyebrow-raising trades, investors bought large numbers of November VIX calls that would earn them profits if the index continued to rise through November. Specifically, a trader bought 9,200 of the 20-day strike calls on Nov. 18 for $1.7 million and 12,500 of the 23-day strike calls on Nov. 18 for $1.1 million, betting that the VIX would close above 23 by the third week of November.
CBOE Volatility Index Year-to-date
“The speed of VIX’s rise today and the rise in VIX option volume suggest that traders are aggressively monetizing October’s VIX positions and looking to avoid a larger market decline. We note several records of call VIX above $1 million in November,” said Brent Koczuba, founder of Spot Gamma and CNBC contributor.
The Nasdaq fell 2%, its worst day since June 5, due to rifts in the AI complex and concerns over neo-cloud provider CoreWeave. Coreweave fell 13%.
Of the top 10 most popular VIX trades in Friday’s session, nine were calls and six were on strikes above the level where the VIX fell after its initial spike. Collectively, these nine contracts traded for approximately $27 million in premium. This was only about 36% of the total premium traded in VIX options that day.
The market will face a key test next week when Tesla, SpaceX and Meta report their earnings.
