With the big jump in volatility today (VIX up over 100%), the short volatility etf XIV may liquidate tomorrow.
The indicative value fell from about 73 to 4 after hours today (Fund indicative NAV falling from $1.6 billion or so to $63 million over the last full day!).
The fund sponsor (Credit Suisse) has the option to terminate after an 80% drop in said NAV. In effect, it is a way for them to protect themselves
from their inability to make a margin call on the investors in the fund. (It also looks like the biggest investor was CS itself, although they
may have some offsetting positions).
But the subsequent (unprinted) NAV has fluctuatedly dramatically I'm sure throughout the night.
And the futures have fallen at this writing from the higher values that generated the closing 4 NAV print. We'll see what happens...
In any event, that kind of move in the NAV seems a day for the record books, even if the fund recovers.
If it does liquidate, I hope they recapitalize it quickly and re-launch -- I like that one ...
Some discussion and links here
There was a famous dictum in particle physics by Murray Gell-Mann:
"Everything not forbidden is compulsory".
I guess this is kind of the financial version of that.