Curiously, the VIX, after spiking in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, and the onset of the military action in Libya, went to a peak of about 30, has slid back down to about 20:
Most people make the mistake of thinking that the VIX is predictive – it is not. It does anti-correlate with the S&P 500, however.
The real question that investors should be asking themselves is that was this just a single ripple in the market pond, or is this a good time to be loading up on index put options while the volatility is still cheap?
Notably, the April VIX futures closed at 21.50 today; going further out, July closed at 23.10. These products are not easy to trade profitably unless if you have a sharp computer model working in your favour.