Volatility is often assumed to be a useful indicator. Many traders follow the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) because they expect it to help them spot changes in the direction of price trends.

S&P 500 index futures are used to calculate VIX, so it can be useful in finding turning points on that index. In general, traders look for high levels as a sign of a market bottom and low levels as a sign of a potential top.

For example, in the chart below, you will see how the VIX spiked in March of 2020 as stocks were in a broad selloff as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic…

What About Individual Stocks?

While VIX provides information about the general market, it doesn’t say much about specific stocks and actionable trades that we can make.

To find the right stock at the right time, traders need an indicator like VIX that can be calculated for any stock. So our colleague Amber Hestla created one: the Income Trader Volatility (ITV) indicator. This is a tool Amber uses in her Income Trader service to spot potential trades.

As you can see in the chart, ITV generally mirrors moves in VIX on SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY).

We calculate this indicator by finding where the most recent close lies relative to the recent price action. For example, if the close is the lowest low in the past month, ITV would be at 100. ITV would be low when prices are near one-month highs. The calculation can be a bit confusing, so let’s instead explain how it can be used.

ITV has been applied to PepsiCo (Nasdaq: PEP) in the chart below. There is also a 20-week moving average (MA) applied to the indicator. When volatility rises, ITV (blue) crosses above the MA (red), which we use as a sell signal. Buys are given when ITV falls below the MA.

We have tested ITV with a variety of stocks and have consistently found great results. Risk is also reduced with this indicator when compared to a buy-and-hold strategy.

The rules for this indicator are the same general rules that traders apply to VIX. We expect high levels in both indicators to be associated with market bottoms and low levels with market tops. We have refined the rules and developed a complete, but very simple, trading system based on volatility.

Putting ITV To Work For You

Another use of ITV is to find the best times for selling options. When volatility increases, options prices should also move up. This is a relationship defined in options pricing models. ITV provides a way to quantify when volatility is rising in an individual stock and provides a way to identify when volatility has stopped rising. That point in time should maximize the gains of an options seller.

Traders can apply a 10-day MA, for example, to the VIX to find similar trades in SPY. Long-term traders can use the 20-week MA.

Amber regularly uses this indicator in Income Trader when she searches for the best options plays each week. And thanks to this tool, she and her followers are able to generate hundreds (sometimes thousands) in immediate income from each and every trade. A testament to the power of this indicator is her track record — over 90% of her trades have been winners.

You can learn more about Income Trader and learn how to get her next trades right here.