FAQs
Who is Invest In Vol?
Invest In Vol (IIV) is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) with a team of financial professionals dedicated to volatility investing. We advise and manage investments for advisors, family offices, and individuals. We offer advisory services and Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) to our clients.
What is an SMA?
An SMA is a Separately Managed Account held at your brokerage firm, in your name, and under your control. SMAs offer some distinct advantages to investors including easy access, full transparency, liquidity, and direct ownership. Our SMAs are available to nearly all investors, and funds can be added and withdrawn at any time with no lockup period. To open an account, simply click on the ‘Invest With Us' link at the top of the page or contact your Investment Adviser to manage the process for you.
Who can invest?
IIV offers Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) to individual investors, funds, family offices, and advisors.
Individuals
IIV offers volatility SMAs directly to individual investors in all US states and across the globe. We typically require a minimum investment of $250,000 and all account types including retirement accounts are accommodated. Account opening is simple and can be done fully electronically through the ‘Invest With Us' button at the top of the page.
Funds and Family Offices
IIV offers both SMAs and sub-advisory services to hedge funds, mutual funds, and Family Offices who require a turn-key volatility strategy, or looking to diversify their own strategies with one of ours.
Advisors
IIV offers SMAs to other advisors looking for specialist volatility trading knowledge and experience. Through a fee sharing agreement we can act as a money manager to you and give your clients access to our professional traders and strategists. All assets are held with our third-party custodians Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade.
Why invest with us & how does your strategy differ?
Alternative assets offer investors an important source of investment diversification. With interest in the VIX® and VIX® derivatives growing exponentially, some investors have felt unequipped to successfully implement a volatility strategy within their portfolio. At IIV, we help bridge that gap by educating clients and their advisors on how Volatility Risk Premium can be integrated into your portfolio to improve risk adjusted returns. Our Separately Managed Accounts offer access to volatility strategies previously exclusive to hedge funds and institutions.
Returns from volatility investing can be volatile. While individual products may deliver positive returns in the long run, drawdowns in the short run can make an otherwise appealing investment unpalatable to some investors. Our Strategy works to mitigate some of these drawdowns by analyzing a series of volatility factors.
Our Strategy is unique in its approach to volatility investing and the volatility products it employs to create an investable volatility solution for you.
Will my account experience drawdowns?
All investments have drawdowns and volatility investing is no exception. While Smart Vol has annualized over 50%, it has also historically experienced drawdowns of approximately 30% twice. However, this is not a guarantee of future results and drawdowns can be more or less frequent and severe.
Drawdowns are part of investing and it’s always important to remind ourselves that Smart Vol has in the past, and will again sometime in the future, suffer from drawdowns. Importantly, the timing of these drawdowns is entirely unknown. While Smart Vol’s drawdowns have historically compared very favorably to the S&P 500, it is important to note that drawdowns don’t always happen suddenly and can develop over a period of weeks or months. Those who have had most success with Smart Vol in the past are those who have stayed the course and invested the longest.
How should volatility investing be incorporated into existing portfolios?
In one of the first pieces of analytical research in volatility investing, Tony Cooper found in his 2013 paper that a 10% allocation to a volatility strategy - in a portfolio of 55% equities and 35% bonds - was optimal for boosting performance, while diversifying risk and limiting possible drawdowns. At IIV, we agree with Cooper’s findings, but recognize that, as Cooper put it, ‘more aggressive equity investors may wish to increase the volatility proportion even higher.’
How long does it take to open an account and what are your fees?
An account can be established in minutes. We charge either an annual 3% management fee or a 20% performance fee. The performance fee is only available to accredited investors as defined by the SEC.