Russell Rhoads spent a decade at Cboe and wrote the textbook on volatility derivatives. He has a warning for anyone reading a low VIX print this afternoon. Ahead of a three day weekend, traders mark volatility inputs down for the days the market is shut, then mark them back up. That affects the spot index and not the futures, so a soft Friday reading is a calendar artifact rather than risk leaving the market. He also explains why the index cannot be traded or replicated at all, and how settlement quietly stops counting once it hits two consecutive missing bids. 📊 tastylive: tastylive.com 📰 Get Tom's pre-market analysis every morning: tastylive.com/newsletters 📘 FREE Options Strategy Guide: tinyurl.com/bp9ms763 📱 Follow tastylive on X: x.com/tastyliveshow Chapters 0:00 What opens the conversation 0:44 Why you cannot trade spot 1:22 The line compliance gave him 1:57 Firms tried to replicate it 2:29 Working on the regulatory side 3:01 How se...