VIX Plaintiffs Lose Bid to Unmask Traders Tied to 2018 Spike
- Funds sought disclosure in suits over losses from record surge
- Five market makers accused of rigging index with flash quotes
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A federal judge refused to identify five market makers accused in lawsuits of manipulating the VIX index, one of Wall Street’s most closely watched benchmarks.
The index saw a record spike on Feb. 5, 2018, causing widespread losses among investors who hadn’t anticipated such a sudden increase in market volatility. More than two dozen investors and fund managers sued over the next year, claiming unidentified firms that rigged the index “repeatedly posted and immediately canceled” tens of thousands of quotes for S&P 500 options, whose prices are used to calculate the VIX.