TERM STRUCTURE

Contango / backwardation curve for VIX / ES / CL / GC / ZN.

1. STEP 01 / 04

   Front-to-back curve plot

   X axis = months out (front month = leftmost, back months extending right). Y axis = futures price. Up-sloping curve = contango (storage / carry-driven). Down-sloping = backwardation (scarcity / deferred-supply expectation).

2. STEP 02 / 04

   VIX term structure regime read

   Steep VIX contango = calm regime; vol selling attractive. VIX backwardation = stressed regime; buy front-month protection if you don't already have it. Sharp kink at the 30-day node is the canary for an event 30+ days out.

3. STEP 03 / 04

   Roll yield strip

   Bottom: per-pair roll yield (front - second month, etc). Negative roll yield = you bleed money holding futures (contango decay). Positive = you collect roll-down (backwardation premium).

4. STEP 04 / 04

   Pair with HVOL for vol-of-curve

   Sharp curve flattening over a few sessions = regime change in progress. Type HVOL to see whether realised vol on the underlying confirms (or contradicts) the curve's signal.

   PaletteHVOL