(Bloomberg) —

Every week, hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway take you on a not-so-random walk through hot topics in markets, finance and economics.

For the past few years, everyone in markets has been talking about nothing. Market moves have been subdued and the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s Volatility Index, better known as the VIX, recently sunk to its lowest in about three decades.

In this edition of the Odd Lots podcast we talk to Pravit Chintawongvanich, head of derivatives strategy at Macro Risk Advisors and an expert in volatility. He explains what the VIX actually measures, why it’s so low, and how betting against sharp moves in the market became one of the hottest and most lucrative trades around. We also talk about ’50 Cent.’ That’s not the rapper, but the mystery buyer who’s been bucking wider trend and snapping up volatility protection at a consistent clip.