Quote from newwurldmn:
As the future represents forward vol (30 day vol from the expiry of the future), you would need "sell" one vix to "buy" the other. So to replicate oct futures, you would buy the nov strip and sell the oct strip of listeds. Just like you would if you were to synthetically create forward var.
Or am I missing something here?
When VIX futures expire, there's exactly 30 days to the next option maturity, ie at expiry, there's only one strip to trade. I assume that exchange for physical is the contract settlement at maturity (the strip the vix settlement is based on), and that you can't convert it into fwd var at any time during its life.