Trade Ideas : Never Go Long Volatility Instruments

Even though shorting volatility was the "trade of the year" in 2016, and many people are believing that it may be the same in 2017, I highly doubt it. STILL, I would not go long volatility via the ETN /ETF instruments like VXX, UVXY, TVIX, etc. if my life depended on it. The behavior of these instruments lends support to the idea that these instruments are frequently used to succor retail traders in--especially in after hours (AH) trading--leaving them with a knife that has fallen the next day.

Rarely does anything good comes from going long any of these volatility products. I always suggest just letting volatility revert to the mean, which sometimes means you may feel like you're missing out on trading these POS when they rally. For example, the UVXY rallied over 30% yesterday and was up today in AH trading--sucking in lots of retail traders who were feeling the overwhelming sense of FOMO.

The best course of action, in my opinion, is to watch these things rally, accept that you may miss out on some upside, and then when the water settles, short the everliving shit out of them by buying reasonable puts and put spreads on such things as VXX and UVXY. When done at the right time (ie. after a huge spike in volatility), this strategy can allow you to profit while limiting your downside by using options in a position size that won't blow up your account if you're wrong.