OK I stand corrected. I was merely trying to explain that the novice must understand that these options do not correlate well with current VIX. Mark
I bought some March 42.5 calls on Thursday the 12th after the big end of day rally in the market. They didn't go anywhere on Friday (well, up .30 or so when the market dropped during the last few minutes of the day). I sold them early Tuesday for a modest ($1.60) gain. I couldn't help noticing the Feb 42.5's were up $4 on Tuesday. That's a tremendous win for those who were long, but I wondered who in their right mind would actually have been holding those calls at the close on Friday, when they were priced at $2, were about $1 in the money, and there was only 1 trading day left on them.
I know a couple of guys who have made large sums in VIX options. You can assume they'd be unwilling to discuss method.
VIX options are for suckers if you don't take into account implied volatility. But it's great for hedging if you trade it at least 3 or 4 months out. I've made some good money buying calls over the summer, but it is very tricky, you have to be able to keep from being shaken out.