Not to minimize what he did but was he merely lucky to have an "optimal" strategy during an "optimal" time interval or can he consistently generate large rates of return in any type of environment?
I may be one of those guys who had his 15 minutes of fame (the past two years). I hope I live long enough to see another swan dive (crash of '87, interent bubble, GFC) and I'm not drooling in my depends then... well not actually into the depends. Well, you get the idea Gotcha on the AUM. I could learn texting kingo from dis place !
Volatility is not only a function of price. Vol. can change by several percent while the price of the underlier hardly budges, and that happens quite often. Indeed, one non-mean reverting blowup can wipe out years of profits, as you point out (and as I said myself in regards to 9/2008). That is why I stay with the vol. buying strategies for the most part and never get on board until after IV makes a pop. I wait until IV is at the 10th percentile of the annual range or lower, is below HV, and then pops to the upside. I don't hang out for long if the trade isn't profitable, lest theta takes its toll. Nothing wrong with selling vol., though. Just have to make sure you watch your position like a hawk and adjust with iron-clad discipline.
What kind of standard deviation of returns does this guy have? What's his Sharpe Ratio? Is he laying out a hadful of bets at a time hoping to get one big hitter every few months or is he making bankable income every week?