From 2012 through 2017, one investment looked almost magical.

The returns were astonishing:

2012: +110%
2013: +180%
2014: +135%
2015: -14%
2016: +40%
2017: +187%

More than 700% cumulative returns.

It was effectively betting that market volatility would stay low.

People thought they'd found a money-printing machine.

Then on February 5, 2018, everything changed.

The S&P 500 fell roughly 4%, which is a bad day, but not historically extraordinary.

The volatility index, however, saw on if it's largest single-day jumps on record.

This event is remembered as “Volmageddon“ and XIV lost 96% of it's value before it stopped trading.

I’m writing this because I’ve come across people that have told me they sell vol as a low risk way to create investment returns of ~ 20% a year.

Please don’t do that 👍