I used to love volatility

Hysteria. Fear. Warmongering. Yup, there was a time when I relished an opportunity to trade VXX. One early morning, when I first gave it a serious go, I rode VXX in premarket for a $4,000 gain. A few minutes later, I re-entered and took a $4,000 loss. An hour before the opening bell, I was back to even on the day. That's how vicious the VXXen really could be.

That was about two years ago. Now, the time decay factor overnight leaves me cold and limp at the thought of VXX. However, there's TVIX, the stable twin sister of VXX. And TVIX has been hotter, if less fluid (lower volume). Can I muster the lust to trade this hot bitch again? I haven't felt it in the past month as crude oil shot through the roof, and I didn't feel it in the past few days as Japan's energy efficiency turned into a hellish nightmare.

Maybe I'm just not up to it anymore. Maybe I am.

Charts do little to identify anything about ultra-ulcerous ETFs like TVIX and VXX, but a visual or two doesn't hurt.

Beautiful gap-ups in TVIX

5 day chart

The ascension began with Egypt, then Libya

So odd to see VXX gap up (like TVIX) as if 

the overnight time-decay factor is nonexistent now

3-month chart doesn't say much about the carnage