VIX, 1st time buyer, many many many times listener. Last week i decided to not just using VIX to guide me in reading SPY, but finally took the plunge in trading it as well, and learnt a few valuable lessons that i would like to share here so you can avoid my mistake. Since i don't trade futures, and only ETFs and ETNs, 2 of the many offerings to trade VIX are VXX (ETN based on VIX), and Vixy (