We’ll quit while we’re ahead, having ridden calls purchased a couple of weeks ago for 0.36 to as high as 3.80 on Friday — a more than tenfold increase. Over the last eighteen months or so, we’ve logged four very profitable trades in the little sonofabitch and four small losses. The trick lay in becoming increasingly picky about our entries. The last coincided with the 26.32 target shown. It was sufficiently clear and compelling that it cried out to be bought, and so we did.  The trade took longer than we might have expected to get airborne, but once it left the launching pad there was little doubt about its potential. Subscribers were advised to cash out  half of their positions when the option price doubled a week ago, leaving them with at least one contract to swing for the fences. This will likely be the last time VXX appears on the touts page for a long time, since there are no downside targets remaining that are remotely as enticing as the one we just used. Indeed, anyone betting on a volatility spike in this vehicle based merely on a hunch has better odds of picking five winners in a night at the races.  And incidentally, if VXX pokes its ugly little snout up on Monday morning because the S&Ps have continued to implode, beware of a possible top at 33.99. _______ UPDATE (Feb 5, 6:48 p.m. EST): VXX exploded with today’s huge decline in the S&Ps. If you hold any calls, I’d strongly recommend scaling them out intraday, since, even under the best of circumstances, the top of this move will be fleeting; its detumescence swift and punitive for those who hold onto option positions for even an hour too long.