I’ve been offering more high-leverage option trades lately, but the most difficult place to find them, paradoxically, is in ETFs like this one that track market volatility. On Tuesday, for instance, although a stock-market rally shaved nearly 8% from the value of VXX, anyone who had correctly anticipated the move buying put options would have been disappointed with the results. Out-of-the-money puts at the 38 strike went from  0.29 to 0.85, but even a nimble trader with a crystal ball would have found it difficult to get aboard for less than 0.56, or to exit for more than 0.75. This was hardly the quadrupler we look for when we trade options on this vehicle. We’ve done quite well on these trades in the past, but mainly by catching big multi-day moves rather than precipitous declines that play out over just a day or two. Bottom line: This is a terrible vehicle for scalping in and out of options. Better to wait for reversals from major Hidden Pivot targets that can deliver big price swings.