VXX is down a bit today on the up action.  As such, it still represents cheap insurance, esp. the near dated calls.

Another form of relatively cheap insurance could be long dated calls on the gold / silver miners…and selectively picking a basket of solid juniors is making more and more sense too.  For the lazy bones among us…GDXJ is paying a very nice 4.6%+ yield with a relatively low PE just north of single digits.  In this space, that is compelling to me.