if you wait till after the vol spike, getting into any kind of position in the vix derivatives can be hard to do cheaply, since iv has come up so much....sometimes you can fill flys for a good price while the options are high....I have been trying to play the anticipated vol spikes with both call and put spreads in VXX and UVXY. This has worked out fine when the u/l price has landed near the spread midpoint....my idea has been to adjust the put spreads during the vol spike, after the puts have gone otm - to make a put bull vert that would pay very well on the reversion...however, not been able to test this idea, as vol spikes so hard to come by, and in the case of the last (Brexit) one, just not much of a spike, after all
"If The Fool persists in his Folly he will become wise." - William Blake