VIXY offers exposure to short-term VIX futures in a commodity pool structure, which sets it apart from the other short-term VIX ETPs, which cover the volatility space as ETNs. As such, VIXY avoids the counterparty risk and the lack of tangible assets associated with ETNs, but requires annual marked-to-market tax reporting on K-1's. As a volatility ETP investor, it is important to note these two caveats: 1) Volatility ETPs deliver poor long-term exposure to the VIX index, and 2) Volatility ETPs have a history of erasing vast sums of investor capital over holdings periods. Longer-term investors should be aware of their expected position decay due to due to persistent contango in VIX futures, historically.
