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However, the primary challenge of "buying" the VIX lies in the structure of the products available to retail investors, specifically Volatility ETPs like the VXX or UVXY. These products do not track the spot VIX index directly; instead, they roll daily from one month’s VIX futures contract to the next. This creates a significant hurdle known as "contango." In a normal market, longer-dated futures are more expensive than near-term ones. As the fund sells cheaper expiring contracts to buy more expensive future ones, it loses value over time. This "roll yield" decay means that holding VIX-linked products for the long term is almost guaranteed to result in a loss, even if market volatility eventually spikes. buying vix stock