In this clip from The Drift, 45-year trading veteran Tony Battista shares his current hedging strategy with host Adam Mesh and it's not what most retail investors are doing. With volatility sitting low, Battista says he's actively buying it. His preferred approach: purchasing VIX futures (ticker: VX) a financial instrument tied to market volatility that spikes sharply during crashes and selling a corresponding VIX call against it to offset cost. He describes it as his "black swan hedge," designed to pay off fast when the market makes a sudden, violent move. The trade is capital intensive because, unlike a standard covered call, you don't receive the same margin relief. For traders who aren't operating in futures, Battista offers a simpler alternative. If you're running a theta decay strategy collecting premium from short options, say $100 a day he suggests allocating just 3% to 10% of that daily income toward buying short-dated puts, ranging from one day to roughly seven days out. The ...