My preference is trading $VIX futures (/VXX) but for those that don’t have a futures account or are familiar with the nuances of trading futures, VXX typically does a good job tracking the $VIX when it is in rally mode but as an ETN, you might get a K-1, which some people don’t like.

I’ve mentioned a couple of VIX ETFs recently (VIXY & VIXM). As ETFs, I assume they don’t kick out a K-1 tax form but you’d want to verify that. Remember, you can’t directly trade $VIX (spot VIX index), only the futures that track it, options on those futures, or the ETFs/ETN’s that track the futures.

TLT Long is a safer bet imo!