The fund is a commodities pool delivering daily leveraged exposure to short-term VIX futures, designed to capture the volatility of the S&P 500. Daily is the operative word here as it is for most geared products. Returns over holding periods greater than one day can be, and often are, significantly different from the index. Futures is another key word here, as this product, like all peer products does not deliver leveraged returns on the VIX index itself, but instead on front- and second-month futures.