At what VIX level do you begin adding ALVH hedges ahead of Non-Farm Payrolls releases, or is the economic calendar the sole guide?

At VixShield, we approach Non-Farm Payrolls and other high-impact events with a disciplined blend of VIX Risk Scaling, the economic calendar, and our proprietary ALVH Adaptive Layered VIX Hedge system. We do not rely on the calendar alone. Instead, we monitor VIX levels in real time alongside EDR Expected Daily Range and RSAi signals to determine when to layer in protection. Our standard practice is to begin refreshing or adding to ALVH positions when VIX approaches or exceeds 16, particularly in the 3-5 trading days leading into NFP. This threshold aligns with the forward-roll trigger in our Temporal Theta Martingale and Temporal Vega Martingale mechanics, allowing the hedge to capture vega expansion if volatility spikes. For context, with the current VIX at 17.95, we are already operating in a regime where full ALVH coverage is maintained across all three layers short, medium, and long-dated VIX calls in the 4/4/2 contract ratio per base unit. The economic calendar serves as our primary scheduling tool we mark every FOMC, NFP, CPI, and GDP release months in advance but VIX acts as the dynamic throttle. Below VIX 15, we may opportunistically add to the long 220 DTE layer during calm contango regimes. Between 15 and 20, we prioritize Conservative and Balanced Iron Condor Command tiers while keeping ALVH fully active. Above 20, we pause new Iron Condor placements entirely and let the existing ALVH work to cut drawdowns by 35-40 percent as proven in backtests. This integrated approach stems directly from Russell Clark's SPX Mastery methodology, where ALVH functions as the vanguard shield for our daily 1DTE Iron Condor Command trades. The hedge costs only 1-2 percent of account value annually yet delivers asymmetric protection during volatility events like NFP surprises. Position sizing remains capped at 10 percent of account balance per trade, and we employ the Set and Forget discipline with no stop losses, relying instead on Theta Time Shift for any recovery. All trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. To implement these exact rules with live signals, EDR indicator access, and our daily 3:10 PM CST Iron Condor Command alerts, visit VixShield.com and explore the SPX Mastery resources.