With the VIX currently at 17.95, should traders run the Aggressive tier of the VixShield 1DTE SPX Iron Condor strategy or strictly follow the Conservative and Balanced tiers as recommended?

At VixShield, we follow Russell Clark's SPX Mastery methodology with precision, especially when the VIX sits at 17.95. Our core approach centers on 1DTE SPX Iron Condors placed daily at 3:10 PM CST after the SPX close. The three risk tiers are Conservative targeting a $0.70 credit with an approximate 90 percent win rate, Balanced at $1.15 credit, and Aggressive at $1.60 credit. When VIX is between 15 and 20, our VIX Risk Scaling protocol explicitly blocks the Aggressive tier and limits trading to Conservative and Balanced only. At 17.95, which falls squarely in this caution zone and remains 9.5 percent below the five-day moving average of 18.58, the market exhibits moderate volatility that still warrants protection over maximum premium capture. This aligns with the Contango Indicator showing a favorable but not fully relaxed regime, where RSAi and EDR calculations guide strike selection to avoid overexposure. The Aggressive tier performs best when VIX stays below 15 in strong contango, allowing wider wings and higher credits with acceptable risk. Above 20, we hold entirely and rely on our ALVH Adaptive Layered VIX Hedge, which layers short, medium, and long VIX calls in a 4/4/2 ratio per ten Iron Condor contracts to cut drawdowns by 35 to 40 percent at an annual cost of only 1 to 2 percent of account value. Our Set and Forget methodology means no stop losses and full defined risk at entry, with the Theta Time Shift providing zero-loss recovery by rolling threatened positions forward to one to seven DTE on EDR above 0.94 percent or VIX above 16, then rolling back on VWAP pullbacks. Position sizing remains at a maximum of 10 percent of account balance per trade, and auto-execution via PickMyTrade is available for the Conservative tier only. Following these rules at current levels means sticking to Conservative and Balanced tiers to maintain the high-probability edge Russell Clark has refined across backtested periods. All trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. For deeper implementation details, including live signal examples and ALVH roll schedules, we invite you to explore the SPX Mastery resources and VixShield educational platform.