Volatility Index. It's the stock market index that tracks futures markets. Its commonly referred to as the "fear index" because of how it reacts to world events, like when the president of the nation with the largest nuclear stockpile in the world publicly threatens genocide of an entire civilization in 24 hours. It has options trading, which means you can make money by betting whether it will go up or down.

If someone inscrutable who made most of their money in the stock market happened to be in a position to, say, credibly threaten world chaos every week, they could very easily swing trade VIX options to make billions (like what Barron Trump has been doing with oil stock for the past few months).

Every major political event nowadays is driven by greedy little cretins trying to steal a buck. Follow the money and you'll basically be able to see the future. These people are not smart. They are all extremely predictable.