if you bought call options beforehand on the volatility index VIX ( https://www.google.com/finance?q=INDEXCBOE%3AVIX or rather VXX, which are futures on the volatility index) you could have profited a lot indeed. take a look at this chart: http://i.imgur.com/XQfWra4.png with good timing you could've made a return of 1300%, using only call options on VIX futures.