James Hendrix, a CUNY QC Graduate student, is preparing his graduate thesis paper on the topic of market volatility. Perry is particularly interested VIX futures, the so called "fear index," and how equity portfolio managers can benefit from using CBOE's suite of volatility products. Perry notices a sharp uptick in market volatility during the COVID 19 pandemic. As of early April 2023, Perry observes closing VIX futures prices as shown below. Spot VIX Settlement on 8 April 2023 VIX: 41.67.

Monin	Explration Date	VIX
1	14 Apr 23	41.10
2	19 May 23	36.84
3	16 Jun 23	34.54
4	21 Jul 23	32.43
5	18 Aug 23	31.14
6	15 Sep 23	30.37
	20 Oct 23	30.30
8	17 Nov 23	28.84
9	15 Dec23	28.50

16. As part of his research, Hendrix notes that many hedge funds are systematic sellers of volatility using VIX futures and other volatility products such as options. Such strategies are mostly intended to?

1. Benefit from a fall in company specific risk
2. Capture the risk premium embedded in volatility products
3. Benefit from a spike in systematic risk