you are here for a long time so i think you are not an novice. uncapped risk trade for certain asset class is a very bad idea.
statistics is what it is, but once hit, you will blow up your account. in your example once you take the assignment at 73, it will take years for the vix to go above 73 again. you will be sitting on a 7300-90 cost basis and it can go as low as 13, 6k in red.
vxx is the second derivative of vix so it is time decay more than vix, and it seems that you don't have enough money to trade vix futures or fops, those are for big boys.
if you want to pick pennies, ok, do a credit spread.
So I'm referring to VXX, the volatility index fund ETF.... its tied to the vix, however its the underlying ETF I'm referring to and not the futures contracts. So when i mentioned 73 I mean the stock price of the ETF VXX, being at that level while I'm short say at 55 on the assignment. I wouldn't mind since the ETF never stays high for long. Only thing that might occur is that VXX becomes a hard to borrow and the rate skyrockets but on VXX I don't think that would be such a high probability.