After a face ripping rally Tuesday, stocks tanked once more yesterday, with the Nasdaq closing down 4.09%, S&P 500 down 4.42%, and Dow Jones down 4.62% – erasing the rally’s gains, and then some. As stocks go up once more today, the roller coaster continues, with no end in sight.

In the midst of the carnage, most everyone is focused on losses (including us with comments on FCI, Dighton, and others); but there are managers making money during this volatility laser light show.

They are the long volatility programs – which risk a fixed percentage of capital on each trade, yet can make as much as the market is willing to give them (which in the case of incredibly volatile markets can be quite a lot).

[Disclaimer: The numbers below are estimates for the month so far. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.]

One of the top performing managers is Clarke Capital Management. Their Worldwide program (recovering from a much discussed drawdown still- making it a ripe opportunity for investors looking to get in) is up 11.04% thus far in August. Driving this performance are short grains and copper positions, as well as long fixed income, gold and flight to quality positions. The program is doing what it was designed to do, and reaping the benefits. Their Global Basic program isn’t doing too shabby either- up 7.32% this month.

Another strong performer has been the author of a guest post on our blog today- Hoffman Asset Management. Their 8.65% gains in August have been provided by short foreign stocks and crude positions in combination with long fixed income and gold positions.

2100 Xenon’s Managed Futures program has been equally impressive, up 8.23% so far this month. Their long fixed income and Swiss Franc positions have mixed perfectly with their short energy and global equitites positions, all complimented by some dynamic equity spreads.

So while the bloodbath continues in stocks (and in those corners of the managed futures space not correlated with managed futures – read: option sellers), managed futures as a whole are doing what we expect them to – performing in a crisis.