Whiplash

Anyone extrapolating early trading to the afternoon likely suffered a serious case of whiplash, and maybe afternoon traders extrapolating into the close will suffer the same. But if we look at where we are now, this will go down as one of the biggest intraday reversals in the history of the VIX.

Since 1990, there have only been 11 other times it jumped at least 20% intraday and then fell back at least 20% off that high into the close. Every time, the VIX saw further losses either 1 or 2 months later.

It was mostly a good sign for stocks over the next 1-3 months. These extreme moves coming on the heels of the Tesla inclusion and year-end machinations are hard to rely upon, so it's tough to put a lot of weight on this.