Because Lightspeed Is Too Slow!

A rough back of the envelope calculation of the insane moves in the S&P 500 today shows a total move of nearly 400 points. That’s on a 2600 point index, or about 15%.

That’s enough ups and downs to make an astronaut dizzy.

We saw the S&P 500 fall 84 points from its open, then rally 88 points, then fall 62 points, then a 50 point rally, then a 40 point selloff, then a 70 point rally to finish the session.

All told, nearly 15%. If we applied the usual 1% move is a 16 VIX calculation, then today we could say we witnessed a VIX of 246 points.

Now, in fairness, the VIX isn’t calculated this way. The simple close to close of the S&P 500 shows a 1.74% move, which would be a VIX of a pedestrian 27.8%.