Bear Raids Intensify as Earnings Kick off - $VIX Spikes +18 (+13%)

$VIX broke out above the 50-day SMA yesterday in an apparent bear raid, as investors continued to hide in metals and energy stocks. Funny thing is: the $NYA (NYSE Composite) and Small Caps ended the day higher—so we’re right back to square one in these mixed (whac-a-mole) markets.

What Caused Yesterday's Limited Selling Panic?    

Same shit I called out back in Dec 2021 RE: The 'new market' triggering machine to buying/selling at the moving averages, and using the $SVXY to manipulate the $VIX [link]. Yesterday's bear raid? Textbook attempt at a Volmageddon-style replay. If you've been following me over the past 5 years, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. If not see:  A Tale of Volmageddon Feb, 18, 2022  

$SVXY Rug Pulled In An Attempt To Trigger Volmageddon  

$SVXY Visual Proof

 

What else they sell? Tech, Financials, Consumer discretionary Mag 7 (-1.5%) (rug pulled below the 50 day).  

What did they buy? The $VIX, Energy, Materials, Metals, Utilities, Real Estate, even Crude Oil, with the talking heads at CNBC ignoring the flash-crash I alerted to in the afternoon, and by yesterday evening they were seen declaring victory as, "Oil Hits 3 month high". Nitwhits  

Told you not to buy crude oil. $USO #CrudeOil #FlashCrash #Energy 🛢️🚽🧻 pic.twitter.com/gFSjdkooJL

— Veteran Market Timer (@3Xtraders) January 14, 2026

The "Broadening Out" Market Narrative Faceplants in 2026

• Energy the Fast Money Favorite Sector Rotation Trade  (on Iran fears)   
• Metals, Miners, Materials, the same dash to hard assets (panic) trade we saw lead in 2025.
• Stocks continue to under-perform as a whole  
• Most sectors remain in a bubble 

Kicking Earnings Season Off With A Thud 

The same folks who encouraged you to chase financials into the end of the year, are eerily silent, and that speaks volumes. Trade The Market You Have Not The One You Want Those who didn't learn not to chase the banking sector in 2008, or 2023, are perhaps about to learn a very valuable lesson in 2026. 

Here's Something You Aren't Seeing On CNBC 

$TCOM Trip .com aka Tripcom - The latest victim of the, "stocks breakout to new all time highs narrative".   

$TCOM Visual Proof

You don't have to like the market you're trading to trade it effectively, but it certainly does take most the fun out of it. 

Bottom line: trade the market they give you, not the one you want. Don't buy breakouts—sell them. Don't allow animal instincts to cause you run off a cliff- chasing shiny things. The machines are still running the show. Yesterday was just another chapter in the new playbook I've been exposing since 2021.

Take Care, AA 

P.S. New Market Same as the Old Market: short-covering, blow-offs, rug-pulls below MAs, shiny distractions (silver pump anyone?). Today's action is just another chapter. I'll keep calling the games as they happen. Watch the 20-day, 50-day and 200-day levels—they're still the machines' favorite tripwires; even on the 15, and 60 min. charts. GL, AA 

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