The level of volatility in recent markets is unprecedented. Today was one more example: we opened sharply down and traded further downward; the markets were in near panic. Then it stabilized and slowly but surely traded upward all afternoon to close nearly flat on the day - Holy Cow! RUT traded as low as $618 but closed the session at $641, down $1.19 on the day. SPX traded down to $1041 before retracing the losses and closing at $1074, a gain of $0.38 on the day. The $1041 low on SPX was close to the lows set last November, while RUT broke through the support level formed by its double top last fall. The trading pattern on both indexes displayed the classic hammer candlestick pattern with a long lower shadow and little or no upper shadow. This would be considered a reversal pattern to those who study candlesticks and I might also interpret it that way normally. But these are not normal times. I'm not sure what technical indicators can be trusted. This may be the bottom of this correction, but beware. As you might expect, trading volume jumped up significantly today with a 44% increase on the NYSE, and a 39% increase on NASDAQ. The S&P 500 stocks traded six billion shares, way above the 50 day moving average around 4.3 billion.

My stop loss orders triggered on my June RUT condors this morning; then after the market appeared to be stabilizing, I sold my July $650 puts. That helped mitigate my losses, but I am still underwater. Now the crucial question: should I attempt to re-position my June condor spreads or just wait on the sidelines? The futures are up a bit right now...