Your Inner Seth M. Golden Is Sweating Bullets

Well, if “this is it” (so to speak) when it comes to the beginning of a market correction, it would be typical of how these things tend to play out.

For the past two weeks, BofAML’s Michael Hartnett has been shouting about a veritable avalanche of inflows into equity funds and how those flows seemed to be a sure sign that the ubiquitous “fear of missing out” had finally culminated in a “just get me in” attitude among desperate investors.

This morning, we documented the extent to which folks are now posting screengrabs of their 401(k) balances on social media in what amounts to the old white man version of rappers stuntin’ on the ‘Gram.

Over the weekend, we explained how it’s definitely a “positive” development when the discount brokers start telling everyone that millennials are opening new accounts in order to trade crypto stocks and cannabis names. Recall this:

And in a true testament to the notion that the tide may have turned, the fact that vol. is suddenly making cameos again has served to make the XIV decline visible on a long-term chart. In other words, Seth Golden and his ilk may be getting nervous. Here’s a fun way to visualize it:

Coming full circle, it’s usually the retail crowd that’s left holding the proverbial bag and nothing says bag holders like this: