A Deep Dive Inside Friday's Market Meltdown: "When Delta Collapses Under Its Own Weight"

Volatility finally did its job on Friday.

After a quarter of suppressed index vol due to the relentless grind higher in chip/memory stocks on the back of endless "spot up, vol up" market dynamics (traders buying calls to force a dealer gamma squeeze, pushing prices higher, leading to more call buying, squeezing dealers even more, until all prices had completely disconnected from fundamentals), the week ended with an explosive real reminder that positioning and complacency still matter. The VIX soared above 20 – the first 20-handle of the quarter after printing 15.40 yesterday (12th percentile of the last 6 months).