The Return Of Irrational Exuberance

The Melt-Up Keeps Accelerating

NDX is now pushing far above its long-term trend channel, upside realized volatility has gone completely abnormal, and positioning dynamics are increasingly starting to resemble the reflexive “crash-up” phases of the late 1990s.

The rally is no longer just being driven by fundamentals. It is increasingly feeding on itself, with upside chasing, short-call squeezes, systematic buying, and leveraged ETF rebalancing mechanically pulling markets even higher, while demand for downside protection continues to collapse.