The situation with Microsoft today demonstrates what can happen when trader sentiment changes.
Events like this are scary if you happen to be long because you never know if there might be another leg (or 2) down. These are big volume situations and may blow right through stops placed with your broker.
There were 2 user queries about easy ways to gauge volatility and I suggest checking in with the new
VIXEN site as one way to see intraday flux. These charts are fractal, meaning you can set them up for any time frame...you just need to set up an account with freestockcharts.com.
Here's today's morning view of SPY and XLE:
For new users of the SPY Trader platform there's an embedded risk stop that may be helpful in judging the appropriateness of CASH versus vested positions.
First..go to the Calculations tab
Then click once on the Auto Stop box
Return to the Data tab and RUN ALL MACROS. The results will be a new Ranking arrangement with positions that have violated the short term ALERT status replaced with --...meaning no position.
Just be sure to run back to the Calculation tab, unclick the Auto Stop box, and RUN ALL MACROS again to return to the default rankings.
Meanwhile here are the results from last night's AUTO STOP run with a top 2 sort:
