Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTRob IsbittsSat, July 4, 2026 at 5:30 PM GMT+2 3 min readA concept image showing a clock in front of a trading chart by thenort via Adobe StockLet me say the quiet part out loud: The Nasdaq-100's (QQQ) intraday volatility should have every trader and investor on high alert. If you've been watching the intraday price action lately, your eyes aren't deceiving you. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which has been my swing-trading focus for much of this year, is moving with the kind of intense, erratic velocity that we typically only witness during historic periods of absolute market chaos. More News from BarchartBillionaire Mark Cuban Says He Got Rich And Drunkenly Bought A $125K American Airlines Lifetime Pass —'I Called Them Up And Just Slurred My Words'AMD Beats NVDA in 1H26 Returns. Here's What's Next for 2H26.FedEx Is Abandoning Its Supply Chain Business. FDX Stock Investors Need the Logistics Giant to Protect Its Core Network.Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now!After all, we've already had "rolling corrections" in several sub-sectors, including software (IGV), gold mining stocks (GDX), several commodities, and even digital REITs (IDGT).A remarkable piece of data just cleared the tape that completely validates this daily observation. According to CBOE, the volatility concentrated specifically within technology stocks has officially shattered a 23-year record. The statistical gap between the Nasdaq-100 Volatility Index and the standard S&P 500 Volatility Index ($VIX) has widened to a staggering 12 points. www.barchart.comThat picture above shows that the IV Rank for QQQ within the past 52 weeks is just under 70%. As a trader, this is delightful. But there's a bigger issue here. You see, this divergence is wider than it was during the absolute depths of the 2008 Financial Crisis (7 points) and higher than the peak of the 2020 pandemic panic (11 points). We are witnessing an unprecedented level of separation between two index ETFs (SPY and QQQ) that we are more used to seeing correlated. This is one reason why, in the ROAR 10 ETF model portfolio that is one of the core parts of my personal portfolio, I do not include SPY.Instead I include QQQ and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA). Those two, used in tandem, have been a better way to navigate this market beyond a trader's time frame. This divergence has an ominous signal to me: the vaunted tech sector is under extreme, isolated duress while the rest of the market pretends everything is relatively normal. That's something we have not seen in a long time. Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info