Woah, great graphs! Thanks for that
Next Friday is options expiration day. The market loves to get volatile the 2 weeks before options expire.
Look at the one year chart of the S&P 500 and look at the declines. Notice how often they occur two weeks before options expire.
Volatility = Opportunity.
Volatility gooses the options premiums, allowing those who trade in them some extra free juice for the two weeks before they expire.
This has been going on for many, many years.
It’s amazing how many “global troubles” conveniently occur at the same time of the month.