VIX jumps 46% on AI selloff: volatility filter blocks every idea

A tech-led selloff hit Wall Street this afternoon. At 17:35 UTC the US 500 trades at 7412, down 3.6% from 7689, the US Tech 100 at 26915, down 5.4% and more than 4 ATR14 below its 20-day average of 29490, and the US 30 at 51872, down 2.8% after yesterday's 1,500-point rally. NVDA loses 7.8% and TSLA 11.2%. The VIX went from 16.61 to 24.30, a 46% rise with an intraday print at 28.09. Our method forbids any new idea when the VIX rises more than 15% in a session, so all 15 instruments were screened and all 15 were blocked by that single filter. For the record, the trend band would have cleared only MSFT (+0.64 ATR) and JPM (+0.58 ATR), both on the long side on a day like this; HD (+3.8 ATR), WMT (+3.5) and V (+2.8) are too far above their averages, CAT (-5.0), NVDA (-4.9) and US 500 (-3.2) too far below. The October jobs report is due tomorrow at 13:30 UTC, inside any overnight horizon. One honest caveat: this is the 15th consecutive review without a published idea, and the dominant blocker over 30 days is late entry at 47% of all blocks. Today's refusal is justified by volatility; the longer drought points to a calibration problem in the band, flagged to the owner.