“How Do You Tell When a Market Armageddon Is Coming?
And More Importantly… When Do You Dare to Bottom-Fish? 🫣🔥”
Most investors don’t fear volatility.
They fear being wrong at the worst possible time.
Buy too early → you suffer while everyone else panics. 😵💫
Buy too late → the market bottoms without you. 😭
Either way, you’re left wondering if the market is trolling you personally.
This year’s declines — sharp as they are — still don’t look like the kind of full-scale collapse we saw in April. No capitulation, no screams, no charts showing waterfalls yet. So the real question is:
💥 How do you tell when a REAL market crash is unfolding — not just a normal correction?
Here are the classic “Armageddon Signals” the pros watch:
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⚠️ 1️⃣ Credit Markets Break Before Stocks Do
Stocks are emotional.
Credit is rational.
If high-yield spreads suddenly gap wider, or CDS spreads (like what we just saw in Oracle) start doubling — that’s not fear, that’s institutional fear.
When the bond market panics, equity bottoms usually come later.
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📉 2️⃣ Volatility Explodes — Not Just Rises
VIX at 20? Normal.
VIX at 30? Nervous.
VIX at 40+? Full-blown chaos.
A true market washout almost always happens when volatility spikes violently in a short period — like a heart attack, not a slow fever.
⸻
🩸 3️⃣ Capitulation Selling: “Just Sell Everything”
You know a real bottom is close when:
• even the strongest names get sold off indiscriminately
• retail sentiment hits despair
• people start saying “stocks are a scam”
• financial influencers mysteriously go on ‘holiday’ 🌴😂
• buying dips feels illegal because it’s so painful
Bottoms don’t form when people are cautious.
They form when people give up.
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📰 4️⃣ Headlines Turn Apocalyptic
When the media starts asking:
• “Is this the next 2008?”
• “Will global markets collapse?”
• “Is the recession already here?”
… that’s when the bottom is often near.
Markets bottom when fear becomes mainstream.
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💸 5️⃣ Big Funds Start Forced Selling
Margin calls. Liquidations.
Hedge funds blowing up.
Treasury auctions failing.
These create the violent, indiscriminate crashes that mark true bottoms.
It’s the financial equivalent of the fire sprinklers going off. 🚨
⸻
📊 6️⃣ Breadth Hits Extreme Oversold Levels
When more than 80–90% of stocks trade below their 200-day MA…
That’s not correction territory.
That’s market exhaustion.
The last 10–15% down in a crash is usually the panic phase — but also where long-term returns are made.
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🎯 So… How do you pick the bottom?
Here’s the truth every experienced investor eventually learns:
👉 You don’t pick the exact bottom.
You recognise the zone where panic > fundamentals.
The best bottom-fishing strategies usually involve:
• scaling in slowly 💧
• buying high-quality names only 🏦
• keeping cash for deeper dips 🧊
• and accepting that bottoms feel terrifying, not safe 💀
The irony?
When it feels comfortable to buy…
you’re usually too late.
⸻
🧨 Final Thought
A true market Armageddon isn’t quiet.
It isn’t orderly.
It isn’t “just another dip.”
It’s loud.
It’s violent.
It makes you doubt your entire existence as an investor. 😵♂️
That’s why bottoms are so profitable —
very few have the stomach to step in.
So… do you think we’re heading toward a real crash?
Or is this just another overhyped correction waiting for brave buyers to step in? 👀📉🔥
Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.
