<div id="readability-page-1"><div> By Isabel Wang and Joseph Adinolfi Options traders are signaling trouble, and systematic funds are expected to cut their exposure to U.S. stocks Options traders are hoovering up protection and systematic funds are poised to unload more of their exposure to stocks next week. Storm clouds are gathering over Wall Street. U.S. stocks drifted lower in a slow grind over the past two weeks, as the conflict with Iran stoked worries about inflation and interest ?rates as oil prices shot higher. And investors are bracing for what could be a painful leg lower this week. One indication of this: The gap between the level of the Cboe Volatility Index VIX and the S&amp;P 500's SPX realized volatility over the prior 10 days was 10 points wider than it should have been last week, according to Rocky Fishman, founder of Asym 500, a firm that focuses on data and analytics for the options market. The Cboe Volatility Index is better known as the VIX, or Wall Street's &#34;fear gauge.&#34; See: Options traders are pricing in 'disaster' as Iran conflict intensifies. Here's how investors might profit. &#34;One-month S&amp;P 500 realized volatility is at just 12%, and the index is within 5% of its all-time high - both metrics that on a stand-alone basis would say markets are calm,&#34; Fishman said in written commentary. That means recent swings in the S&amp;P 500 don't fully reflect the level of fear being expressed in the options market. The level of the VIX is driven by trading in S&amp;P 500 options contracts. A higher VIX can mean more investors are seeking out protection against a market crash. See: Investors are shunning U.S. debt as a haven play during the Iran conflict On the surface, only two of the past 10 sessions saw the S&amp;P 500 finish down 1% or more - although in some cases, these closing levels can mask the intraday swings seen during the session. And yet the VIX finished Friday above 27, a level that is roughly one standard deviation above the index's long-term average. &#34;Despite some of the most extraordinary intraday moves up and down percentage-wise, they just put stocks back in this position of stasis or neutrality,&#34; said Hank Smith, director and head of investment strategy at Haverford Trust. &#34;We're doing no harm.&#34; However, the stock market looks more fragile underneath the hood. On Friday, just 31% of the S&amp;P 500's components finished above their 50-day moving average, near the lowest level since Nov. 20, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The 50-DMA is one of the most widely used technical indicators on market strength. A common refrain among investors is that the more stocks in a benchmark index hold above that level, the more bullish the market conditions are for investors. As of Friday's close, major U.S. equity indexes, including the S&amp;P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and Nasdaq Composite COMP, were trading slightly above or a bit below their 200-day moving averages, another important trend line. Technical strategists view a break below the 200-DMA as a signal of more pain ahead. The rotation trade that had helped push up values of consumer-staples XX:SP500.30 and industrial XX:SP500.20 stocks earlier this year also has slammed into reverse, suggesting that rallies in previously lagging sectors and in small-cap equities might be running out of steam, as the chart above reflects. That would leave markets back in the less-than-ideal position of narrow leadership, with gains once again concentrated within the information-technology sector XX:SP500.45 and a handful of Big Tech stocks, such as Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOGL) (GOOG). Alphabet is officially a member of the communication-services sector XX:SP500.50, but like many other megacap companies it is often lumped in with Big Tech. Investors often seek out shares of megacap tech companies during times of turmoil; the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023 was one such example. But strong earnings from Oracle (ORCL) and Broadcom (AVGO) also helped boost the technology sector last week, said Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management, during an interview with MarketWatch. &#34;But what you're seeing is still a lot of uncertainty when it comes to the outcome and the duration of the [Iran] war, and what it is going to mean for inflationary pressures,&#34; Mulberry said. After lagging the broader market in the first two months of 2026, technology stocks have regained the leadership role, with the Nasdaq outperforming the S&amp;P 500 and the Dow over the past two weeks. The small-cap Russell 2000 RUT has gotten hammered, erasing its year-to-date gains since the Iran conflict sent markets into a tailspin, according to FactSet data. Haverford Trust's Smith said traders still appear hesitant to sell heavily because many fear missing a sudden market recovery. That ties with President Donald Trump's history of backtracking under pressure from financial markets - a tendency that some call the &#34;TACO&#34; trade, using an acronym that stands for &#34;Trump Always Chickens Out.&#34; &#34;Traders don't want to get caught in a situation where, all of a sudden, the the president declares victory and the bombing ends, and then the market just shoots way higher,&#34; Smith told MarketWatch. &#34;That's probably one reason why the the S&amp;P 500 hasn't sustained a more significant decline this month - there's trading money out there that is really concerned about missing out on a spike in the markets,&#34; Smith added. The pace of the selling could pick up this coming week as systematic trend-following funds are poised to cut $36 billion worth of exposure to U.S. stocks, according to a Friday report from Goldman Sachs. If the market moves sharply lower, those funds could be forced to unwind their positions even more aggressively. To be sure, stocks were looking wobbly even before the Iran conflict broke out. The S&amp;P 500, Dow and Nasdaq each tallied a third straight weekly loss on Friday. For the S&amp;P 500, that is the longest streak of weekly losses in a year. -Isabel Wang -Joseph Adinolfi This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones &amp; Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. <pre></pre> (END) Dow Jones Newswires 03-15-26 1514ETCopyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.</div></div>

美国大盘成长股 ETF - Charles Schwab

全美价值股指数 ETF - Vanguard

标普 600 小盘价值股 ETF - SPDR

恐慌情绪正在席卷股市，期权交易者发出警告，系统性基金准备减少对美国股票的投资。由于通货膨胀和利率的担忧加剧，尤其是受到伊朗冲突的影响，美国股票出现下跌。Cboe 波动率指数（VIX）显示出恐惧加剧，尽管标普 500 最近保持稳定。只有 31% 的标普 500 成分股高于其 50 日移动平均线，暗示市场脆弱。科技板块重新获得领导地位，但关于伊朗冲突对通货膨胀和市场稳定性的影响仍然存在不确定性

Panic is slowly gripping the stock market. Expect the selling to pick up this week.

- 选项交易员聚集保护，系统资金预计将减少对美国股票的曝露。  
- 由于与伊朗的冲突，加上通胀与利率担忧，美国股市近期下跌。  
- 系统性资金预计将削减价值 360 亿美元的美股曝露，可能加大市场下行压力。

MorningStar

金融业 ETF - Vanguard

美国小盘价值股 ETF - Avantis

罗素 1000 成长指数 ETF - iShares

超大盘股价值 ETF - Vanguard

全美成长股指数 MSCI ETF - Vanguard

2 倍做多标普 500 ETF - ProShares

标普 500 低波动率 ETF - PowerShares

3 倍做多标普 500 ETF - ProShares

3 倍做空标普 500 ETF - ProShares

美国低波动股指数 ETF - iShares

股票溢价收益 ETF - JPMorgan Chase

标普 500 波动率指数

2 倍做空标普 500 ETF - ProShares

美国经纪商&证券交易所 ETF - iShares

Avantis US Large Cap Value ETF

美国红利股指数 ETF - Charles Schwab

中盘价值股 ETF - Vanguard

美国小盘价值股 ETF - Vanguard

标普 400 中盘价值股 ETF - Vanguard

标普 500 ETF - Vanguard

罗素 2000 价值股指数 ETF - iShares

美国小盘成长股 ETF - Vanguard

标普 500 ETF - SPDR

核心美国价值 ETF - iShares

纳指 100 ETF - Invesco

金融指数 MSCI ETF - Fidelity

3 倍做多标普 500 ETF - Direxion

金融业 ETF - SPDR

核心标普美国增长 ETF - iShares

Cboe Validus S&P 500 Dynamic Putwrite Index ETF

超大盘股成长 ETF - Vanguard

美国价值因素 MSCI ETF - iShares

标普 500 ETF - iShares

2 倍做多恐慌指数期货 ETF

标普 500 等权指数 ETF - Guggenheim

做空标普 500 ETF - ProShares

纳斯达克 100 备兑认购期权 ETF -GlobalX

标普 500 指数

3 倍做空标普 500 ETF - Direxion

股市正逐渐被恐慌情绪笼罩。预计本周的抛售活动将会加剧