Watch out if you're treating this broadening pattern as a slam-dunk top signal and loading up on 2-3 month puts. A lot of traders are reading this wrong.

Here's what the charts actually show: over the past five years, both major market peaks in 2022 and 2025 were preceded by large-cap rallies that lasted 6-8 weeks after the initial broadening appeared. This wasn't the signal to short immediately—it was the final explosive move higher before the actual reversal.

The distinction matters for positioning. That climactic push still has room to run in many cases, and getting short too early on this pattern has burned plenty of accounts. The timing of these last gasps correlates closely with capitulation candles and volume exhaustion, not with the broadening itself.

Don't mistake pattern recognition for market timing. The setup requires patience.