This, as Bank of America showed at the time, was the result of the highest positioning in levered long VIX ETPs since July 2016 offset by a record high exposure across short ETPs.

And while the surge in long vol ETFs vega is something that had been duly documented since 2016, the offsetting move by inverse VIX ETPs - a preferred trading instrument used by retail investors and for institutional hedging - was certainly a novel development.

Fast forward a few months to the first week of the new year, when Goldman's new derivatives strategist Rocky Fishman, who until recently toiled at Deutsche, followed up this observation and highlights that, in an acceleration of the move we first observed last September, "the net position of VIX ETPs has become short over the past few weeks, for only the second time in their eight year history."