Substantial shorting of the market? The US stock market sees "contrarian" bets: going long on index volatility.

Dispersion trading has become one of the most popular strategies among Wall Street hedge funds - betting that the overall US stock market will remain stable, while individual stocks will experience large fluctuations. However, some investors are now opting for the opposite strategy. Reverse dispersion trading involves buying the volatility of the broad market index, while shorting the volatility of individual stocks, but this type of trading also has its drawbacks, such as facing "idiosyncratic loss risk" when individual stocks experience significant increases.