‘Einstein Of Wall Street’ On NYSE Trading Floor Says ‘Fear Is Back’ In Markets After $700B S&P 500 Wipeout — But Doesn’t Think It’s A Crash

After a choppy start to February, selling pressure intensified late Thursday. From the NYSE floor, veteran trader Peter Tuchman says the tone has clearly shifted.

• Peter Tuchman said trading screens showed “nothing but red” as Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Dow futures slid.
• He flagged a surge in activity, with February volume up 30%–35% versus January.
• However, he said it remains unclear what’s driving the drop, pointing to rising volatility, earnings pressures, geopolitics and AI-related uncertainty.

As U.S. equity futures extended losses late Thursday, veteran New York Stock Exchange floor trader Peter Tuchman, better known as the “Einstein of Wall Street” because his hairstyle resembles the eccentric physicist, offered a floor-level view of a market that appears to have lost its footing.

Terrible Thursday For US Markets

Tuchman — who started his stint at the NYSE in 1985 — in a video on X said Thursday as “wild and crazy,” saying the market was “quietly, slowly” getting hit following a choppy start to February that included one up day, one down day, and one mixed session. By Thursday, he said, the picture had become clear: “definitely nothing but red on the screen.”

Late Thursday, Nasdaq 100 futures were down about 1.2%, S&P 500 futures were lower by roughly 0.7%, and Dow futures slipped around 0.4%. In the prior session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both fell about 1.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped roughly 1.6%, marking the Nasdaq 100’s biggest three-day decline since April. 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was ‘extremely bearish’ amid ‘high’ message volume, while sentiment toward the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was ‘bearish’ amid ‘high’ message volume, and sentiment toward the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) was ‘bullish’ amid ‘high’ message volume.

US Markets Seeing Selloff, Not A Crash

“Another wild and crazy day, the S&P 500 wiped out over $700 BILLION in market cap today, now down 0.69% YTD. Meanwhile, Bitcoin hit its lowest price since October 2024,” he posted on X.

One of the clearest changes, Tuchman said, was in trading activity. February volume, he noted, is running about 30% to 35% above January levels. He cited roughly 1.5 billion shares traded, with about twice as many shares changing hands in falling stocks as in rising ones. 

Despite the intensity of the move, Tuchman said the action should not be viewed as a crash, describing it instead as a selloff or pullback and stressing that a single down day does not define a market.

He also pointed to several psychological levels that have slipped. The Dow Jones Index, he said, has broken below 49,000 and is drifting further away from the 50,000 mark. At the same time, he noted that the S&P 500 had been just inches from the 7,000 level only days earlier, briefly touching it intraday. 

Uncertainty Clouds Market Direction

However, Tuchman remains unclear on what’s driving U.S. equities lower. He speculated moves in geopolitics, earnings and AI trade, which have dominated recent market narratives. “There’s a lot to digest, a lot to unpack. The dinner table is not getting ready to serve anybody yet.”

Tuchman also flagged rising volatility, noting that the VIX was up more than 15%. “That means the fear is back in the market,” he said. He questioned whether fresh money was entering or leaving the market, whether earnings or geopolitical developments were contributing, and whether markets were entering what he described as a “quandary.” He also cited recent history, noting that the S&P 500 has posted back-to-back annual gains of about 20%.

Earnings, Geopolitics And Weak Data Weigh

On the earnings front, Amazon.com said it plans to spend $200 billion this year on data centers, ships, and equipment, while Alphabet projected capital expenditures of up to $185 billion in 2026. Elsewhere, Strategy reported a $17.4 billion fourth-quarter operating loss, IREN swung to a $155.4 million quarterly net loss, and Molina Healthcare posted a surprise quarterly loss after cutting its 2026 guidance. The selling spread broadly, with nine of 11 S&P 500 sectors retreating.

Geopolitics also stayed in focus. Iran confirmed it would hold negotiations with the United States in Oman on Friday. Ukraine peace talks remained on investors’ radar as well, while the U.S. and Russia agreed to restart high-level military contacts that had been suspended shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

All of this unfolded alongside softer U.S. labor data, with job openings falling to their lowest level since 2020, jobless claims rising more than expected, and employers announcing the largest number of job cuts for any January since 2009.

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