Is it just me, or does it seem like there isn’t fear out there? I thought at first that I was just disconnected from what’s happening here in my gorgeous Delray Beach office. Maybe that fact that I’m brewing my own coffee in my own home that isn’t “upside down” on mortgage repayments is skewing my version of reality.

But to the people I talk to in the checkout line at the supermarket… at Target… at the gas stations… in bars… don’t seem particularly worried either.

Not anymore than usual, that is.

I even checked the S&P 500 Volatility Index ($VIX).

This is known as the “fear index,” since the more fearful the market is the higher it moves.

What did the VIX tell me?

It said that, although there is some fear out there, it’s nowhere near last November’s levels.

In fact, it’s not even over January’s levels.

Yet here we are.

The Dow has broken UNDER its November lows (as I predicted it would here and here).

And the market isn’t even in a panic.

This means that the Dow Jones is likely to fall further and the S&P and Nasdaq should follow.

That’s because true market bottoms don’t happen unless there’s a lot of fear. Everyone has to be sick of stocks to never want to invest in them again.

And that’s simply not the case today.

So until the VIX back to it November levels, you can expect the market to keep dropping.

My target range is 6,750 to 6,500 (since this is a small percentage move from where the Dow is now, options are the best way to play it and make a substantial profit).

The trade of the year continues to be the trade of the year: bet on falling stocks and make big bucks.