Stocks slid on Wednesday as oil surged past $100 a barrel — a stark reminder that events far from Wall Street can shake markets fast.

The dip-buyers had a mixed day. Agent 8, which looks at what peer traders are doing before buying, had a nice win when one of its positions in a software stock hit its target and closed out at a solid profit. Its fellow dip-buyers were quieter, mostly cutting a few losing positions early and sitting on open trades. On the other side, the traders betting against the market and the ones chasing momentum continued to struggle — the gold trader is nursing a real loss as gold and silver moved up today but not nearly enough to close the gap. The big standout for a good reason was the morning momentum strategy, which caught a huge move in a solar stock before the market closed, booking a significant single-day gain that lifted its overall numbers considerably.

All told, the portfolio sits about 1.4% below where it started — not a crisis, but a rough day driven mostly by geopolitical noise, which tends to be unpredictable and short-lived.