According to Dow Jones Market Data, the S&P 500 SPX, 1.05% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 0.65% are on track for the worst first 100 trading days since 1970. And for the Nasdaq-100 NDX, 1.69%, it’s the worst ever.

After years of outperformance, the Nasdaq COMP, 1.69% has traded essentially straight lower for the last two months, losing nearly a quarter of its value with only a handful of brief but powerful rallies breaking up the relentless selling. Since March, the index has seen five countertrend rallies of 4% or more, according to Matt Weller, a market technician who studies near-term technical trends.

Analysts have blamed all the usual suspects: the inescapable burden of inflation, which taxes a company’s future earnings, cheapening their value in the present. The hawkish Federal Reserve, which has been content to stand back and refrain from intervening to try to slow or reverse the bloodletting. And of course the war in Ukraine, which has contributed to higher food and energy prices, and shutdowns in China, which has wreaked more havoc on fragile global supply chains.

For investors who are considering whether to reach out and try to snatch a falling knife, there’s plenty of context that could help to put the 2022 selloff in perspective.

For example, Ryan Detrick of LPL Financial recently pointed out that historically, midterm election years are tough for markets. U.S. stocks have lost more than 17% on average peak-to-trough. On average, the market bottoms during these years occur later in the year.

Shifting to discuss some historical points of interest for the S&P 500, the supremely popular U.S. equity benchmark, it’s worth noting that the index has been down for seven consecutive weeks this year, a streak seen just three other times in history: during 2001, 1980 and 1970.

In terms of volatility, the market has also been extremely interesting this year: the S&P 500 has posted intraday swings of 2% or more on almost 40% of the days so far in 2022.