Yesterday and today were insane in the E-mini S&P 500.. I'm a relatively new trader, and I've never seen this before. Is 3.8 million contracts considered a lot in one day on the E-mini? I can't even trade it.

Yep, it's HUGE volume...
ES Algos (computer program selling) is on the RUN... last one was in February 2018.
If you have no experience, avoid being run-over by not trading real money; but practice trading in SIM account.
It's the best opportunity to make "10K profit" day or just "blow-up account" day.

Enjoy!

P.S. Use bigger stop loss like 10 points vs 6-12 ticks as before.

Yeah I actually use a "back-up" stop loss of 16 ticks to account for micro market fluctuations, losing $200 with my account size would be (realistically, never trading without a stop loss) the worst case scenario. Today I traded using that stop loss. I identified a short opportunity and entered, and to my surprise the market immediately engulfed against me and I was there, frozen for a millisecond. I closed (8 tick loss) and the position ended up going my way, but damn, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Anyways, there's no reasonable way I can trade a market like this. With an account my size and considering the volatility, I'd get stopped out immediately. Any idea on how long this behavior will last? I mean how long did it last in February?

Not quite remember how long it's taken in February... Just remembered that it hit Daily Long-term Target that became Inflection Turning Point for reversal.

The good news is...
... it's TGIF--profit taking before weekend and it should be bouncing if not "short squeeze" to retest 2866-2871 break down point.
Oops, watch out below if today's low is not holding... next unfilledGap still @2688.

Here is my Trading Plan for 10M Intraday and 720M chart.

Enjoy!

Here is my homework over weekend with statistic and updated chart-journal...

FEB's Crash for 6 days started on FRI 2/2 to 2/9/2018 for >300 points that reversed @Daily SMA200
and Day#3 "short-squeeze" was on WED.

OCT's Crash started on WED 10/10/2018 for >200 points so far with huge volume that dip in @Daily SMA200
and Day#3 "dead-cat-bounce" was last FRI.

The good news is 2712 low has been retested and failed break down for now... so looking for oversold bounce, at least for today.
It's still in early stage and the mid-term election is still couple weeks away.

Enjoy!

Newcomers should stay out of market during high volatility , nothing wipes account faster than an eventual plunge after a long bull market .

TraderTS 

Here is my homework over weekend with statistic and updated chart-journal... FEB's Crash for 6 days started on FRI 2/2 to 2/9/2018 for >300 points that reversed @Daily SMA200 and Day#3 "short-squeeze" was on WED. OCT's Crash started on WED 10/10/2018 for >200 points so far with huge volume that dip in @Daily SMA200 and Day#3 "dead-cat-bounce" was last FRI. The good news is 2712 low has been retested and failed break down for now... so looking for oversold bounce, at least for today. It's still in early stage and the mid-term election is still couple weeks away. Enjoy!

2018 OCT.SellOff.Day#6
Awaiting 2pmET WED FOMC Minutes...

10:45amET Added to Swing Long2785
@38.2% hwb-HalfWayBack
@previousHigh
@VAL-ValueAreaLow

Trailing stop or Target hit on 2nd contract?

Last week was difficult, but this week has been quite easy to take a view on the markets and scalp out wins. Yesterday was my buy side entry only day, and today was my sell-side entry only day. I exited when price started to climb back up and I had already achieved my goals.

I've been staying out of the action when the market started to act differently than my view of the day, especially when I couldn't figure out what was being priced in to change conditions (beyond expected profit taking and perceived flipping) safe trading to all.

Buy put options on volatility. Don't hold it more than few days. After gaining 100% just unload.