Sorry...forgot the channel lines. Here they are. 

Also, note the support lines in the bull run in April-May, and the very channel bound drop since June 6th. The in between channel areas are subject to random news shocks, but the trader sentiment to stay within channel boundaries seems to dominate when we get close. The bounce at 1200 could easily be rationalized by hitting the much longer term channel designated by all the high VIX lows since last August, as seen here. 

A parallel channel placed at the top seems to model the peak action well too, though I'm pretty certain proximity to the 200 day MA had quite a bit to do with the mid-May reversal as well.