This Chart Shows How 2013 Stacks Up Against Some Of The Greatest Market Years Of All Time

In his latest note to clients, BTIG's Dan Greenhaus (@danBTIG) puts this amazing 2013 into some perspective.

The S&P 500 is now up 25.5% this year, the Russell 2000 up 31% and the Nasdaq is up 32%. Outside of the nominal returns, the nearly uninterrupted pace of appreciation has caught many off guard. Indeed, in the spring of this year with S&P up by 17% or so, we remarked to CNBC's Simon Hobbs that "unless this is 1995 all over again, the bulk of the year's gains are already in hand." We subsequently backed away, raised our S&P price target and, well, the rest is very recent history. To put this in perspective, while the S&P is having one of its best years, the Russell 2000 is having its third best year dating back to 1981. That's almost unreal given how concerned everyone was/is about the economic recovery.