Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Chinese real estate portal and home improvement e-tailer SouFun (SYNE: SFUN) opened today's trading 18.8% above Wednesday's closing price, then swiftly retreated to a modest 4% gain -- all on a couple of big volume spikes.

So what: The just-reported second quarter came in strong with revenue doubling year over year and earnings growing more than fivefold. Analyst estimates weren't even close.

Now what: Before declaring SouFun the next Baidu.com (Nasdaq: BIDU) and the return of the flagging Chinese real estate market, you should consider that this leap amounts to very little in the larger perspective. Even at the opening-bell peak, the gains merely moved the stock back to Aug. 1 values. Investors are still worried about the possibility of a Chinese housing bubble, and rightly so. Buying Far Eastern real estate plays -- with or without an online component -- such as SouFun, China Security & Surveillance Technology (NYSE: CSR), or Xinyuan Real Estate (NYSE: XIN) seems more like gambling than investing. The potential gains may be great but so are the risks.

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