Investors need to get used to market volatility because it is here to stay for some time, market pros said Thursday.
U.S. stocks closed mildly higher Thursday after surging earlier in the day. The Dow Jones industrial average was up as much as 249 points before ending about 30 points higher.
John Moninger, managing director of retail sales for Eaton Vance, thinks the volatility should be embraced.
"Sometimes risk tends to be an opportunity and are we really taking advantage of what's going on in volatility today? I'm excited by the prospect of volatility," he said in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell."
"You can find more values that way."
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Retail investors, however, are hesitant to jump into the market right now, and fear is overriding decision-making, he noted.
For Brian Kelly, founder of Brian Kelly Capital and a "Fast Money" contributor, it's risk off right now.
"People are not taking a lot of risk right now. There are too many cross-currents right now to really take a big position out there," he said on "Closing Bell." "Yes, potentially we get some kind of deal in Greece but then it's unclear exactly what the damage has been done in China."
He would wait for things to settle down. "No reason to get crazy now."
A new Greek proposal was sent to its euro zone creditors Thursday as the debt-stricken country tries to secure new funds to avoid bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Chinese stocks continued their wild swings, with the Shanghai composite closing 5.8 percent higher for its best day in six years. The market had been in a downward spiral from its mid-June highs.
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Stephanie Link, portfolio manager with TIAA-CREF and a CNBC contributor, also speaking on "Closing Bell," said while volatility will be around for a while, she sees a silver lining.
"If you can get a deal with Greece … and then you can get some sort of stabilization in China, and that's a big if … then maybe we can start focusing on earnings," she said, noting that what she's seen so far has been encouraging.
—CNBC's Evelyn Cheng and Reuters contributed to this report.