Market Review 3/17/2011: Russell 2000, S&P 500

The markets were much weaker today than the indices would indicate.  Leading stocks continue to pullback and will need time before they set up again on the long side.  Best to keep waiting out this market.  Remember that you don’t need to trade every day and that the big money is often made by waiting for the best possible setups.

$IWM – Daily

The Russell 2000 closed on the lows today and was much weaker than the $SPY and $DIA.  Bearish implications for the market here.

$SPY – Daily

Wasn’t able to move above the highs of yesterday.  No reason to think about the long side until we can break the series of lower highs.

$SPY – Weekly

Pullback reached a mac level of 6.99% off the highs.  Given the average size of the pullbacks during this run from March 09 – we could now reverse at any point.  Watching the individual stocks for setups and the indices for big volume accumulation days is best at this point.

$SPY – Monthly

1219 is the nearest support level on the monthly chart.  Still about 5% away.


  • Market Review 3/10/11: Market Correction Under Way
    Posted by on March 10th, 2011 at 11:18 pm, Comments: 0

    The market finally collapsed under the weight of the distribution and narrowing leadership today with a big 228 point move to the downside on the Dow. The charts are telling me that there is likely more to the decline from here as well. I remain in cash.

    $SPY Daily-

    High volume sell offs warned us that today might occur. Volume today was very strong as well.

  • Follow the Leader: Netflix, Silicon Graphics, OpenTable and more
    Posted by on March 10th, 2011 at 11:51 am, Comments: 0

    On a day like today, with the markets getting CRUSHED it is important to note the stocks that are showing relative strength and plowing through the carnage to actually move higher. I’ll be paying special attention to NFLX, SGI, OPEN, BIDU, RNOW, WWWW, IPGP, RAX, APKT, PCLN, RVBD and UA going forward. They just got promoted to the top of the watch list.

  • Market Review 3/9/11: Utilities, S&P 500
    Posted by on March 10th, 2011 at 6:25 am, Comments: 0

    Simple review today as the indices barely moved. I’ll be watching for the break in the triangle that has formed on the SPY just like everyone else is but because that can be prone to fake outs I’ll be paying more attention to the XLU (Utilities ETF) and individual stocks. There are very few individual stocks that are setting up here and it simply doesn’t yet feel as if we are ready to rally to the upside.

  • Market Review – 3/8/11: Sector Relative Strength, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000 and more
    Posted by on March 8th, 2011 at 7:31 pm, Comments: 0

    Throwing a little more than just the usual set of charts out there today. The action in the monthly and weekly charts looks bullish while the daily chart of the SPY and QQQQ show cause for concern. The XLU and XLY relative strength charts also show major reasons to be concerned here.

  • Market Review – 3/7/11: S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000
    Posted by on March 7th, 2011 at 10:45 pm, Comments: 0

    Another day where the morning pullback was bought. One of these days the pullback won’t be bought and we’ll fall hard and fast. I’m in cash, save for the long term GME short for that reason.

    SPY Daily-

    RANGE. Wait for a break either way. Volume saying it’ll likely be to the downside.

  • 6 Stock Pre-Market Watch List -3/7/11
    Posted by on March 6th, 2011 at 9:57 pm, Comments: 0

    Let’s start off with a few setups that I’m watching for next week.  A few names from my leaders list have broken out already – [...]

  • Pre-Market Charts – 3/4/11
    Posted by on March 3rd, 2011 at 10:41 pm, Comments: 0

    Straight to the charts today as I celebrate the return of my UW Huskies basketball team to semi-relevance as they beat an okay UCLA squad [...]

  • Where Are We Now – Charting the Market – 3/2/11
    Posted by on March 2nd, 2011 at 10:33 pm, Comments: 0

    Not much to report here as there just wasn’t much happening in the indexes today.  That said – I believe it’s important to be purposeful [...]

  • Trading Rules
    Posted by on March 2nd, 2011 at 9:36 am, Comments: 0

    For years I have used my gmail box as a storage mechanism for Trading Rules, Ideas, Strategies, Screens, Methods, Interviews and more. During market pullbacks [...]

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