Great Trades

Despite the breakdown, the May 15 low at 879 has continued to hold on a closing basis. That's 4 straight days now the SPX has closed between 879 and 882. If the powers that be can continue to defend this level, those who have shorted based on the now widely reported Head & Shoulders pattern may get squeezed. If it breaks down, though, we may see some significant selling.

Shorter term, there are some oversold readings and positive divergences that would normally indicate a bounce is likely. However, we've had several bounce attempts the last few days that have been very weak, and have worked off some of the oversold conditions (e.g., the VIX coming back down off its upper Bollinger Band). Whichever way the market breaks, the action could be strong after the narrow trading range late this week that has hugged the 200 day moving average (gold line).

Watch for a breakdown of this week's 869 low or a breakout above the 888 resistance level (former support at June lows, and also yesterday's high) for an indication of which way the next move will go. A close below 879 would also be a negative indication. Also, watch to see if the VIX can make a higher low and then a higher high to reverse the downtrend it's been in -- such a trend reversal would not bode well for the market. On the up side, a close over 888 would be positive, and a break of last week's low on the VIX would also be positive.

As expected, the action today was strong after last week's narrow trading range. Last night, S&P futures came within 0.25 points of last week's low (corresponds with 869 SPX), but buyers came in and defended that level. Later, in regular trading, buyers rushed in when 888 resistance was taken out, pushing the SPX over 901 at the close, with futures over 30 points higher than last night.

The VIX got within 0.07 points of the rally's closing low from 2 weeks ago. If it can make a higher low here and then break last week's high to reverse the downtrend, that would be a bad indication for the market. However, if it breaks down below the rally low, there could be more short squeezing ahead.

As shown in this chart, today was the first 9-1 up day in nearly 2 months, while we've had 3 different 9-1 down days in the last month:

If the selloff is over and the market's headed much higher, we should see more 9-1 up days and fewer 9-1 down days in coming weeks.

Looking ahead, there's some SPX resistance nearby, but the big "Confluence of resistance" remains in the 927-930 area. If the market can break through that area, there could be a sizable squeeze rally from there -- there may be lots of new shorts based on the media reports on the Head & Shoulders pattern. If the pullback after this bounce holds the 879 area on a closing basis, that could confirm a bottom to this selloff, but if that area gives way, we should see some significant selling to potentially much lower levels.

The nature of the follow-through to today's rally will help determine the next big market move.

Our futures trading system had another great day, getting very long stock index futures for the breakout rally, and also getting nice profits on the gold rally. It continues to do well in both up and down markets, and live testing has allowed us to tweak the various programs as needed.