These are confusing times, even by the measures of the present day. The past eleven trading days (commencing, of course, with Bear Force One on that magical Friday) have been a total bonanza, but it cannot be this easy all the time. I already feel myself rather defensive, because we’ve seen an almost unrestrained plunge in the /ES………
……high tech, by way of /NQ………
…….and, quite especially, the small caps, by way of the /RTY……..
……..which at the same time lurching in volatility to levels that can easily be argued as resistance (that is to say, peak fear).
I have 17 bearish positions, and almost all of them are profitable (a few mightily so), so it’s a little discomfiting to just lean back and figure everything is just going to be peachy. At the same time, during the composition of just the last sentence, the market lurched from all green to all red, so things are still extremely dicey.
During times like these, I remind myself I am a bottoms-up kind of trade. That is to say, I take things one chart at a time, in spite of the market big market moves will drag just about everything the same direction anyway. Thus, I keep my alert levels up to date and try to look at the charts with fresh eyes each morning. Having done so, I’m holding fast, even with two big events (the continuing resolution vote today and the CPI number tomorrow morning) looming large on the horizon.
