Saturday, December 20, 2008

Choppy On Friday

We completed the last full trading week of the year, and while we didn't get any upside traction, we didn't fall apart either. The action was directionless today with a few spikes that failed and a few dips that were bought. It was random and very hard to trade.

I'm still somewhat optimistic about the way the market is setting up. We have a good base and continue to hold up, but we need a spark to light a little fire. I'm seeing some better charts, particularly in health care and even a few small-caps, but it has been treacherous to hold any sort of size because of the whippiness of the trading. While the overall volatility has slowed and we are in a trading range for the week, the intraday movement is still very hard to navigate.

Next week volume is going to slow quite a bit, and the random movements will likely be even greater. However, the good news is that trading around holidays often has a bullish bias. So even if we are choppy, there may be some upside potential for the quick and nimble.

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