Advance/Decline and Volume

It's nice to be right - see my yesterday's "Volatility" post. Yet, the first tree hours of today's trading session were somewhat disturbing. I think every trader has the moments when from one side the logics tells that the market should not go that way (in my case it should not go up) and from other side there are emotions that it goes in opposite to the expectetions way anyway. I believe many of those who read my blog yesterday were somewhat skeptical during these first three hours. Yet, by the end of the session I think the points mentioned in my last two posts should make some sense.

I understand that sometimes it is difficult (especially if you are reading this first time) to follow my my technical analysis, especially when I do not post a chart snapshoot. As a rule I always use a set of technical indicators you may see in the "S&P 500 Chart" post. You may always get the same chart atwww.marketvolume.com. I'm not telling that you have to rely on the results of my technical analysis or follow my steps precisely. Every trader has to do analysis by him/herself. I'm just trying to share some of my experience in the analysis and if somebody can learn something from this it makes me happy.

Just a few thing that I would like to drag your attention to. The market is down and the sentiment becomes more bearish. During the today's decline in period from 11:30 until 12:00 EST we saw a big volume spike. As a rule volume spike during the price decline means panic selling and could reverse the trend up, yet it was not the case. It is a bearish sign when the indexes ignore volume spikes to the price downside. Another bearish point is the further increase in the volatility.

If we are in a correction  and you ask me when we may expect to be back in uptrend I will answer "I do not know". I may only say let's watch the charts - we may see reversal tomorrow we may see it in a week. In particular I would be paying more attention now to the volume surges (low negative MVO) on the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and DJI and advance/decline issues and volume ratios on the S&P 500.

Volatility

It looks like a conclusion I expressed in the last paragraph of my previous week's post (see "Technical Analysis" on 10/18/2009)" was correct call. Now, we may say that starting from the middle of October 14, 2009 the market has been trading in the sideway corridor. We may draw the upper line of this corridor trough the October 19, 21, 22 highs and the lower line of this corridor would be placed through the lows on October 16, 22 and 23. Three times the indexes (S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and DJI) have bounced down from the upper line of this resistance corridor and now this is the third time when the indexes have come close to the lower. I think if the lower line of this corridor is broken then we may officially say that the stock market is in a correctional move down.

It is worth mentioning that over the last week we saw increase in volatility which could be considered as a Bullish sign. As a rule, lower volatility could be witnessed during up-trends and down-trends are accompanied by higher volatility. Over the last one and a half week we have several signals to go short, yet, they were not confirmed by an increase in volatility.

I mentioned in my previous post "it could be a good conservative trading strategy to wait in cash for stronger bearish signals". Now, if we take a look at hourly index charts we may see negative signals again, and this time the bearish signals are confirmed by an increase in the price volatility. Because of that I would say that at the end of this week the odds of the correction down are higher than they were last week (on October 16, 2009) when the indexes at the same level they are now.

Still, the technical analysis is not an exact science and the results of the technical analysis do not guarantee the market direction. The only thing I may recommend is to monitor charts. Personally I consider that an accurate analysis of several technical indicators should help any investors and every investor should have in his/her arsenal at least three technical indicators: 1) price based, 2) volume or advance/decline based and 3) one of volatility indicators. Maybe 50 years ago investors could rely on a single indicator in their analysis. Yet, the current market is not the same as it was before and you may not rely on a daily MACD only (or any other single indicator).

Technical Analysis

A week, ago in my "S&P 500" post on October 11, 2009 I have highlighted September's resistance level and pointed to the dominance of the Bullish signal with possibility of breaking the September's high levels. As a confirmation of my technical analysis applied to the hourly charts, this week we saw further advance on the S&P 500 and DJI indexes. The Nasdaq 100 index was positive during this week as well, yet, it stuck mostly in sideway action around its September's highs.

Right now, we have a little bit different picture on the hourly index charts. Last Sunday my main bullish point was the absence of a high volume during the up-move: "we have not been seen any highlighted trading activity (volume surge), which may shift supply /demand balance, during the recent up-move. Because of that I would say that there are good odds we may see indexes breaking September’s highs". On October 14 - 15, 2009 we had high volume on all major indexes including the Nasdaq 100, DJI and S&P 500. Even this volume surge was not very high I do not think we should disregard its appearance. As a rule volume based technical studies belong to the group of the leading technical indicators and they could be used to predict future possible trend reversals. A volume surge does not imply an immediate change in a trend, yet, it indicates a market condition predisposed to possible changes. Now, I think we may analyze lagging indicators more tightly for a confirmation of a possible correction down.

Taking look at the same set of technical indicators I traditionally use (see the chart in my previous post) I may say that my technical analysis is not bullish at this time. Majority of the indicators are bearish and suggest possibility of the further slide which has started on Friday October 16, 2009. In particular:

1. The SBV Oscillator declines and shows big Bullish volume accumulation which indicate overbought market.

2. As I mentioned above we had high volume on October 14/15, 2009 which is confirmed by the MVO (check its high positive readings).

3.MACD is flat and could be considered neutral.

4. The advance/decline oscillator is in decline by pointing that the traders are focused more on the declining stocks.

5. Stochastics and RSI are bearish as well – they decline and are close to their low levels.

6. The McClellan Oscillator moves below zero line which is considered as a bearish sign.

As I see, may charts and the technical analysis are better-disposed to favor a correction down. The only point against a correction is that taking look at history I have not seen a lot of occurrences of reversal down without a side-way trading at resistance. Second factor that could make a trader cautious is that we do not see an increase in volatility – as a rule when market drops volatility goes up. We see some light ATR (Average True Range) move up, yet, VIX volatility index is moving down. Because of that I would say that despite the bearish technical analysis, It would be nice to see more sideway trading before a correction down. In current longer-term Bullish market I think it could be a good conservative trading strategy to wait in cash for stronger bearish signals and maybe even to miss a short trade than to jump into a short position when you do not have certain degree of confidence.

S&P 500 Chart

Nice week - As I mentioned in my previous "Advance/Decline Signal" post on October 4, 2009 "there are some strong signals of a possible reversal and, personally, I would more closely watch charts over the next couple of days and I would consider that it could be too risky to be in a short position without tighter stop-loss at this time." those indicators that were bearish on February 2, 2009 became bullish on Monday February 5, 2009 and we had further recovery from the correction for the rest of the week.

Now, the main US indexes (S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrials and Nasdaq 100) are at September 17-23 high levels. Since index stuck for a week at these levels in September there is a possibility that we may see some sideway trading or a decline again. However, if we take a look at technical analysis of the same indicators we would see that only Advance/Decline Oscillator, McClellan Oscillator and MACD point to the Bearish sentiment and possibility of a decline. The rest of technical studies show shorter-term oversold stage, yet remain bullish or neutral by pointing higher odds of further up-move.

On mine opinion the most bullish signal for me is an absence of high volume during the recent up-move. We may see strong bearish volume surge on October 1-2, 2009 and this volume surge could be considered as a critical in the resent reversal. However, we have not been seen any highlighted trading activity (volume surge), which may shift supply /demand balance, during the recent up-move. Because of that I would say that there are good odds we may see indexes breaking September’s highs, yet as I mentioned before that we may see some sideway trading and even a decline before that.

Overall, I would say that my technical analysis of hourly charts (1 bar = 1 hour) does not have any leading indicators that would signal a possible downturn. However, I would not recommend rely on my words. What I would recommend is to check chart by yourself: what looks bullish today could become bearish tomorrow.

The S&P 500 Chart with elements of technical analysis.

Advance/Decline Signal

Last week, on September 30, 2009 in my "Short Analysis" post I have pointed to the increased volatility as a bearish sign. The next two days after that (October  1-2) the market (indexes) had declined.

Right now taking a look at the same set of technical indicators on the hourly S&P 500 chart (Nasdaq 100 and DJI charts are similar to the S&P 500 chart) I may say that right now, the technical analysis shows the dominance of the bearish sentiment on the market:
- The SBV Oscillator is at low negative level and this is a bearish sign. Yet, it stopped declining and it moves sideway which may point to a possibility of coming changes in the trend in a near future;
- The Advance/Decline Oscillator at low negative level which suggest the dominance of bearish traders, yet, we may see that it started to move up, which suggest that bullish traders slowly started to enter the market.
- RSI is clearly negative – it just declined below 30.
- Stochastics is negative as well, yet it has been under 20 line for 2 trading sessions which would suggest some oversold condition.
- McClellan Oscillator is negative - it is still in the red territory.

As you may see the technical analysis is not a bullish at this moment and would suggest the higher odds of further slide. On the other hand we had some strong positive leading signals that suggest a possibility of coming reversal:
1.We may see very strong bearish volume surge during the decline on October 1, 2009 (see MVO) which would point to the panic selling. On the next day on October 2, 2009 we had normal trading volume and that point that the panic selling could be over and we may see a reversal.
2. We saw very strong oversold Advance/Decline signals on the main indexes (NYSE, S&P 500, DJI and Nasdaq 100) on October 1, 2009. As a rule, such low Advance/Decline readings lead to a reversal.
3. We may see some decline in volatility which is a positive indication.

Overall I would say the may technical analysis results are bearish, yet, there are some strong signals of a possible reversal and, personally, I would more closely watch charts over the next couple of days and I would consider that it could be too risky to be in a short position without tighter stop-loss at this time.

I will try to post a chart next time. Meanwhile you may check the chart setting I use in my previous posts.