Today's technical outlook: Sideways market will challenge traders
Posted Feb 17th 2009 9:30AM
From September to early November, the volatility was staggering, and if you were on the side of the major trend (down), you've made money. But now traders are grumbling that there just isn't enough volatility to make trading profitable.The S&P 500 closed at 789.17, above it's Nov. 20 closing low of 752.44 and it's Nov. 21 intraday low of 741.02
On Friday, Standard & Poor's reported that in the past 22 days, the S&P 500 has remained between 805 and 874, or within an 8% range. But during the past 12 days, the closing price range for the "500" has been only about 50 points.
On Thursday, it looked like the market was breaking down for a test of the November low, but a late rally turned Thursday into a major reversal day (up). And so on it goes, with the same support zone at S&P 800 to 820 holding firm while the Dow has fallen slightly below its support. The NYSE Composite has held firm, and the Nasdaq has formed a small "V" type bottom (which is bullish)....MORE
