The rally took stocks right up to the 20-day moving average before selling off at the close

For the past couple of weeks that 20-day moving average has been an absolute pest to the S&P 500 and traders as a whole. Today it kissed the MA and then sold off hard right thereafter into the close. The 20-day MA also lines up well with the declining channel off of the June 26th highs – check it out in the chart below!

Perhaps it isn’t over for the bears. But time and time again they keep getting the chance to sell this market off and they fail to do so. Furthermore, you had less volume yesterday than what we all saw on July 3rd – the half day of trading before the holiday.

Almost 10% less to be exact!

The low volume environment doesn’t favor the bears. The bulls have made an art form off of rallying on near-obsolete volume levels. The VIX meanwhile, managed to do next to nothing – unable to rally or sell-off. But still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sub-10 reading before this week is out. 

Oil tried to bounce, but it has a long ways to go before any faith can be put into the action we are seeing there. 

Tech continues to be an area of the market to stay away from as the money continues to rotate out of tech and into the defense, utilities, banks, housing and airlines. 

Always remember, even though the market might not be providing the best readings, you can still profit from this market. There’s no market that you can’t consistently profit from, you just have to manage the risk appropriate to the market that you are trading in.

S&P 500 Technical Analysis

Current Stock Trading Portfolio Balance: 

• 4 Long Positions

Recent Stock Trade Notables:

• Intel (INTC) Short at $35.21, covered at $34.46 for a 2.1% profit. 
• Nvdia (NVDA): Long at $155.57, closed at $157.53 for a 1.3% profit. 
• IBB: Long at $298.24, closed at $303.74 for a 1.8% profit. 
• SPXU: Long at $15.68, closed at $15.25 for a 2.7% loss. 
• Whirlpool (WHR): Long at $190.46, closed at $195.19 for a 2.5% profit. 
• Ferrari (RACE): Long at $84.60, closed at $89.93 for a 6.3% profit. 
• Amazon (AMZN): Long at $964.70, closed at $1001.23 for a 3.8% profit. 
• American Airlines (AAL): Long at $49.18, closed at $50.62 for a 2.9% profit
• Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at $124.95, closed at $137.51 for a 10.1% profit. 
• Starbucks (SBUX): Long at $61.78, closed at $63.68 for a 3.1% profit.
• Western Digital (WDC): Long at $91.24, closed at $89.29 for a 2.1% loss. 
• Broadcom (AVGO): Long at $236.65, closed at $241.15 for a 2% profit.
• SPXU: Long at 16.60, closed at $16.98 for a 2.3% profit.
• JP Morgan Chase (JPM): Long at $87.84, closed at $85.98 for a 2.1% loss.
• Micron Technology (MU): Long at $29.00, closed at $28.04 for a 3.3% loss.
• Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at $116.25, closed at $124.09 for a 6.7% profit. 
• Southwest Airlines (LUV): Long at $58.35, closed at 57.23 for a 1.9% loss.  
• Broadcom (AVGO): Long at $223.63, closed at $228.65 for a 2.2% profit. 
• Workday (WDAY): Long at 86.00, closed at 90.32 for a 5% profit. 
• Univar (UNVR): Long at $30.96, closed at $32.20 for a 4% profit.
• Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at $111.91, closed at $115.48 for a 3.2% profit. 
• Redhat (RHT): Long at $85.21, closed at $87.21 foor a 2.4% profit. 
• Darling Ingredients (DAR): Long at $15.19, closed at $14.90 for a 1.9% loss. 
• Apple (AAPL): Long at $143.82, closed at $147.11 for a 2.3% profit.
• Teradyne (TER): Long at $31.16, closed at $33.03 for a 6.0% profit.
• UPRO: Long at $92.75, closed at $94.78 for a 2.2% profit. 

See my entire swing-trading past performance here.