Futures are surprisingly making a move in the premarket

Whether it holds will be a whole other question. Gap highers tend to be shakey business of late. Even Friday, where the market was solid all day long, chose to sell off in the final 10 minutes of trading and wipe out about 80% of the S&P 500’s gains on the day. 

Will there be another attempt to close the gap this morning? Probably. 

You have low volume, half day of trading. Such a move could easily be manipulated by the banks and hedgies. On the other hand, such a large gap isn’t common for a half day of trading, so perhaps there is something more to this rally (prove it to me, first!)

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see today be the weakest volume we will see on the daily chart all year long

stock market today

I have a well balanced portfolio coming into today. Last couple of days I have had equal shorts and equal longs. You have a clear topping pattern being formed. Whether it will fulfill its potential with an absolute hard decline, remains to be seen, but the groundwork is being laid for one. The problem is, and it has been the same problem for years now, are the dip buyers’ relentless pursuit to buy the dip. 

Worth noting is the fact that the 20 day moving average is now on top of the 10-day moving average which is now on top of the 5-day moving average. It has been ages since that has been the case. Actually it has been since April – but even so, that was the only decline that the market had seen all year and it was to the tune of a measly 2.8%, which is one of the weakest declines on record for a six month stretch. Not since 1995 has there been a lighter, max pullback during a six month stretch then what we saw just now. 

So take the profits the market is exhibiting this morning with a grain of salt. I plan to keep things as is. I may increase my long exposure some, if the market wants to continue rallying throughout the day, but since the market is closing at 1pm, I don’t plan on being incredibly active. 

S&P 500 Technical Analysis

pre holiday trading hours volume

Current Stock Trading Portfolio Balance: 

  • 2 Long Positions, 2 Short 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