Today’s Trading Plan: Perhaps Another Gap To Fill

Technical Outlook:

• Another day, yesterday, where the market couldn’t hold the gap and simply gave back the gains to close at break-even on the day. 
• SPX is inching closer towards a breakdown but with the pre-market strength today, that will take a back seat to whether the gap up will hold or will see a fill shortly after the opening bell. 
• Volume was weak which is to be expected yesterday on a directionless trading session. 
• Gaps are extremely unreliable these days and more times than not they are getting filled in short order. 
• SPX still trading below the 20 day moving average and moved below the 5-day and 10-day moving averages yesterday as well. 
• The VIX range is mind-boggling as it continues to narrow very quickly. Yesterday it was down 0.7% to 13.76.
• A look at the SPY weekly chart shows in no uncertain terms the degree of choppiness in the market dating back to February. 
• 2120 on SPX – and a close above it – remains the key level for getting bullish on this market again. 
• Unless SPX can break above 2120, or break below 2072, the SPX has no true direction. 
• The market doesn’t care about the economy nor earnings. That is not what is driving it. The market only cares about what the Fed is doing to keep equities propped up. 

My Trades:

• Did not add any new positions yesterday.
• Did not close out any positions yesterday.  
• 10% short / 90% cash. 
• I’ll consider adding 1-2 new positions today (longs) if price gets above 2120 on SPX.
• I’ll consider adding 1 new short position if yesterday’s selling continues into today. 
• Join me each day for all my real-time trades and alerts in the SharePlanner Splash Zone

Chart for SPX: