It is a new month and the market behavior today is acting as if it wants nothing to do with the gains seen last month.

That wouldn’t be surprising either considering that August is the worst month of the year, historically, for the Dow and S&P 500. As a result, I don’t have huge levels of optimism entering the month, and instead will let price action be my guide (as it always is). 

New all-time highs were reached today, but quickly thereafter the bulls retreated as oil refuses to establish a bounce of any kind and now trading below $40/barrel on the year. 

With all of this to consider, caution is currently warranted. If the bulls can break out and above the highs from yesterday, the consolidation will be no more, but there is a looming threat to the downside in that a break below 2159 and more importantly 2155 would create more selling in the short-term. 

So take the list of bullish setups below and find some ideal trade setups that work for you for when this market wants to act a wee-bit more predictable because so far today it has been anything but predictable. 

bullish watch-list 8-1-16 trade setups swing trades

 

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