Markets Show Strong Action on Breakout

Despite the breakdown, the May 15 low at 879 has continued to hold on a closing basis. That's 4 straight days now the SPX has closed between 879 and 882. If the powers that be can continue to defend this level, those who have shorted based on the now widely reported Head & Shoulders pattern may get squeezed. If it breaks down, though, we may see some significant selling...

As expected, the action Monday was strong after last week's narrow trading range. Last night, S&P futures came within 0.25 points of last week's low (corresponds with 869 SPX), but buyers came in and defended that level. Later, in regular trading, buyers rushed in when 888 resistance was taken out, pushing the SPX over 901 at the close, with futures over 30 points higher than last night.

The VIX got within 0.07 points of the rally's closing low from 2 weeks ago. If it can make a higher low here and then break last week's high to reverse the downtrend, that would be a bad indication for the market. However, if it breaks down below the rally low, there could be more short squeezing ahead.

As shown in this chart, Monday was the first 9-1 up day in nearly 2 months, while we've had 3 different 9-1 down days in the last month:

If the selloff is over and the market's headed much higher, we should see more 9-1 up days and fewer 9-1 down days in coming weeks.

Looking ahead, there's some SPX resistance nearby, but the big "Confluence of resistance" remains in the 927-930 area. If the market can break through that area, there could be a sizable squeeze rally from there -- there may be lots of new shorts based on the media reports on the Head & Shoulders pattern. If the pullback after this bounce holds the 879 area on a closing basis, that could confirm a bottom to this selloff, but if that area gives way, we should see some significant selling to potentially much lower levels.

The nature of the follow-through to Monday's rally will help determine the next big market move.

Our futures trading system had another great day, getting very long stock index futures for the breakout rally, and also getting nice profits on the gold rally. It continues to do well in both up and down markets, and live testing has allowed us to tweak the various programs as needed.