S&P: The silence is deafening

[Tape Reader]

Anyone else think it is the Death Knell?

[whodoyoulike]

After all, it is Sunday. Wait until tomorrow then get out of my way.

[Valuist]

A LOT of technical damage done last week. I think only a fool would consider it a buying opportunity. Of course, people said that in summer of 2000 about the Nasdaq.

[lamboguy]

the markets went up for the last 7 years with no volume, lets see what the volume looks like on the way down.

[plainolebill]

All of Asia down hard as of 11:30PM Pacific time, lead by Shanghai - down 7.5%. Should be another interesting day for US exchanges.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

Wild open. Was getting dizzy watching the bid/ask stack gyrate around at the open, after the futures on the /ES froze lock limit down. The Plunge Protection Team had to make a stick save for the Ages today.

Not sure if it's a death knell, but it certainly does feel like the music stopped in the game of musical chairs. If nothing else, one should be thinking of unloading some of those stocks with outrageous P/Es and gathering up some more solid performers - if you want to stay long.....


Couldn't make a trade now if I wanted, as TD Ameritrade and the Think or Swim platform is locking me out.

[whodoyoulike]

Originally Posted by Hoofless_Wonder

Wild open. Was getting dizzy ...

Couldn't make a trade now if I wanted, as TD Ameritrade and the Think or Swim platform is locking me out.

I've haven't run into that problem (not with TD A). If it wasn't a one time glitch, I'd move to another.

Did you contact them to find out why this was occurring?

[Valuist]

CNBC is such a joke. You have the biggest 3 day fall (point wise, not % wise) in the Dow and a dead cat bounce rally today, and all is well. One guy was on rationalizing the high valuations, then he claims the market "realized" they were a bit high. So the market "corrects" in 3 days, and everything is ok.

It doesn't work that way. Technical damage has been done. And big snap back rallies are a trademark of bear markets. Some of the biggest one day gains occurred in 2008. But the snap back rallies only get a portion back what was given away. There's more downside in this market.

[plainolebill]

Nice head fake today.

[highnote]

I notice that the S&P has not crossed the 50 day exponential moving average. If you look at the chart the S&P was getting way above the 50 day ema. So maybe it was overbought?

Back on July 10 I got a sell signal when the Value Line Index hit 497.23 -- a 4% drop from a recent high. However, the S&P did not give a sell signal. The Value Line is a little more sensitive due to its composition.

I got a sell signal on Aug 20 when the S&P dropped 4% from a recent high and hit 2035.73 and then the next day I got another sell signal when it dropped to 1970.89.

And of course, yesterday, Monday, Aug 24 I got a big sell signal when the declining volume outpaced the advancing volume on the big board by a ratio of 9-1.

So right now, I've got 3 different sell signals from 3 different indicators. That's a pretty strong sentiment.

I will be sitting on the sidelines for awhile.

I might trade some options. I made good money back in 2009 when option premiums were high and the stock market was rebounding.

The challenge this time is knowing if the market will rebound. So far, all the indicators are bearish. But if I see any signs of stabilization and the option premiums are high then there might be some good trades to be made.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

Originally Posted by whodoyoulike

I've haven't run into that problem (not with TD A). If it wasn't a one time glitch, I'd move to another.

Did you contact them to find out why this was occurring?

I did not. I was on the road and didn't have time to look into it. According to this article, I was not the only one who had problems with TDA (using the TOS platform for trading futures).

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...tail-investors

The selloff overwhelmed some online brokerage firms as investors tried to access trading accounts amid a plunge in the markets. Clients at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. and Scottrade Inc. reported problems logging on to their accounts and executing trades. Scottrade experienced a 230% spike in trading volume on Monday morning, a spokeswoman said.

...

To Christina Elizabeth, it was “a life-changing 20 minutes.”

The painter from Phoenix was one of millions of Americans who watched in horror as the U.S. stock market sank like a boulder Monday morning, a plunge that topped more than 1,000 points before many investors had finished their breakfast cereal.

Ms. Elizabeth, 31 years old, tried in vain to sell at least some of the shares in her TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. account, but was unable to log in amid a crush of others rushing to do the same. By the time she was able to access the site, she was down $6,000

I was logged in from the night before (I went long in the /ES), and woke up to find the futures locked limit down. The stack had 2400+ in the ask, and 7 in the bid. Ouch. Got a margin call the next morning, though by that time my account was well into the green....

[Robert Goren]

If you are in the markets and have not yet panicked and sold everything, I suggest you panic now. This is going to get real ugly soon.

[Valuist]

I think a lot of people are getting fooled by the snapback rallies of Wednesday and today. If you look at the biggest one day gains (point wise) in history, most were either in 2008 or 2000, years of two vicious bear markets. The biggest percentage one day gains were mostly in the 1930s; again a long bear market. Bear market rallies can be extremely strong; most likely from many short positions being closed out. Volatile markets may be great for short term trading, but they are very unhealthy to invest in.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by Valuist

I think a lot of people are getting fooled by the snapback rallies of Wednesday and today. If you look at the biggest one day gains (point wise) in history, most were either in 2008 or 2000, years of two vicious bear markets. The biggest percentage one day gains were mostly in the 1930s; again a long bear market. Bear market rallies can be extremely strong; most likely from many short positions being closed out. Volatile markets may be great for short term trading, but they are very unhealthy to invest in.

Agreed. I will stay on the sidelines until things stablize.

[PaceAdvantage]

What did I miss?