Where Should I Begin?
Well, where do I start on this
options expiration Friday? I suppose I
could begin with the incredible overnight action in
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) (10-point round-tripper)
that likely had scores of after-hours MSFT,
(
QQQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and NQ short-term shorts
in some serious pain when the alarm clock went off, while longs bailing on the
panic may be cursing their televisions and Puget Sound.
As I said the other day, I’ll never understand
why some make rash decisions in illiquid markets … case in point yet again. (As
a former CEO, I won’t try to read anything into the actual earnings release or
analyst shenanigans, other than to say that the comical vagueness could easily
be spun in any direction one chooses, so I won’t take sides and will
stick to charts … but I digress…)
With respect to current action, the Qs are (yes, again) bouncing slightly off
intraday lows into 13-minute resistance as the column goes to press, with the
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) playing the rotating role of lead guide dog and doing its best
to offset MSFT’s early strength. Yet I continue to be intrigued by the longer-term
implications of recent intraday action as much as the intraday trade itself, as
the Qs continue to consolidate, backfill, tease, test and likely frustrate many
longer-term traders.
As I’ve said many times, I view a longer-term
chart no differently than an intraday chart, and the Qs are continuing to do
some serious testing of their daily 15-MA in the context of an oversold, yet
downtrending, weekly chart. Should the futures market base (vs. simply
tease) above 1400 in the futures market (approx. $34.70 on the Qs), then the
hourly and daily supports may provide sufficient strength to encourage
longer-term shorts to cover and fuel another up-leg. Yet much work remains for
that to occur, and the next few days may be critical in guiding us up or down
from the current daily consolidation chop.
12:00 P.M. ET
Good Trading and
Have a Great Weekend!