Quote from Arthur Deco:
At least my analysis predicts a direction.
Did I hurt your feewin's? Gosh, if so, I'm sorry. I just have this aversion to one-liner's. Reminds me of a heckler in a comedy club.
Direction? This thread is about volatility (or the lack of it as the as the case may be). And, this concept would generally precede price movement. In fact, I'd venture to say volatility is MORE predictable than price.
Do we have "direction" (yet)? You have a trendline break.
It could just as easily re-test as continue. Monday's a new month, which automatically brings in new cash. Whether cash is deployed can't be determined. To value-oriented bargain hunting institutions, yeah.
Movement (ie DIRECTION) can be valid or a headfake. That's where other tools, as well as paitience come into play. Valid or headfake can be translated to penetration or re-test.
Predictions? Dime a dozen. I can make predictions too. In fact, I''ll........eh.......predict the indices will be slightly higher on Friday , February 5th than at present stemming from an over-sold state. You make sure and come back on Friday and twist the knife a little IF appropriate. Might make you feel better. That said, I'm more concerned about my pocketbook being hurt than my feewin's.
Your quoted sentence suggests you're MORE interested in being "right" than profitable. I don't know about you, but I'm here for the money, sonny. Money is made from actions/inactions that lead to the future rather than reading yesterday's newspaper. Stated another way, news that EVERYONE knows really isn't worth knowing.
Typically, please note I wrote typically, stocks bottom in unisom and top one by one. The recent move has been pretty much across the board. Additionally, it was fairly sharp. Not crash-like but sharp.
Now, intra-day, SHARP moves are by design, courtesy of the specialist (or market maker) to maneuver with minimal PUBLIC participtation. We're not talking intra-day, but rather, about 2 weeks. But.............across the board. That's the operative observation "across the board". And in the public eye rather than one by one. In my own pithy little opinion, it's a shakeout to acquire inventory (for purpose of re-sale). And, as previously cited, earnings season makes for great alibis to snag paper. Regardless, volume has been anemic. Nothing to be alarmed about.
I always try to stay on the side of the ax. A posture not easily discerned. Although not ideal. I'm willing to sacrifice a pawn to gain a rook.
How 'bout we get BACK to volatility? We could discuss the virtures of average true range versus VIX or Bollinger bandwidth or whatever measure of volatilty you devise.