Does Green Mean ‘Go’ In Bear Market?

Green has been a bright and cheery color this week following St. Patrick’s Day and market indexes turning green to the upside today.

A choppy session closed with the Dow up 188.27 at 20,087.19 points, the S&P up 11.29 at 2,409.39 points, and the Nasdaq up 160.73 at 7,150.58 points.

The swing up was a welcome sight after the 1,300+ point Wednesday selloff — the first drop below 20,000 points since February 2017.

Wild swings from day to day are the new normal.

And it’s a day trader’s market for those who are positioned to take advantage of the volatility.

Less seasoned traders might want to consider the ever vigilant position of maintaining cash.

Anyone listening to the news, especially after a 700-point drop in the Dow early in the trading day, would have expected another serious cratering across the indexes.

Simpler Trading online chat room moderators maintain a steady plan to avoid news as much as possible while focusing on the internals when charting this market.

Every day in this bear market is a different adventure. When trades offer potential, get the gain and get back out. Getting back in on a move is just a commission away (and many trading commissions are gone).

Trading Thursday showed how the bulls must fight the bear market to regain losses.

Simpler’s traders believe a snapback will happen in the market sooner than later, but uncertainty keeps everyone cautious as to when it will arrive.

We Saw: positive ticks to the upside for a trading breather — 

• Dow clawing back to above 20,000
• Positive news about coronavirus treatments
• Day traders taking on the historic volatility

We’re Watching: … how things shape up for the third Friday of the month —

• The VIX and all indexes for supported trends
• When the bottom might be found
• “Triple Witching” is in play: last hour of the third Friday of the month and quarter with expirations of index futures, index options, and stock options.

Learn more about navigating news and the markets — check out the Simpler Trading community HERE.