The ugly sideways price action is likely to persist

I think that we are likely to see more of the same price behaviors yet again today. Yesterday’s price action started off typical, open lower, and then spend the rest of the day rallying back towards break even on the day. 

But going into the final hour of trading – the time where price action tends to be the most favorable for the bulls, the price action completely fell apart. The gap was closed from the open, and selling ensued immediately thereafter. SPX went into a free for all and it resulted in price action closing at the lows of the day.

At this point, that kind of behavior doesn’t bother me. If it continues to persist over the coming trading sessions, then yes, it will be enough reason to start trimming the long exposure in my portfolio and book some of that profit. For now, I remain in a “wait-and-see” mode. Adding additional exposure to the long side, will be a tall order for me if this market doesn’t want to cooperate. 

But to reiterate my earlier point, it is likely that we will see more sideways price action out of the market, don’t expect a lot of volume, and if there is some intraday price spasms like we saw at the close, that will likely be due as well to the low volume atmosphere. 

S&P 500 Chart

Current Stock Trading Portfolio Balance: 

• 7 Long Positions

Recent Stock Trade Notables:

• Western Digital (WDC): Long at $91.24, closed at $89.29 for a 2.1% loss. 
• Broadcom (AVGO): Long at $236.65, closed at $241.15 for a 2% profit.
• SPXU: Long at 16.60, closed at $16.98 for a 2.3% profit.
• JP Morgan Chase (JPM): Long at $87.84, closed at $85.98 for a 2.1% loss.
• Micron Technology (MU): Long at $29.00, closed at $28.04 for a 3.3% loss.
• Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at $116.25, closed at $124.09 for a 6.7% profit. 
• Southwest Airlines (LUV): Long at $58.35, closed at 57.23 for a 1.9% loss.  
• Broadcom (AVGO): Long at $223.63, closed at $228.65 for a 2.2% profit. 
• Workday (WDAY): Long at 86.00, closed at 90.32 for a 5% profit. 
• Univar (UNVR): Long at $30.96, closed at $32.20 for a 4% profit.
• Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at $111.91, closed at $115.48 for a 3.2% profit. 
• Redhat (RHT): Long at $85.21, closed at $87.21 foor a 2.4% profit. 
• Darling Ingredients (DAR): Long at $15.19, closed at $14.90 for a 1.9% loss. 
• Apple (AAPL): Long at $143.82, closed at $147.11 for a 2.3% profit.
• Teradyne (TER): Long at $31.16, closed at $33.03 for a 6.0% profit.
• UPRO: Long at $92.75, closed at $94.78 for a 2.2% profit. 

See my entire swing-trading past performance here.