Bulls are doing a little better than I expected with the best of the action coming from Bitcoin. The false breakout at the beginning of October delivered the reversal back to former trading range support, as is often the case in such scenarios, before the spiked low and rally off converged 200-day MA and trading range support. Technicals are strongly net bearish, so this bounce will need to do more if it's to fix the weak technical picture.

Also, doing bettter than execpted are the indices. I was not expecting the S&P nor the Nasdaq to challenge - what had looked to be - a perfect short play. It's decision time for both indices, although the S&P now finds itself at another converged resistance point. If it's able to rally from here it will manage a new all-time high. I still think taking profits is a good thing, becuase the push higher is not backed by strong buying volume.

The Nasdaq finished just below all-time high resistance. There is an attempt by ADX to switch back to a 'bull' signal, but it has been driven by weakness in -DI rather than strength in the +DI. If the Nasdaq is able to clear 23K it will need to do so on higher volume.

While the Russell 2000 (IWM) improved, it wasn't enough to suggest new all-time highs are imminent.

Traders who should be worrying more here are shorts. Up until today, the short trade was looking like a decent risk:reward, but now, those shorts need to look to cover - if they haven't already.

More By This Author:

Trades Reluctant To Punch New Highs For Indices; Take Profits
Small Caps Make The Running
Government Shutdown And Tariffs Send Traders Scrambling