I’m not a technical trader by default. I’m all about fundamentals, not just for specific businesses, but also for the macro-economic picture. I know a few things about technical trading. I wrote technical trading software for a well-known hedge fund (as far as hedge funds can be well known). I enjoy day trading. The truth is, however, that I’m not very good at it by myself (my “technical” trades have worked out recently because I tend to align them with the macro-economic trend, just in case). I read a lot to know where and why certain levels of support exist. However, I read recently (from a source I respect) about how 830-835 was a critical support level for the S&P, and if that failed, there was nothing to prevent the S&P falling to a psychological support at 800. If 800 fails, then the next support is at 770. To be honest, I didn’t really give much credit to the call. Ok, that’s not entirely true. I had a few automatic take-profit sells. I removed the one that would have fired today when the S&P hit 820. If the call was right, then I’d be able to make a sale at 800. Sure enough, the empirical evidence from today is that the call was spot-on. Unfortunately, there’s not really a lot of reason for the market to stick around at these levels. There’s just no convincing reason to buy. Sure, stocks might be cheap, but they might be a lot cheaper next week.