Should be interesting to see what direction the market picks going into the Christmas holiday. We’re in a corrective bull move from the drop that started on 11/7. The major indexes are caught between their 50 SMA and 200 SMA. The Dow and NASDAQ need to move back into the 50 SMA and off the bottom of the channel. To be honest the channel looks ominous. At best you’re looking at a channel that will break to the upside. At worst we’re looking at a bear flag. I guess it’s not necessarily bad price action. It all depends on what types of setups you’re looking for. I threw in a potential short for idea #5. You always need to be ready to take a trade in either direction.

Here’s the Dow w/channel

NASDAQ Composite showing similar action.

So what’s the best course of action. You can always scale back your trading. As we get closer to the holiday, I like to slow down and start doing my goal setting for next year. I’m always doing analysis and looking for trades, but it’s time to start setting my sights on what I want to happen next year.

1. BIDU

2. MO

3. VLNC

4. DISCA

5. RIMM

You always need to be ready to have setups on either side of the market. RIMM is looking to be a good short if the market tanks.