The Last Seduction

It is not just to a tough market for Russell 2000 Index longs, given the pattern of lower highs and lower lows by price since late-June, not to mention price moving down below the 200-day moving average, but shorts still need to be extraordinary prudent in this trapping bull market. 

And with a rising 200-day moving average on the Russell, the multi-year bull remains out of prison until proven guilty. 

As a result, shorts who continue to be allow themselves to be seduced by chasing down these opening gaps lower taking some pain this afternoon. 

Inside Market Chess Subscription Services this morning, in real-time, for example, we were keying off the $118 level on the IWM, ETF for the Russell, as marking an excellent point of reference for the day to see if another short was warranted. 

That never happened, though, as bulls took the ball and ran with it, nearly flipping the small caps green. 

Into the final leg of today's session, we are picking off other markets instead.

Also note AAPL is holding its reversal to green today, too, making both sides of the trade a seductive femme fatale of late.