Get off This Island

One of the first parts of the market we flagged for Members off the opening bell weakness this morning was the small cap strength in the IWM. Small caps were off far less than the senior indices seemingly from the get-go, and that divergence eventually took the Nasdaq green. 

Moreover, plenty of individual tech plays, namely enterprise software and cybersecurity issues, continue to act well and defy the notion of a corrective market. FireEye is one such example, surging more than 6% up and out of an attractive basing pattern. 

Nonetheless, as I write this I see that the QQQ, ETF for the Nasdaq's heavyweight names, is struggling to hold over the $161.50 area we have been keying off for a while now

The 30-minute QQQ timeframe, updated below, gives us context for a wild market and even more unpredictable series of headlines, as we also have the Fed Minutes approaching at the bottom of the hour. Indeed, the QQQ appears to be trapped on an island of choppy price action and bulls can almost taste the idea of freedom. 

But just as bears have struggled with breaching the low end of this range, bulls have at the top end--And thus the range lives on. 

More on this, some actionable ideas, and gold analysis in my usual Midday Video.