Right NOW or Later

A big spot for the market this morning, as dip-buyers initially faltered and we are now at risk for another leg lower in this pullback. The true test for traders, however, as to whether it is worth putting capital at risk on the long side here likely hinges on whether we see something akin to a "stock picker's market," where individual names ignore a seemingly standard broad market dip and can act well.

Given the post-earnings rally in prominent growth software name, ServiceNow (NOW), this morning, for example, quite a few software stocks continue to act well. We saw a similar theme, by the way, last week when TEAM enjoyed an impressive earnings rally. 

Thus, names like Smartsheet Inc. (SMAR, below on its updated daily chart) ignore the push lower in the broad market this morning is, indeed, encouraging. 

But before we assume too much about the market being just fine, I want to see some better intraday stabilization on the indices first. Still, we have a nice template to judge just what type of beast we are dealing with as the month winds down. 

As for the Coronavirus plays, I can see daily chart bull flag potential on APT LAKE NNVC and the like. These remain highly volatile plays, of course, and subject to nasty moves intraday and overnight. So, using smaller size and perhaps limiting them to day-trades is still correct for most traders.