Laterally Trending Market...

The current market conditions that we have been experiencing are quite possibly the most difficult to trade in. Laterally (or sideways) trending markets do not provide rewarding opportunities for both longs or shorts. Instead, they are filled with traps that can easily drain ones account. Trying to predict what the market will do next is not a game that I would like to play. It is a losing game at best. But still, by examining the chart a few days ago, I posted that if the DJIA can break above or close onto or above 13,200 that it would head higher and that if it closed below that point, it would have headed lower. Well it did close above the 13,200 point and lo and behold, it jumped up quite considerably. In order for the DJIA to break out above its 50 day MA, the 13,200 point needs to act as support (much like a spring board). Again, violating the 13,200 point can send the market further down again to retest the lows. Unless we trade sideways the whole time, next week should be rather interesting as far as the future direction of the market is concerned.