We had an extremely interesting session On Wednesday. The indices gapped down huge, took out the lows on the Nasdaq 100 early, snapped back in the morning, failed at resistance, and then made lower lows on the Nasdaq 100. The S&P 500 finally caved at mid-day and made slightly lower lows, as well, but quickly reversed, and that triggered a very strong rally that fed itself on short covering and exploded, particularly in the last hour.

But it was the mother of all rallies today, as the Dow went from 11,645 to 12,276, a turnaround of 632 points before a slight back-off at the close.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 299, after being down 330 points at one point, so it was one of the best turnaround rallies I've ever seen. The S&P 500 likewise went from 1270 to 1339, gaining nearly 70 points, and closed at 1338.50, up 28 on the day. The Nasdaq 100 ran 101 points from top to bottom, and closed slightly off that, yet still down 6 points on the day, after begin down almost 100 points at one point. So, a huge snapback rally today.

The technicals swung solidly into the positive column before the close. Advance-declines were nearly 3 to 1 positive on New York and 3 to 2 positive o Nasdaq. Up/down volume was nearly 3 to 1 positive with more than 2.8 billion traded on the NYSE and 3 1/2 billon on Nasdaq with a 4 to 3 positive ratio there.

TheTechTrader.com board was active, and many stocks moved sharply off their lows, getting into the positive column. Cree Inc. (CREE), in particular, was strong all session, and was up even while the market was down, closing at 28.55, up 2.90 on 5 1/2 million. Mercadolibre (MELI) reversed 6 and closed up 2.31, over 50. Sigma Designs (SIGM) snapped back from a huge loss earlier in the day, and closed up 78 cents on the day, nearly 4 off its low.

Excel Maritime (EXM) was up 2.16 today, and DryShips (DRYS) up 1.38, taking back a more than 4-point loss earlier in the session.

Other gainers of note, Converted Organics (COIN) exploded out of a consolidation pattern and off its rising moving average, up 2.04, closing at 10.11, Chindex (CHDX), one of our portfolio positions we added this morning, closed up 1.43 at 34.14.

Global Solutions (GSOL) snapped back 1.29. Origin Agritech (SEED) at 8.30 was up 1.15 on nearly 2 million, and UEPS was up 1.09. Those were the point-plus gainers on my board today.

On the losing side, junior solar energy stocks had a difficult session, despite being off the lows. SOLF at 16.81 ended down 2.19, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) at 17.53 was down 1.06, and Hoku Scientific (HOKU) at 8.32 was down 88 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices came way off their lows and closed exceptionally strong today, reversing key losses and taking out a couple layers of resistance. Additional overhead resistance to contend with tomorrow will be key levels at about 1820-25 on the Nasdaq 100. That represents the last rally high as well as declining 40-day moving averages on the hourly charts.

On the S&P 500, we're right at declining moving average resistance but have taken out some key levels, and I'm expecting higher levels over the next 3-5 days, and that could stretch out longer depending on what the follow thru & patterns look like, and certainly whether the lows hold on any subsequent retests. But it certainly appears they're likely to at least for the time being.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a free 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a free 30-day trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.