It was a huge monster rally today after the Fed announced it was pouring liquidity back into the banking system. The indices gapped up huge, as pre-market futures were sharply higher. After the initial gap up, they then went into an orderly & constructive retreat, which did about a 50% retracement of the gap. Mid-day they reversed, moved higher, and took out resistance. When that occurred, the indices accelerated, took out the morning highs, and then spiked up all afternoon, particularly strong in the last 15-20 minutes, closing at the highs for the day going away.

The Dow was up 416.60, the S&P 47 1/4, and the Nasdaq 100 nearly 68 points today. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 3 %, nearly 11. Even the OEX was up 22 points, a very big move!

The technicals were extremely strong, better than 5 to 1 on advances over declines on New York, and about 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume, however, was much better, about 9 to 1 positive on New York on a total there of just under 2 billion shares traded. Nasdaq traded very 2.4 billion and also had a 9 to 1 ratio.

So very positive technicals confirming the price advance today!

TheTechTrader.com board was nearly all higher today, with many multiple-point gainers. Leading the way once again was Dryships (DRYS), up 7.42 today. TBS International (TBSI) was up 4.34, and Excel Maritime (EXM) up 2.31 in the strong shipping group.

Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) gained 3.91 ,Chindex (CHDX) up 1.43, Converted Organics (COIN) up 1.39, Cepheid (CPHD) 1.96, Cree Inc. (CREE) 1.86, and Canadian Solar (CSIQ) 1.23 in a generally firm junior solar sector. Also in the group, Solarfun (SOLF) was up 63 cents, and JA Solar (JASO) 2.19.

Other multiple-point gainers included Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) up 1.56, China Finance Online (JRJC) up 1.60, Mercadolibre (MELI) 2.54, and Sigma Designs (SIGM) up 1.93.

The QQQQ up 1.57, and the SMH up 73 cents.

The financial services sector was very strong today as well, with WM up 1.84, MBI 1.37, and ABK up 44 cents.

Only a couple stocks on my board were down and by only very small fractions.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices completed 3-day mini head-and shoulders bottom type patterns, then exploded to the upside in the afternoon, taking out the necklines, declining moving averages and channel tops.

What we'll be looking for over the next day or two is a strong follow-up session, but it sure appears that an important short-term bottom was put in place today.

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.