The indices managed to open slightly higher, but immediately went lower and followed through sharply to the downside. The Nasdaq 100 managed to drop from 1735 to 1699 in about an hour. The S&P 500 dropped from 1066 to 1048 in the same period of time, a sharp drop.

They did manage to snap back with about a 11-12 point jump in 20 minutes on the NDX and a 6-7 point pop on the SPX. However, resistance proved futile. They pulled back, retested the lows over the next 2-3 hours, then rallied in the afternoon but were unable to get substantially above key short-term intraday resistance, and then backed and filled into the close.

Net on the day the Dow was down 41.11 at 9707.44, up from the 9666 low. The S&P 500 was down 10.09 at 1058.78 with a 1045.89 low, and the Nasdaq 100 fell 14.51 at 1709.76, but was under 1699 at one point today.

Advance-declines were negative by more than 3 to 1 on New York and a like amount on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was the story today, with about a 7 to 1 negative ratio on New York on total volume of a little less than 1 1/3 billion. Nasdaq traded over 2 1/2 billion and had about a 6 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower with several point-plus losers. Leading the was the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS), which lost 4.63 to 80.08. The U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) dropped 1.16 to 33.97 as oil was weaker, American International Group (AIG) 1.71 to 45, and Morgan Stanley (MS) 1.30 to 30.73. OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (OGXI) gave back 2.40 today to close at 35.85.

On the plus side, the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) jumped 1.14 to 21.64, as the ultrashorts did well today. The Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) was up 76 cents to 21.91, the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) up 64 cents to 10.05, and the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) 67 cents to 12.29.

There were very few gainers on our board today. Helicos Biosciences (HLCS), however, did advance 29 cents to close at 2.72 on nearly 11 million traded.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, a sharp downside follow-through to yesterday’s late sell-off, resulted in an oversold condition that caused the indices to meander sideways and bounce around, although they did manage to battle back in the last couple hours to pare back the losses.

We’ll see if there’s additional downside follow-through, but the support levels to watch are 1699-1700 NDX and around the 1046-47 area SPX.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com.