The indices had a decidedly negative session and may have reversed the recent uptrend. They still remain in the 4-week trading ranges, however, but are now below the mid-point and headed down toward maybe a test of the support levels near the bottom of those ranges, which if broken could trigger a substantial down move and complete a top formation. But that still remains to be seen.

The day started out with a big gap down. They did bounce to resistance and failed and immediately rolled over hard, reaching the morning lows. They bounced and took back about half the losses, but rolled over at resistance at 1790 NDX and 1103 SPX and set new lows by mid-day. Those were the session lows. They then bounced to retest the declining intraday channel top, but couldn’t get through key resistance at 1785-86 on the NDX and 1100-01 SPX.

They rolled over again in the last 15-20 minutes to close the indices solidly into negative territory. Net on the day the Dow was down 132.86 to 10308.26, the S&P 500 down 13.07 at 1096.11, and the Nasdaq 100 down 22.55 at 1778.27.

Advance-declines were nearly 3 to 1 negative on New York and 2 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was more than 7 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of nearly 1.6 billion. Nasdaq traded about 1.85 billion and had a 3 1/2 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower today. Financials led the way lower, with Goldman Sachs (GS) down 4.06 to 160.93, and JP Morgan (JPM) 1.09 to 40.27, a new 4 1/2-month low. As a result, the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) was down 3.18 to 68.86, and the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) 1.81 to 50.07.

Those were the only point-plus losers on our board.

Among fractional losers, many Chinese stocks got hit on some profit-taking today. China Agritech (CAGC) fell 82 cents to 28.36, AsiaInfo (ASIA) 57 cents to 30.38, China Automotive (CAAS) 59 cents to 19.72, SmartHeat (HEAT) 44 cents to 15.89, and RINO International (RINO) 77 cents to 27.97. In addition, Origin Agritech (SEED) gave back 45 cents to 10.89, and Vision Sciences (VISN) 57 cents to 11.08.

On the plus side, the star of the day was Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals (HITK), which gapped up and ran all day, closing up 3.08 at 26.52 on 1.8 million.

Sonic Solutions (SNIC) advanced 1.84 to 11.53, a new 2 year high. Portfolio position Sourcefire (FIRE) gained 36 cents to 25.86, reaching a new all-time high today at 26.06. A-Power Energy (APWR), at one point up more than 2 points, closed up 48 cents to 19.15, giving back a big chunk of its gains late in the session.

The Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) jumped 92 cents to 22.11, and closed at the high for the day going away. The Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) added 63 cents to 18.07, and the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) 34 cents to 10.91.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they gapped down, bounced and then went down hard, reaching the morning lows in the first half hour before bouncing, but rolled over to make new lows by mid session, holding near the 1096 level on the SPX and the 1777 area on the NDX before bouncing in the afternoon.

A late rollover, however, closed them near the session lows, very near them on the SPX and not far from them on the NDX. The intraday patterns appear to be quite negative and could lead to further downside tests. We’ll see what happens on options-expiration day tomorrow.

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