The stock market ended a nasty session near the lows for the day on the S&P 500 and just off them on the Nasdaq 100.

The day started out with a move down. They had a brief bounce and then a plunge. They gapped down twice on my 5-minute charts within a 15-minute span, which is indicative of strong distribution by institutions. They made lower lows, took out support on the NDX and sharply so on the SPX and by mid-afternoon were snapping back, went right to resistance, failed, and rolled over towards the close.

Net on the day the Dow was down 213.27 at 10,389.88, the S&P 500 down 21.56 at 1116.48, and the Nasdaq 100 off 17.38 at 1850.57.

Advance-declines were a little than 4 to 1 negative on New York and about 3 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was more than 6 to 1 negative on New York on increasing total volume of 1 1/2 billion. Nasdaq traded more than 2.8 billion and had a better than 2 to 1 negative volume ratio.

So very heavy volume as the indices broke to new 2010 lows today.

TheTechTrader.com board was nearly all negative in one of the weaker days we’ve seen. The ultrashorts led the way up, of course. The Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) gained 1.29 to 18.23, the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) 44 cents to 9.46, the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 88 cents to 16.79, and the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) 42 cents to 7.82.

The lone standout to the upside today on our board was junior petroleum favorite Brigham Exploration (BEXP), up 26 cents to 13.30.

Chinese stocks, in particular, got slam-dunked once again and are now at sharply lower levels from two weeks ago. A-Power Energy (APWR) fell 3.58 to 13.36 on nearly 13 milllion, China Agritech (CAGC) 3.36 to 30.04, China Automotive (CAAS) 1.43 to 18.41, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) 1.69 to 24.17, SmartHeat (HEAT) 1.94 to 14.25, RINO International (RINO) 1.47 to 22.58, Telestone Technologies (TSTC) 2.78 to 18.31, and Origin Agritech (SEED) 1.02 to 11.18.

Other stocks of note on the downside, Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) lost 1.18 to 27.92, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals (HITK) 1.33 to 23.94, and Revlon (REV) 1.27 to 15.92.

Among the ultralong ETFs, Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) dropped 6.13 to 77.34, and Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) 3.02 to 52.90.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices had a little firming action off the opening, and after that plunged sharply, reaching near 1843 on the NDX and 1115 on the SPX. 1115 is the next support level after the 1130 area broke, and the indices would do well to hold there tomorrow.

But the way they closed it looks like they’re headed lower and maybe sharply so. So fasten your seatbelts.

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