The stock market indices ended up on the session, but it was an interesting, volatile day. The indices opened lower to new pullback lows, testing key support around the 1310-12 zone on the S&P 500 and under 2300-2298 on the Nasdaq 100.

However, they then staged a 5-wave advance just before noon and reached the morning highs at that point. They pulled back in an orderly fashion over the next hour and a half to two hours, and then spiked up in the afternoon. With 45 minutes to go they reached their session highs near 2321.50 on the NDX and 1326 on the S&P 500. But in the last 45 minutes they sold off sharply and gave back a big chunk of the gains. Still, they ended up positive, but left a sour note for traders.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 38.45 at 12,394.66, the S&P 500 up 4.19 at 1320.47, and the Nasdaq 100 up 7.40 at 2310.95.

Advance-declines were nearly 2 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange and about 2 to 1 positive as well on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 3 to 2 positive on New York with total volume of about 935 million shares. Nasdaq traded just under 1.9 billion shares and had about a 13 to 5 positive ratio, or about 2 1/2 to 1.

TheTechTrader.com board had a very good day today. Leading the way today was Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. (QTWW) up 1.34 to 5.20, a 35% gain today. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSO), one of our trades today, gained 90 cents to 4.67, or 24%, on 5.8 million shares. Glu Mobile, Inc. (GLUU), another day trade of ours, was up 84 cents to 4.80, or 21%, on 8.8 million.

In addition, Zale Corporation (ZLC) advanced 81 cents to 5.23, LTX-Credence Corporation (LTXC) 1.23 to 9.03, and Carter’s, Inc. (CRI), a day trade of ours, 4.09 to 32.24. Ocz Technology Group Inc. (OCZ), another day trade of ours, jumped 84 cents to 7.80, USA Technologies Inc. (USAT) 24 cents to 2.37, HEICO Corp. (HEI) 4.94 to 54.71, Basic Energy Services, Inc. (BAS) 2.28 to 25.90, Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. (RPTP) 45 cents to 5.39, Avago Technologies Limited (AVGO) 2.79 to 34.50, and Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD) 1.58 to 20.05.

Among other gainers of note, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 4.59 to 336.78, Brigham Exploration Co. (BEXP) 1.29 to 30.37, LSB Industries Inc. (LXU) 1.20 to 46.90, MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) 1.35 to 33.00, and Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA), one of our swing trade positions, up 2.26 to 28.98.

On the downside, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) lost 1.64 to 59.03, SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 1.40 to 56.46, ServiceSource International, In (SREV 1.04 to 18.84, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 1.01 to 192.26.

Ultra-short ETFs obviously had a bad day today. The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) lost 1.48 to 36.80, the ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil (SCO) 1.45 to 43.81, and the ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) 1.29 to 16.73. That pulled way back from just over 24 a week ago.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down early, and then rallied back in stair-step fashion all day until the last 45 minutes when they rolled over on profit taking. Still, it was a positive day for the indices.

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