The stock market indices ended slightly higher on the session, but it wasn't pretty, as most of the gains were had right at the opening in a big gap up. From there on they sold off sharply, bounced midday, and backed off in a 5-wave decline, ending at the session lows.

Net on the day, the Dow was up just 37.00 at 10,854.65, 170 points of the high. The S&P 500 edged up 0.29 at 1123.82, or 22 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 6.51 at 2044.73, or 40 points off its high.

Advance-declines were sharply higher in the morning, closing 360 issues negative by about 17 to 13 on the New York Stock Exchange, and negative by 14 to 1178 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume on New York, which was much higher in the morning, was 6 to 5 negative, with total volume of 1.75 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.4 billion, and had a 10 to 9 negative ratio.

It was a disappointing day, to say the least.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mixed. The ultra-shorts did great today. The VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) was up 3.73 to 63.67, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) up 2.55 to 71.47, and the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) 1.31 to 43.86.

There were some pockets of strengths. InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) jumped 1.66 to 64.64, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) 1.44 to 158.98, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) 1.42 to 50.07, and Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) 1.62 to 34.17.

On the downside, ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil (SCO) was down 2.11 to 59.49. Goldman Sachs (GS) got hammered for 5.25 to 106.51, which is a multi-year low for this stock, Brigham Exploration Co. (BEXP) lost 1.13 to 25.66, Global Crossing Ltd. (GLBC) 1.15 to 25.29, MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) 1.44 to 29.16, and VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC) 1.16 to 17.77. SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) dropped 3.47 to 34.47, violating key short-term support.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up sharply at the opening, but fell very hard to retest Friday’s lows before bouncing and taking back about 50% of the losses, only to give it back again, closing near the session lows.

It was a very negative way to start the week, closing right near support. The indices are vulnerable to a very sharp slide here.

Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

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