The stock market indices had a topsy-turvy day, but in the end exploded into the close, and closed at the highs for the day going away.

The day started out with a little pop to the upside, but then the indices came down hard. The Nasdaq 100 dropped from 2220 to 2170, a 50-point decline, and the S&P 500 fell from 1148 to 1131. They snapped back to retest the highs, making nominal new highs on the S&P 500, but failing to do so on the NDX, with the NDX repelled by key resistance around the 2220 level. They pulled back in the afternoon and took back about two-thirds of the rally, but then held and made higher lows, and proceeded to rally in a strong wave in the last two hours closing at the session highs going away.

Net on the day, the Dow closed over 11,000 at 11,043.86, up 272.38. The S&P 500 closed up 26.52 at 1162.95, and the Nasdaq 100 up 27.42 at 2234.28.

Advance-declines were 3 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and a little less than 2 to 1 positive Nasdaq. Up/down volume, however, was about 8 1/2 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume of 1.5 billion shares traded today. Nasdaq traded 2 billion shares and had a 3 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but the vast majority of the stocks had a good day. Some of the gainers were Goldman Sachs (GS) up 3.96 to 99.14, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) up 5.17 to 174.51, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 2.86 to 132.22.

In addition,Youku.com Inc (YOKU) was up 1.48 to 18.89, Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (SIMO) 1.49 to 13.43, MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) 1.88 to 37.13, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) 1.48 to 71.72, and Brigham Exploration Co. (BEXP) 1.22 to 26.32.

Other gainers of note on our board were low-priced MELA Sciences, Inc. (MELA), up 1.75 to 4.93, or 55%, on over 10 million shares traded today on FDA news. Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (ZN) gained 72 cents to 2.39, or 43%, while Generac Holdings Inc. (GNRC), which we traded to day, was up 3.02 to 18.59. EnergySolutions, Inc (ES) rose 37 cents to 3.80, The Fresh Market, Inc. (TFM) 3.08 to 39.40, Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (CIE) 84 cents to 8.49, and American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO) 87 cents to 12.04.

Ultra-long Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) was up 1.97 to 36.69, and the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) up 1.14 to 11.67 with a nice percentage gain of 11%.

On the downside, the ultra-shorts got hammered with the VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) down 5.44 to 74.70, the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) 2.91 to 49.22, Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) 7.74 to 61.38, and the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 3.25 to 42.97.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down early, up late morning, back down in early afternoon to retest, and then they exploded in the last couple hours with big gains for the day today.

It was a strong gain for the indices today, and a nice way to start the week.

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