The stock market indices started off narrowly mixed this week. They were very volatile and opened sharply lower, but had a fantastic recovery to “thwart the bears,” as they say. There were large gap downs at the opening, they bounced, and then lower lows were had. The indices rallied sharply to midday, consolidated, and rallied again in the early afternoon before consolidating again in the afternoon, but held out for the gains.

Net on the day, still the Dow was down 6.74 at 12,653.72, 124 points off the low. The S&P 500 was down 3.32 to 1313.01, 13 points off the low, and the Nasdaq 100 up 3.55 at 2425.32, 32 points off the low.

Advance-declines were better than 3 to 2 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 2 to 1 negative on declines over advances on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 5 to 2 negative on New York, with total volume of 731 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded about 1.6 billion shares and had a 9 to 7 negative volume ratio on declining volume over advancing volume.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was active, and there were quite a few gainers today. Leading the way, GTX Inc. (GTXI) jumped 1.94 to 5.88, or 49%; on 6.4 million shares. Low-priced FriendFinder Networks Inc. (FFN) was up 17 cents to 1.06, or 19%; Renren Inc. American Depositary (RENN) up 1.06 to 6.31, or 20%; Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMLN) 2.12 to 14.26, or 17 1/2%, on 21 million shares; Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. (SBSA) 93 cents to 7.08, or 15%; MELA Sciences, Inc. (MELA) 60 cents to 4.75, or 14 1/2%; low-priced Miller Petroleum, Inc. (MILL) 37 cents to 3.97, or 10%; and Sky-mobi Limited (MOBI) 24 cents to 3.95, or 6 1/2%.

Other gainers of note included Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (UBNT) up 1.86 to 24.42, KAR Auction Services (KAR) 66 cents to 14.15, Acco Brands Corp (ABD) 64 cents to 10.44, and Progress Software Corp (PRGS) 1.00 to 23.36.

In addition, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 5.73 to 453.01, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) up 2.04 to 192.50, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 1.64 to 125.43.

On the downside, there were quite a few losers on our board as well. First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) was down 1.74 to 43.80, Goldman Sachs (GS) down 2.04 to 109.73 in a generally weak financial group, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 1.12 to 42.12, Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (QCOR) 1.88 to 34.60 and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) 1.24 to 34.74.

There were also some point-plus losers in the ultra-longs. The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) lost 2.19 to 78.45, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) dropped 1.31 to 54.89.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped down sharply, and then bounced in the morning, consolidated midday, extended the gains in the afternoon, pulled back to test support, was successful, and in the last half hour they bounced once again to close firm on the session.

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