It was a very nasty day on Wall Street. I suspected that yesterday and that's why I went to cash. The market opened immediately lower, took out a mini head-and-shoulders pattern on the Nasdaq 100 and initial support on the S&P 500. After a steep slide in the morning the market bounced around for several hours in what apparently was a bear flag. The next leg began late in the session, with less than 45 minutes or so to go, when the market virtually collapsed and fell dramatically lower with the Dow down more than 90, the S&P 500 off 11 1/2, the Nasdaq Composite down 32 1/2 and the Nasdaq 100 almost 28.

A very negative day on the Street, and the technicals were negative as well. Advance-declines were 20 to 12 1/2 negative on New York and 21 to 10 negative on Nasdaq. But up/down volume was the story. Nasdaq volume was just under 2 billion, with almost 1.6 billion to the downside, or about a 4 to 1 negative plurality. Total volume on New York was a little more than 1 1/4 billion, with up/down volume about 3 1/2 to 1 negative.

TheTechTrader.com board was littered with losses, but there were a couple outstanding gainers. One of our recent Charts of the Week, CrytoLogic (CRYP), was up 1.02 today on an upgrade.

On the downside, Taser (TASR) was down 2.28, Alvarion (ALVR) down 1.68, and Parlux Fragrances (PARL) down 1.19. Those were the point-plus losers.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the minor nominal breakout on the S&P yesterday was not confirmed by the NDX. That resulted in today's rollover.

The Nasdaq closed just 2 points from yesterday's double-bottom at 1543, closing at 1545 and change, and so a major test is upon us. The S&P 500 is doing a little better, and is still substantially above last week's double-bottom, which is around the 1175-76, closing at around 1184 and change. So there's a long way to go there to confirm any new lows on the S&P.

Nonetheless, it was not a good session. After last week's losses, we were only able to have one good day yesterday before resuming the decline today, and a very key session tomorrow will determine the short-term trend.

Good trading!

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a FREE 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a Free 30-Day Trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.