The bulls/bears scenario hasn't changed from Thursday. While the bulls failed to regain any former highs from earlier in the week, the 1670 level is still intact. However, intraday time frames favor the bears. Lower highs are forming. A false breakout Tuesday above 1710 isn't bullish. Thursday's reversal off of 1690 retested the opening resistance, only to fall into new lows into the close of the trading session. Some rumblings about triple witching are starting to surface. Gold talk is getting more attention from the local media here in Columbus, Ohio (finally!). Everyone talks inflation as gold rises. This tends to cause a little more consternation in trading.

All this favors the bears on the intraday time frame, but until 1635 breaks, the bulls still have a technical advantage.

I don't expect too much volatility Friday. The index could test 1670-75 again in the first half-hour. This would set the stage for more congestion in the afternoon. Should 1670 fail, chances for continuation are lower and the NDX would be likely to return to the former range, much like we saw on Tuesday when the false breakout occurred.

Any break of 1660-65 Friday would prove my bias wrong and demonstrate that the price-volume relationship is still giving me false signals. Next week, volume should be inconsistent and trading should begin to become more erratic. There are likely to be days of high volume followed by days of low volume as adjustments for year-end performance begin to come into play. This will continue to make indications cloudy.

Trade setups on the intraday time frame for the next few weeks should be entered with less capital risk as moves are likely to come out of nowhere. There might be a steady stream of potential; however, when risk outweighs that potential, trading becomes more akin to gambling. I will be monitoring volume mainly Friday and early next week to gain an appreciation for how aggressive or passive to be.