Let's look at the issues affecting the "too-big-to-fail" banks and their stocks.

Big banks have been getting bigger since Congress repealed the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, allowing banks to become financial services supermarkets.

The Glass-Steagall Act was enacted in 1933 following the Crash of 1929. It sought to resolve abuses that caused the stock market crash and began the Great Depression. During the eight years of economic boom that ended in a bust, the stock market became a bubble set to pop. Market manipulation and pump and dump schemes were the order of the day and law and order needed to be re-established.

Investigations revealed obvious fraudulent activities which were prevented from happening again in 1933 when Glass-Steagall became law. Oversimplified, banks would be banks taking deposits and making loans. Brokers would be brokers underwriting and selling securities.

Today, it would not be that difficult to separate these business functions once again. Each of the four "too big to fail" money center banks have huge businesses on both sides of the ledger.

For example, Bank of America (BAC) - Get Report could spin off Merrill Lynch. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) - Get Report could spin off Chase and Wells Fargo (WFC) - Get Report could separate Wells Fargo Advisors as Wachovia Advisors. Perhaps Citigroup (C) - Get Report could sell its securities operations to Morgan Stanley (MS) - Get Report .

Between 1933 and 1999 when Glass-Steagall was the law of the land, there were several financial dislocations, but nothing compared to the bubbles and popping bubbles that characterize the first 16 years of the new millennium.

During the Fox Business Republican debate on Tuesday, almost every candidate was either critical of the Federal Reserve or stated that they would not bail out any of the big banks. None mentioned a return to Glass Steagall.

Today the "too big to fail" money center banks remain "too big to fail," and under Federal Reserve guidelines and rules of Dodd-Frank these banks are saddled with the need to hold significantly more capital in reserves. Adding to this dilemma, the bigger the bank, the larger the assessments by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to build the Deposit Insurance Fund. Meanwhile, the Volcker Rule puts a limit on proprietary trading.

These financial handcuffs have stifled the reasons banks are in business: to borrow from savers, to make industrial loans to businesses big and small, and to make real estate loans to community developers and homebuilders, and mortgage loans to homeowners.

Deposit Insurance Fund are the dollars available to protect insured deposits. These monies are funded by all FDIC-insured institutions via annual assessments. The second-quarter 2015 gain of 3.5% to $67.6 billion has the FDIC well on its way to satisfy the regulatory guidelines, which is to have the fund at 1.35% of insured deposits by Sept. 20, 2020. At the current level of insured deposits, the DIF would have at $85.7 billion, so there is still work to do.

Insured Deposits were up 0.1% in the second quarter of 2015 to $6.35 trillion, and are up 48% since the end of 2007. The growth can be attributed to the rise in deposit insurance guarantees to $250,000 from $100,000, which occurred during the height of the credit crisis.

Here are the weekly charts and trading guidelines for the four "too-big-to-fail" money center banks.

Here's the weekly chart for Bank of America (BAC) - Get Report .


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Bank of America had a close of $17.75 on Wednesday, up 13.9% so far in the fourth quarter and down 0.8% year to date.

The weekly chart is positive, with the stock above its key weekly moving average of $16.83 and above its 200-week simple moving average of $13.68. The weekly momentum reading is projected to rise to 61.41, up from 50.54 on Nov. 6. Momentum scales from 0 to 100, with a reading below 20 indicating the stock is oversold and a reading above 80 indicating it's overbought.

Investors looking to reduce holdings should place a good till canceled limit order to sell the stock if it rises to $18.79, which is a key level on technical charts until the end of 2015.

Here's the weekly chart for Citigroup (C) - Get Report .


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Citigroup had a close of $54.90 on Wednesday, up 10.7% so far in the fourth quarter and up 1.5% year to date.

The weekly chart is positive, with the stock above its key weekly moving average of $53.58 and above its 200-week simple moving average of $45.93. The weekly momentum reading is projected to rise to 55.41 this week, up from 47.10 on Nov. 6.

Investors looking to reduce holdings should place a good till canceled limit order to sell the stock if it rises to $65.98, which is a key level on technical charts until the end of 2015.

Here's the weekly chart for JPMorgan Chase (JPM) - Get Report .


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JPMorgan had a close of $67.35 on Wednesday, up 10.5% so far in the fourth quarter and up 7.6% year to date.

The weekly chart is positive, with the stock above its key weekly moving average of $64.88 and above its 200-week simple moving average of $53.05. Note that the flash crash low of $50.07 was briefly below JPMorgan's pre-Crash of 2008 high of $53.24, and below the 200-week simple moving average, then at $51.39. The weekly momentum reading is projected to rise this week to 74.96, up from 69.61, set on Nov. 6.

Investors looking to reduce holdings should place a good till canceled limit order to sell the stock if it rises to $70.51, which is a key level on technical charts until the end of 2015.

Here's the weekly chart for Wells Fargo (WFC) - Get Report .


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Wells Fargo had a close of $55.80 on Wednesday, up 9.1% so far in the fourth quarter and up 1.8% year to date.

The weekly chart is positive, with the stock above its key weekly moving average of $54.26 and well above its 200-week simple moving average of $44.42. The weekly momentum reading is projected to rise to 63.41, up from 55.54, set on Nov. 6.

Investors looking to reduce holdings should place a good till canceled limit order to sell the stock if it rises to $62.62, which is a key level on technical charts until the end of 2015.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.