Anticipating the Sell-Off in SPY

by Mike Paulenoff
August 20, 2023 • 10:24 PM EDT
A week ago Friday, August 10, with SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF) trading at 446.05, Mike Paulenoff posted a chart commentary to MPTrader members indicating that his technical setup work on SPY was at a critical pattern inflection point.
Mike wrote:
"Based on today's action, I have come to the conclusion that the "orthodox low" of the decline from the 7/27 high (459.55)... ended at Tuesday's (8/08) low (445.27), and that an intervening counter-trend rally ended at today's (8/10) high (451.70), which leads me to conclude that a new downleg (has) STARTED ... Only a rally above 451.70 will invalidate its downtrend pattern that projects to 442.00-442.80 and thereafter, down to 437.00-437.40... Last in SPY is 446.05..."
During the subsequent 6 sessions into last Friday's August Option Expiration (8/18/23), SPY followed Mike's anticipated resumption of dominant downtrend weakness, slicing beneath his optimal target zone of 437.00-437.40 (see the SPY chart below), hitting an intraday low at 433.01, down 3% from Mike's August 10 alert.
Now that SPY has declined nearly 6% from its multi-month rally high from the October 2022 low to the July 2023 high, what's next? Is the correction over ahead of a period of strength, or still vulnerable to downside continuation? What will Mike's detailed pattern and momentum work indicate about the direction of SPY ahead of Friday's Jackson Hole speech from Fed Chairman Jay Powell? Most importantly, however, how will Mike's work aid our members in managing their expectations and gauging risk next week?
Login this week to join Mike and MPTrader members for their opportunistic intraday discussions about pattern development and the fundamental and macro factors that could prove consequential for SPY, as well as for many individual stocks, indices, sector ETFs, Commodities, FX, and Bitcoin.

Mike Paulenoff is the author of MPTrader.com, a real-time diary of his technical analysis & trade alerts
on
ETFs for precious metals, energy, currencies, and an array of equity indices and sectors, including
international
markets, plus key ETF component stocks in sectors like technology, mining, and banking.
Sign up for a Free 7-day Trial!
More Top Calls From Mike
Last Tuesday afternoon, hours before CAVA (Cava Group) was scheduled to report Earnings, this is what I posted for MPTrader members:CAVA reports Earnings after today's close. Approaching the news, CAVA is circling 61, a full 40% beneath its April 2026 high at 98.79, amid an unconfirmed new corrective low at 60.21 yesterday (8/10/26), leaving CAVA positioned for a "buy-the-news" setup (the opposite of a sell-the-news setup in a name that is up 30% to 40% approaching Earnings).
Good Sunday Afternoon, MPTraders! Last Thursday afternoon, ahead of AAPL's Earnings, this is what we discussed about the stock's probable price path in reaction to the news:Unless AAPL produces something extraordinary, or otherwise announces some unknown bullish catalyst, my pattern work has a very difficult time expecting anything other than a "best-case" sell-the-news scenario in reaction to Earnings. I can make a compelling argument that the upleg from the 6/26/26 low at 273.33 to the 7/29/26 ATH at 344.
XOM (Exxon Mobil)-- Back on May 19, 2026, a fellow MPTrader member requested an update on XOM. This is what we discussed at that time:My attached Daily Chart setup shows my preferred scenario calling for a near-term peak of the current upmove from the 4/17 low at 141.97 to a target zone from 162 to 165, followed by a rollover and press lower that revisits and possibly breaks the 41/7 low, which also will complete the larger corrective process from the 3/30/26 ATH at 176.41.
Pharma Update: MRK and LLYOn Wednesday (6/24/26), this is what we discussed about MRK:MRK as well, which we see on my attached Daily Chart exhbits a VERY BULLISH technical setup-- quite the opposite of beleaguered PFE. My pattern work argues that all of the price action from the 2/25/26 high at 125.14 represents a high-level bullish digestion period and pattern atop the major upleg from the May 2025 low at 73.31.
On January 2, 2026, this is what I posted about CAVA (Cava Group Casual Mediterranean Cuisine) to MPTrader members:After CAVA's meteoric climb from 29.00 in October 2023 to an ATH at 172.65 in November 2024, the stock rolled over into a relentless decline that hit its low at 43.