Are you a stock market bull or bear?

There is a third alternative -- the markets can consolidate -- trade sideways in indecision for several days, weeks, or months. Another term that we often use for this condition is range trading. As a swing trader, I like this trading environment because I can alternate trading both long and short.

This charts shows the Russell 2000 index futures for the past few weeks. It may be that since the Bollinger Bands and Bollinger MA have both gone flat, we may be heading into a period of range trading. Who knows for how long. In Philippe Cahen's book, he suggests that a Bollinger Band break-out, to be valid, must follow a period of flat bands (lasting at least 6 periods).

But look at the Klinger volume indicator and the welling going on in the lower subgraph!