Trading The Close | July 20, 2026

[music]
>> Hello everybody. Welcome to Trading the
Close, guys. Welcome back from the
weekend. Markets are back open, but for
I swear about first 10 to 20 minutes of
the day, I had to double-check and make
sure the markets actually were open. We
had a lighter volume day today, which
did keep the markets afloat for most of
the general markets, but the spiders
came back in and actually all the
markets came back in after gapping up.
So, this is an unusual story. Lighter
volume generally leads to upside bias,
but not today with lighter volume as a
lot of people and investors are
anticipating big earnings this week. We
got big tech earnings coming from
Google, Tesla, Intel, GE, V also
reporting earnings this week. So, all
the focus is going to be on those
earnings reports. That's why a lot of
investors sat on the sidelines today
waiting to put capital at play later
this week. Plus, we've got the FOMC next
week, guys. So, we got a lot of earnings
this week, plus earnings next week and
the FOMC. A lot of stuff to report on.
Before we do that, let's jump into the
S&P 500. Plus, we've got some other
stocks reporting earnings in the show
today that we're going to cover coming
up later this week. All right, so let's
get into some charts so we can get over
everything with you guys. S&P 500, as
we've said, did actually decline most of
the day today. Had a nice gap up, but
curious to where everything finished,
guys. We've been focusing on this wedge
pattern on the S&P 500 over the last
couple weeks when price did elevate back
above this declining trend line, but we
see from Friday's price action closing
underneath and today attempting to get
back above that trend line, rejected,
guys. Putting the close curiously very
close to where Friday's close was. A
little bit lower as we did finish in the
red, but guys, this is not a good sign
for the bulls out there wanting to
continue the momentum, stay on top of
that declining trend line. We'll have a
battle there again tomorrow potentially
at $746.63.
Otherwise, this bottom can be broken and
let loose if we do put in a close
underneath this July 8th low at 739.51.
That will open the door for this trend
line to be tagged for support at 732.47.
So, curious last couple days of closing
action on the S&P 500. You can see in
the intraday price action, we were rosy
starting the day all the way up here at
9:30 this morning, then we just
gradually dropped down, took a stair
step down, and another stair step down,
and then another stair step down to find
ourselves closing where we did that the
end of the day. Interesting selling
pressure, not violent, but consistent
throughout the day.
Next up into the QQQ, which is the
NASDAQ 100, also coming down tagging the
upper range of resistance today here at
704.32, piercing it, and then closing
the day back on support right here at
695.31.
You can see though what's interesting
about the Qs, as well as what we'll see
on the SMH, both Friday's close and
today's close is literally right in
line. We just simply went below and went
above today and then just finished the
day right in line on this level of
support. Now, if this does break with
the coming pending earnings reports,
next support's all the way down here
guys at 674.90
on the QQQ. And mind you, there's not a
lot of support pivots in this range.
This could be a quick speed bump before
we start going lower on the charts. It
gets very dangerous whenever we don't
have nice stair step patterns, a
definite level of buyers supporting a
range. When we just march straight up a
chart, when that starts to unwind, it
can become a very slippery slope on the
move down. So, just be mindful of that.
Next up into the SMH. Also, like I said
on the Qs, closing right where we closed
here on Friday. Now, we did remain
positive up 0.41% and SMH is the leading
indicator, so go by that for the day. It
did remain positive, good for it, but
notice it did get rejected by this
neckline of the head and shoulders
pattern. So, right now, that part is
still playing its role as resistance.
Tomorrow, that level is $573.83.
Now, we did get a confirming close when
we did break down. You notice this
Thursday closed under that neckline,
Friday confirmed, so that should be
resistance today. The more that we
hammer that level, this neckline, the
likelihood that we could start going up
and going higher. But, for today,
closing near the lows of the candle at
least clears the path for tomorrow,
providing strong resistance on this
neckline. Would be surprised to see it
break through intraday, unless we had
some really good news. Uh near-term
support 552.66.
That was minor support, followed by the
top of this old parallel channel at
$540.36.
Next up, uh the 10-year yield. This is
part of the reason the mar- markets were
under a little bit of pressure today.
You can see it pushed up nicely up to
4.594%.
We get into the hourly time frame. We
did had a have a little bit of dip on
the first half of the day, and then we
just rose right back up basically all
day long. Now, keep in mind, these
aren't the same hours as market hours.
When we had this dip, that was at 7:00
a.m. before the markets open Eastern
time at 9:30. Notice when the markets
did open here at 9:00, we were already
pushing up on this hourly chart of the
10-year yield. So, interesting push
here, not breaking down by any means on
top of this declining trend line. Next
resistance, 4.687%.
Next up into gold. Now, gold really kind
of took a day off today, down 0.25%.
Still down near the low range of its
chart. Now trading, most importantly,
beneath this low pivot at $4,098.
Remaining under here will only increase
probabilities of price action coming
down, tagging the next level of support,
$3,886,
followed by $3,450.
What I anticipate to be the golden honey
pot of potentially picking up some
physical silver if we do get some stout
selling pressure in the near future.
Similar story here with silver. It did
have a positive day, but it's still
stuck down here in the low range of
price action. It has not cleanly broken
this declining trend line, one that
we've been pointing out for the past
several weeks. We need to get price
action above that declining trend line
before we can start talking about any
new bullish patterns developing on the
chart of silver. A breakdown underneath
the current level of support, which is
really close, will then lead silver
coming down to $49.80.
Current level of support right here on
that trend line at $55.80
on silver. Next up into oil. Now, oil
had some volatility today, guys, and
really, you could almost argue this is
where all the volatility was in the
stock market because, as you saw in the
spiders, it was just a slow, gradual
float and decline down on the charts,
but oil, look at the wicks on the top
and the bottom of this daily candle
today. You could almost think that we
had major news developing, whether we
were going to end the war or increase
the hostilities over there in the Middle
East, and it sounds like it's a little
bit of both that happened today. We had
Iran come out saying that they were
interested, at least reporting from the
Wall Street Journal, that they were
interested in potential negotiation
talks, but then that's not necessarily
the narrative or the physical action
that's taking place over there as
conflict is still
very heavy and very dangerous at the
moment. What's interesting though about
the price action today, we gapped up
overnight on Sunday and then we came
down, actually pierced this level of
previous resistance, which is why I left
it on the chart. We didn't confirm above
this level, but yet this level of
resistance coming from the bottom
flipped and already acted as support.
Look at all of these hourly candles
right on top of that level before
accelerating up towards the latter part
of the day. Now, so for near term, this
level of previous resistance is now
doing its job as support, telling me the
next resistance at 8575
is within its own target right here. So
I intend US oil with the discussions and
everything going on there in the Middle
East, we likely are going to be
continuing marching up this chart. Next
stop 8575. Notice too when I draw this
declining trend line out, this is from
the pivot high all the way back in April
7th, how that level is just beyond 8577
could be hit nearer if we do break
through, say tomorrow, but if we meander
up there in the coming days, we actually
converge with that declining trend line
reinforcing the strength of that 8575
dollar level. And that date comes over
here on August 3rd. So we'll see if
we'll hit that before August 3rd. Next
up into nat gas, very weak performance
today, guys. You can see here very
different change in character, too. Look
at all of these previous six trading
days on nat gas, all of which developed
wicks at the bottom range, showing that
investors were buying up every one of
these sell action candles, today. Looks
like that buyer has stepped aside,
allowing price to settle in near the low
range. Now, it's not the end of the
story for nat gas. We've got another
level of support at $2.75,
but if we do break beneath this low
pivot from April 24th, then we're
talking about going lower on nat gas.
Right now we still have an inverse head
and shoulders pattern that is trying to
work out. The right shoulder does not
look symmetrical with the left, but in
essence, it is still trying to maintain
that pattern, and it can do so by
getting itself up to this declining
trend line as fast as possible. That's a
$3.30
for Nat Gas. Next up, Bitcoin actually
had a decent day today, up almost 1%,
but look what happened over the weekend,
guys. Here was Friday's close. Here was
Saturday's close in the parallel
channel, and then today looks like we're
about to confirm back within that
parallel channel. That would be a daily
close above the high here at $64,827.
That would then make this lower range
support, which looks like it's already
acting like that today with the pierce
down underneath the parallel and rocket
ship right back up. So, near-term
support can be found here $64,265.
Next resistance, this pivot high at
$67,277,
followed by $71,500
on the chart of Bitcoin. We'll see if
we'll have a confirming move by the end
of the day today. Otherwise, it could
just be waiting to kick the can into
tomorrow to confirm. Again, got to close
under over this July 18th high candle in
order to for it to confirm. Now, next
up, SpaceX, guys. Now, I've been
refraining from bringing SpaceX up
during the show because, guys, we cover
technical analysis on these charts.
There's not much technical analysis to
go over with SpaceX. There's just not a
lot of data. All there is is just
potential revenue targets, but nothing
really showing us where a lot of
investors are sticking their money with
major candles and or patterns on the
chart. So, let's just look at this
chart, see what's going on with SpaceX
so we can at least near-term try to
determine what's going on with this
chart. So, near-term, let's draw I've
got one trend line. You can see this
from the initial
IPO. Now, it did pre-IPO at 135, but
whenever charts started displaying
patterns, this is the price action at
IPO at 149.34 or at least listing
enabling the another investors to get
their hands on that stock. Now, what
I've done is I'm going to develop two
different trend lines. I'm going to draw
a declining trend line from pivot top
connected over to another major pivot
that we have right here. And then the
second trend line that I'm going to
draw, I'm going to find this July 1st
pivot low. And then I'm going to draw
that over to this July 13th pivot low.
You can see we had a series of pivot
lows when we're coming down on the
chart. I'm going to connect that as you
can see as clean as I can to the bottom.
And now I have two declining trend lines
both painting a picture for me. This top
one, this top declining trend line,
notice how price action actually got
above it here on July 15th and since
then has remained above that declining
trend line. Now, yes, we're continuing
to decline, but we are catching support
on the bottom of this declining trend
line each single day. So, for tomorrow,
that's going to be $114.60. Now, this
other trend line, as you can see,
designates
a near-term breakdown with yesterday's
and today's price action selling beneath
this declining trend line. That then in
turn tomorrow leaves that declining
trend line as resistance at $121.
and $29. Getting above that will then
open the door for upside movements on
SpaceX, one of which I see price coming
right here to this horizontal trend line
at $149.34
before then making a decision on which
way to go, either break up or start
beginning getting rejected again and
falling back down on the chart. So, I've
got three trend lines at least guiding
me towards a near-term price target. But
guys, this is a nasty sell time count
the works falling down on the chart
should be due for a technical bounce uh
rather than later.
Uh next up, GM guys, reporting earnings
tomorrow morning. So, before the bell,
you likely are going to see some price
action uh volatility on this stock. In
which case, recognize GM has been in an
inclining parallel channel ever since
the COVID lows, guys. Most recently, we
have breached to the top, but both
occasions have been failed breakout
attempts. So, that tells me tomorrow,
should we start moving up on the chart
of GM, major level to watch is at $82
and $0.23. Likely will be resistance,
too. And if we breach that, we have this
other declining trend line to pay
attention to. If you're day trading it,
likely will be putting on the brakes for
GM up at $84. Now, notice on the
downside, we have this inclining trend
line that is really holding on price by
the a thread. We're right on the edge of
a cliff, potentially breaking down to
head lower. Now, there will be a pit
stop if we do break this trend line at
the low of this candle on May 19th at
$70 and $0.43. However, if that breaks,
this level of support, $68.86,
is the next key fib level of support
that likely will provide a decent bounce
coming back to test the low range of
these candles at $74.33.
Interesting to find out though tomorrow,
tomorrow morning with earnings report
coming out, should have some volatility
on GM. GEV does report earnings this
week, also. They do so Wednesday uh
before the bell opens. And you notice
with GEV, guys, look back on this chart.
It's just been up, up, and away
literally since the creation. Main
reason GEV is being utilized as one of
the power sources and companies
providing power source and you and parts
for these power uh sources uh for these
AI data center buildouts. This has been
a very major big winner for GEV. So,
what I've done on this chart, I
developed an inclining parallel channel,
but I did so not at the origin of this
chart. I did so after a nice bull flag
pattern developed on uh on the chart for
the major part of 2025. You can see all
of that consolidation and then we lifted
off. That's where I started my parallel
highlighting near-term potential price
support and resistance levels. Now, to
the downside, it's pretty clear. We've
got this low pivot from the other day,
July 17th, all the way down here under a
thousand and 982. Now, should that
breach, this low range of the parallel
at 940 will be solid level of support.
Notice how that corresponds with a gap
fill as well. Now, to the upside, we do
have resistance here at the 50% area of
the parallel, but that is very, very
close, $1,125.
Should we get a good report on GE V? I
anticipate this to pierce this range,
find resistance at this previous gap
fill at $1,152,
just slightly above that 50% area and
likely will hold price down so that it
can
at least base to potentially go higher
in the top 50% of that parallel. Next
up, Tesla. On the other side of the
coin, hanging on by a thread. Now, Tesla
does reappoint report earnings after the
market on Wednesday, but look at this
inclining trendline. One hit, two hits,
three hits, nearly in a straight line
two and selling pressure picking up
after hours, telling you investors are
being more cautious running into
earnings, hitting that sell button. Now,
next level of support tomorrow will be
on this declining trendline at 360 and
39 cents. Well, we have to re-evaluate
if we do close underneath this inclining
trendline before earnings or if we
manage to get saved tomorrow and get a
little bounce before earnings. But,
upside resistance will be at this
declining trendline if price stays above
this inclining trendline. That level
here is at 408 and 25 cents. Lastly,
guys, into Google, which Google also
does report earnings this week,
Wednesday after the bell and you can see
Google's been forming somewhat of an
interesting inverse head and shoulders
pattern that was rejected quite stiffly
last week on Thursday right here on this
neckline which is this declining trend
line. So, from the bounce that's
occurred here on Friday, we've done a
great job pushing back up but the big
wick selling pressure on the top into
the daily candle is very similar to what
I just saw over on the Tesla chart. We
didn't have a big wick but we had
selling pressure going into the end of
the day. Again, investors being safer
rather than sorry exiting some of their
position with Google before the earnings
report coming later this week. Uh
near-term support 50% area of the
parallel channel. That's going to be a
336 and 44 cents. Near-term resistance
this declining trend line at 371 and 32
cents. All right, guys. Thanks so much
for watching tuning in today. Don't
forget to like and subscribe to the
video. Send this out to your friends and
family so they too can learn technical
analysis on the charts. We had big mega
caps to go over today, earnings reports
today and viewer requests that we went
over today. Thank you Raheem for
mentioning Google. I told you I was
going to get it on the show we made sure
to do so. Google is such a big stock.
This should be a very interesting
earnings report this week and which
we'll cover, too, later on as well.
Thank you again for watching, guys. I
look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow
same time 4:20. Until then, we'll see
you right here on the charts, guys. Take
care, folks.