Thread: All Major Bull Rallies Begin With A Follow-Through Day

All Major Bull Rallies Begin With A Follow-Through Day
BY JONAH KERI

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

You hear it so much, it's almost become the naysayer's mantra: "You can't time the market."

Short and punchy? Sure. And also completely false. (So there, Az, NYAH! :P)

The market's price-and-volume action gives clear signs of the market's direction. A follow-through day gives you the biggest of head starts — timing the market's bottom.

A follow-through occurs at the earliest stages of a fledgling rally. After a significant market correction, the market will look to regain its footing. Any up day then counts as Day 1 of an attempted rally.

The next two sessions, Days 2 and 3, don't need to show much in the way of gains. As long as they don't undercut Day 1's low, the rally remains intact.

For a follow-through to occur, you want it to land between Day 4 and Day 7 of the attempted rally. On any one of those days, you're looking for one or more of the major indexes — the Nasdaq, S&P 500 or Dow — to rise 1.7% or more in higher volume than the previous day.

Though a follow-through in that span gives the strongest signal for a new rally, one that hits anywhere between Day 4 and Day 10 can work. Follow-throughs that occur after Day 10 yield lower success rates.

Though this method may seem esoteric at first, keep in mind it has decades of IBD research behind it.

To gear up for the next follow-through, study charts of past market bottoms. The Nasdaq flashed a follow-through in October 1998 which kicked off the final, furious stretch that carried stocks to huge gains.

Just remember: Not every follow-through triggers a huge, new bull market. But no raging bull has ever started without one.