Another day of selling ahead of the Fed as the Dow dropped 328 points on average volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 negative. The summation index is moving down. I would be remiss here if I didn't mention the summation index is getting closer to the zero line. That means there is an increased risk that the market simply starts to fall apart here. The summation index usually isn't anywhere near the zero line so the fact that we are getting close should not be ignored. It doesn't mean that the market will crash but the odds of it happening go up. The short term indicators for the S&P are trending sideways in oversold territory. Any bounces for the S&P that we've seen lately haven't gone anywhere. We also haven't seen any huge declines or panic selling yet. I am not looking to trade any SPY options the rest of this week. Gold dipped $13 on the futures. The US dollar was higher and interest rates continue to move up. The XAU and GDX finished little changed on light volume. They did come up from the lows of the session. My open order for the GDX September calls wasn't filled. I adjusted it but it still did not get hit. I'm leaving it out there to see what happens tomorrow morning. If GDX dips early on I will most likely buy some calls ahead of the Fed. If not I'll cancel the order and see what happens after the Fed announcement. The short term indicators for GDX are oversold so this is where I'd like to try the calls. That doesn't mean GDX will rise from here as it can stay oversold during down trends. But this is where we think it could be worth the risk with only three days left in the September option cycle so we will try and take on this idea. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was slightly higher today as the 200 day moving average continues to provide resistance. The short term indicators on the VIX are starting to move sideways. This indicator should get going one way or the other tomorrow after the Fed. Asia and Europe closed lower overnight. Wednesday should be an interesting session and I should be up for the challenge. We'll keep an eye out for any overnight news.