Not as volatile today as the Dow fell 24 points on heavy volume.  The advance/declines were over 2 to 1 positive though, as the overall market was stronger than the Dow.  Trying to find a bottom for now in my opinion.  The summation index may start to turn back up here.  The short term technicals are trying to turn around as well.  I'm looking at the November OEX calls now for the next trade.  The other choice is to wait for a return to the newly formed down trend line and then buy some puts.  Not exactly sure which to do.  We'll let the expiration happen tomorrow and go from there.  GE was flat on the session and the volume was heavy.  The earnings out tomorrow will be the driver perhaps for the overall market as well.  No idea what to expect there.  Gold was off a few bucks on the futures as the US dollar finished the day basically unchanged.  The XAU was flat as well.  ABX and GG were up 1/4, while NEM was flat.  Volume was average.  The gold shares haven't moved up with gold and that isn't bullish.  No trades here for now.  Mentally I'm still kicking myself for yesterdays lousy trade execution.  But it doesn't matter now.  You've got to keep moving forward in this game.  It isn't always easy to do.  The battle is always against yourself.  I'll try and do better the next trade.  The markets really don't care about you.  But you have to care about yourself.  I'm expecting some near term upside once we get through the expiration tomorrow.  The technicals point to that.  However the option premiums for November are high due to the recent volatility and the extra week in the cycle.  So I'll probably tread lightly.  Gold has found mild interest here but not the gold shares.  Earnings due there at the end of this month.  I can't think that there will be any good news there but who knows?  We'll see if the overseas markets can put a halt to their free fall tonight and brace for option expiration tomorrow.