Volatility was the name of the game today and the Dow finished with a loss of 179 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were slightly negative. The summation index is still moving higher. The NASDAQ led the way lower. The S&P 500 hit a new intra-day high early on and then fell 100 points. It made its way back to more than cut the losses in half by the close. The short term indicators there are still overbought but may be trying to roll over here. We'll have to see how the week closes. Gold dropped $40 on the futures. The US dollar was higher along with interest rates. The XAU lost 11 and GDX shed 2 1/4. Volume was good to the downside for the gold shares again. The short term indicators for GDX are back to heading down. I canceled my open order for the GDX May puts as it is already heading down and the ideal time for purchase has passed. This idea might still work but we are going to have to see some upside first for the gold shares before trying it. For now it appears to be another missed opportunity. Mentally I'm feeling tired. The VIX was a bit higher today which fits a down market. It did move above the 20 level today but made its way back below that level by the close. The short term indicators here are still oversold but not completely so and moving sideways. Not sure where the VIX is headed next but the daily candlestick chart looks like it wants to go lower. I am now looking at the SPY May puts but the premiums are still high with just over three weeks to go in the May option cycle. We will probably let tomorrow got by and take it from there. Asia was lower and Europe mixed last night. I'll keep an eye on this evenings headlines.