Correction day 32: No Capitulation But bottoming Conditions Clearly Forming

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Karl Peak

Thanks, Sam, for this summary.

I also find the situation strange with the VIX and the significant decline in certain stocks like CL2, LQQ, NVIDIA, PAYPAL…

I agree with you about the $100 support for NVIDIA; I’ve been talking about it for a while! 🙂

Is it possible to continue to see a dip before the imminent rebound in 10-15 days, according to the statistical table of correction and rally days, or a rebound starting on April 15th?

Since it seems complicated to see NVIDIA back at these $90-$100 levels, will you be hitting the BUY button on NVDL and NVIDIA?

Strong catalysts in May to come (quarterly earnings release and conference in Taiwan) and perhaps other good news like the Arizona factory and strong demand for NVIDIA chips for the AI ​​and robotics sectors.

I would also like to take this opportunity to ask for your analysis on copper, particularly Freeport McMoran and Future Copper Leverage 2 or 3.

Karl Peak

Sam ?

Richard Holtz

Sam, Yesterday you said that if QQQ hits 450 this morning, it would probably rally from there. Do you still think we will rally today if QQQ gets down to 450?

First Name

Thanks Sam, where do we go from here? Still tracking $520 in April?

Chris Lin

I recognize your satire

Kareem El-Gohary

I recognize frustration and emotion, and I think disagreeing or pushing back against the thesis can actually be constructive and productive. But comments like this (and many others) aren’t really productive for anyone. We are lucky to even have a resource to turn to and learn from with these daily briefings. We have to accept that there are risks with these trades along the way

Chris Lin

There is a lot to be learned of the technicals, something I’m fascinated by and yes Sam made some great calls but not to challenge the idea that nothing is different at all this time when clearly they are different does no one any favors. The QQQ isn’t collateral damage here- I’d say it was the target itself. What’s under assault isn’t just the tech sector, it’s the entire model of globalization that made QQQ what it is. AAPL’s margins are under siege, Nvdia’s supply chain is compromised (and kind of looks like Trump is inviting Taiwan to get invaded). This is about sovereignity, tariffs and control. The QQQ has become a symbol of everything that thrived under the old order. That’s why it’s being broken. I’m not frustrated, I’m flummoxed why it’s not being more widely acknowledged.

malveen chew

The QQQ is at a 33.7 RSI right now. So we’re not quite at the oversold line, but we’re getting there.

Roughly how much more points down in the qqq to get to 30rsi on the daily?

First Name

~$450 we should see it already 32 on the daily, 29 on the hourly

Alex Klap

Hi Sam,

what is your take on the current administration’s continued effect on the stock market? It seems like every time we have some sort of anticipated rally starting up, the admin comes up with something new that drives the market lower. The trade war is likely to escalate with reciprocal tariffs from all over the world and the admin will respond in kind as well. This seems to be throwing a wrench in our strategies over and over.

Florian

Thank you for being patient with us! I guess people are worried since this correction unfolded in a way where it just didn’t really follow the „average“ course as you laid it out during the last 3 weeks. Which is obviously not to be expected.
Since I followed you I was always impressed by the accuracy of your predictions, but it’s obviously foolish to expect that all the time. I definite learned a lot the last weeks.

Chris Lin

people are worried because they are far poorer than they were 30 days ago

Jesse Bacorro

I’m definitely envious of people who joined back in August and september when those played out exactly as Sam outlined.

The strategy works in a sane market.

Honestly, it’s Stark that hurts the most lol. Still in its early stages and unable to hedge, it’s taking the hardest beating amongst all the LT portfolios.

Chris Lin

Tariffs aren’t a lagging indicator — they are an instant, irreversible profit margin guillotine. A single executive order can alter EPS forecasts by billions overnight.
This isn’t inflation slowly ticking higher — it’s a 54% toll levied on the global supply web. Market “boredom” may come — but not before significant structural damage is priced in

Florian

This has got to be one of the largest (%wise) and longest(timewise) drops without a proper rebound now right?

Florian

Hey Sam, thank you! And all those occasions had smaller than post 30 RSI usual rebounds as well? I guess that’s what I was wondering about.

First Name

I’m still curious if V shaped recovery is off the table?

Chris Lin

I’m going to have to go against you on this, Sam. Covid was a black swan — not a policy choice; 2022 was rate-induced — eventually rates plateaued and 2018 was a Fed misstep — reversed by Powell pivot… What we see here IS DIFFERENT BECAUSE:

  • The catalyst (tariffs) is not based on data — it’s unilateral, impulsive, and expanding.
  • Automatic mean reversion? — you can’t chart your way out of a supply chain realignment
  • Rebounds from those corrections were aided by the fed or fiscal rescue — who will rescue tech from 54% tariffs?

you write: “the bottoms of those correction all FOLLOWED the same exact rules”

Trump says: “But those rules were forged in the era of globalization. That era is ending. And I’m making sure of it.”

of course, I hope you’re right with your predictions. We all kind of depend on it.

First Name

Chris, what did you do differently in managing your portfolio during this period?

Chris Lin

Followed the same trades you all did. But I was also highly skeptical of the often used phrase, “it’s not that different, at all.” Slowly, Sam has been sprinkling in subtle hints that it is indeed different in his commentaries and it’s not just market cycles doing what they do. So tell me, with the points I’ve raised are they wrong?

First Name

No, I just question why, if you know so much that leads you to another conclusion, why you would enter/exit positions following Sam thesis.

Chris Lin

I am just now, seriously questioning it. Before yesterday I’d say his thesis was still somewhat intact. Yesterday changed all fundamentals, and quite irreversible and the fact he won’t acknowledge it is shocking.

Tevfik Gezgin

Sam and Chris – many thanks to both of you; I think this entire thread was a great discussion and I learned a lot. Please keep it going as you see fit.

my perspective / question – I haven’t seen a correction of this size where we haven’t hit a 30+ VIX in the past. my conclusion of this – sell off is very orderly and makes me think this is a result of a shifting baseline (vs. cycle) hence a bit worried of not rebounding quickly as per technicals. do you have a take on why we wouldn’t hit much higher vix quickly?

having said above, I also believe baseline shift in the other direction is also very easy (trump saying we negotiated great trade deals and most of the tariffs are lifted now) so a really tough place to be.

Chris Lin

Thanks, for the record I greatly respect Sam as a person who curiously followed his reddit posts last year and didn’t hesitate to sign up here. He has his technicals down cold, no denying it.

As for your perspective/question…

This. Is exactly what I am saying.

This is a shift in the baseline.

The old rules assumed margin expansion, peace through trade, and liquidity backstops. Now, none of those assumptions hold.

(Additionally, have you seen what China has been doing lately? Those QQQ puts will be valuable as hell when Xi decides to really act. He doesn’t look like he’s playing around.)

And, you’re exactly right — the VIX is low because this isn’t panic-driven selling, it’s an orderly re-pricing of fundamentals due to structural policy shifts. That’s more dangerous than fear, because it means the market is adjusting, not reacting. And when VIX finally does spike, it won’t be from panic — it’ll be from the moment the crowd realizes this isn’t going back to normal.

I personally believe we are in the in-between now.

Trump could reverse course with a tweet, say tariffs are “under review,” and ignite a +6% rally.

This is what makes trading this environment uniquely treacherous — you are not trading charts, you are trading power.
Geopolitical power. Executive decree. Unilateral resets of market reality.

Just my opinion.

Chris Lin

Sam — I respect your conviction and clarity in laying out your expectations. You see a 12–15% rally back to $515–520 as the natural mirror of the drawdown, following the same script as past corrections.
But here’s where I go against you: 

this isn’t just a correction — it’s a repricing event born from a structural change. That’s why I’m more skeptical, and have put-spreads in place of anymore downside.

Covid was a shock. 2022 was about rates. 2018 was policy miscommunication. All those events had one thing in common: the market bounced because the conditions that caused the fall were either reversed or managed — Powell pivoted, inflation stabilized, or the shock faded.

This time, the damage is policy-driven, intentional, and expanding.

We’re not just facing a drawdown. We’re facing a dismantling of the very framework that let mega-cap tech — the QQQ — dominate. Apple’s margins aren’t simply under pressure; they’ve been gutted. NVIDIA’s manufacturing chain, once invisible and efficient, is now vulnerable and taxed. This isn’t sentiment. It’s reality. And we don’t yet know where the bottom of that repricing lies.

As for what I expect? A bounce will probably come (it certainly does happen even in the worst drawdowns). But if it does, it’ll be weak, short, and sold into. I don’t expect a classic V-shape recovery. I expect a jagged floor, retests, and ultimately — lower prices. Not because of technical exhaustion, but because the macro foundation has cracked, and there’s no monetary or fiscal cavalry riding in.

My conclusion?

This isn’t 2018. This isn’t 2022.

It’s something new. It was plainly laid out yesterday. The new model is irreversible. I also expect more isolationism, and like I said earlier an ever expanding, possibly never-ending trade war…

You aren’t wrong about your method; I believe you are applying it in a moment that may have outgrown the method.

You may be right — and I genuinely hope you are — but if you’re wrong, the consequences will stretch well beyond a missed trade.

Chris Lin

You also might have noticed some regular commentators aren’t on here anymore. They don’t trust the thesis, because Sam is discounting the unilateral executive policy completely severing all trade that is crucial to growth.

Florian

I mean I could totally see us after a big rally in 30 days and looking back at this and wondering how concerned we were. I can’t see it right now but how could I with sentiment the way it is right now. Emotions right now seem to really get the better of some of us here. I mean all the LT Portfolios are fine, the Trading Portfolios were always risky and if we get a good rally it could recover a fair bit of the losses so far.

Sam has got a lot of experience so I do have trust in what he is communicating here. But of course no one is infallible and in the end we are responsible for our decisions here.

Chris Lin

The global tidal wave of blood isn’t sentiment-driven, although it’s undeniably a factor. The entire supply-chain that has generated good EPS for the QQQ has been under a controlled demolition. And factors not even priced-in are retaliation and expanding the tariffs. Recall 1999 and 2007 crashes didn’t start with explosions, they started with dismissals. And I really, really hope to be completely wrong.

Todd

This website is “Sam Weiss” buddy. Probably best to take an exit if you disagree so much instead of being “that guy” with the spamming like it’s the comment section of MarketWatch.

Mr. Meow

Hahahahaha, I love the comment section of MarketWatch. Bring the popcorn.

Chris Lin

Nope, I’m a paying subscriber and I’ll have to bring up relevant salient points if the spirit moves me to do so.

Jesse Bacorro

You make good points in your other comment, Chris, but I think this one is uncalled for. No need to bring up that others don’t trust the thesis. You’re now just attacking Sam, even though Sam has been very consistent with his strategy by following the data.

The strategy is based on data, and we have to trust the data if we are to follow the strategy. If you don’t trust the strategy, that’s fine.

Let’s continue to discuss the flaws of the strategy without attacking people.

Chris Lin

The data-driven thesis is under the old, defunct model. That’s what I’m trying to tell everyone here but for some reason, even with the proof locked in hardened concrete no one agrees.

Chris Lin

Sam — I appreciate the clarity of your challenge, and I’ll give you a clear answer.
I’m not saying a bounce can’t happen. In fact, it probably will as I said in the previous answer. Even bear markets bounce — sometimes violently. So yes, I expect a possible short-term rebound of 7–10%, maybe more if short covering kicks in. That’s not a contradiction — that’s acknowledging how markets breathe under pressure.

But here’s the key difference:

I don’t believe that bounce is the beginning of the end of this correction. I believe it’s a pause before a deeper repricing.

You’re framing this entirely through the lens of past RSI behavior and percent drawdown data. I’m saying that lens may no longer be sufficient.

That’s not a rejection of technical analysis — it’s a recognition that the regime generating those signals has changed.
This isn’t a valuation correction. It’s not rate-related. It’s not fear-driven.

This is a structural, intentional, policy-driven shift — tariffs on key supply chains, no fiscal or monetary backstop, and a growing geopolitical realignment that directly threatens the profit engine of the QQQ’s top holdings.

So while you’re focused on what RSI tends to do at 30, I’m worried about what happens when Apple loses pricing power, NVIDIA’s cost base explodes, and no pivot is coming.

We’ll revisit this in a few weeks, and maybe you’ll be right (and I hope my puts become sunk-costs like all insurance policies). But if you are, it’ll be despite the macro conditions, not because they’ve stayed the same.

Let’s watch and see.

Chris Lin

Sam — I completely get why you lean on technicals. You’ve built your system during a time when every fundamental scare — 2008, 2011, 2015, 2020 — was absorbed and reversed. The Fed always stepped in. Supply chains held. Global demand snapped back.

But that was a different world. What we’re seeing now isn’t a sentiment-driven panic — it’s an engineered policy shift. A 54% tariff on global tech infrastructure isn’t a chart pattern. It’s a new baseline.

You say technicals never fail. I say they’ve never been tested in a regime where the foundation is being intentionally dismantled.

You trust price to tell the story. I trust that the story has already changed, and price just hasn’t finished catching up.

If you’re right, your system thrives.
If I’m right, your system lags.
That’s the real divergence here.

Josh Felske

I would like to learn more about how the technicals explain what the market is doing rather than trust the panic narratives that are coming to light. I guess senseless commentary is another sign that the bottom is near.

Even if the market sold off way more than expected, Sam has hedged and has explained the purpose for hedging specifically for instances where the market sees a major crash or black swan event. That way long term positions can still profit from the downside AND the recovery of those instances…just like any other major event that has happened over the years.

Richard Holtz

I think that valuations were crazy high when QQQ was 540. When everything is going great, people don’t really care about valuations. But in the environment we’re in right now, people do care. If we end up getting a soft landing and the trade war is worked out, I think it’s possible we could make new highs in a year. But I’d be shocked if we made new highs in the next few months. I think best case scenario is QQQ going to 500 or so. Then we probably consolidate between 470-500.

Frankfurter

So based on your comments, QQQ seems to recover most of its losses after the correction ends, but where do you see NVDA ending up post-correction. It’s been lagging behind QQQ during the few recent green days we’ve had

Karl Peak

Hello Sam,

I’m also aiming for this target, or even $170 eventually, given the AI and robotics projects, but doubts are starting to creep in with these stories of global recessions, tariff barriers, etc. We’ll have to be patient, but Warren Buffet was once again right to be very blunt… Do you have more visibility on the strength of the rally to reach $140? Will we see a repeat of April 2024 to June 2024 with a more than 50% rally on NVIDIA?

Frankfurter

My biggest fear is that the rally won’t go far enough. Like yeah we might go back up to yesterday’s price soon, but that’s still down a lot from when the correction started

However, my fear stems from the fact that I bought NVDL the day before the correction started. Bought at 65.63 (NVDA was around 140 at the time). I did average down to 59.58, but despite that, due to the constant red days, I need NVDA to go to about 145 to break even (with some variance. This calculation assumes it goes all the way back up in one day and NVDL goes up exactly 2x NVDA which it doesn’t always do). If we head into a bear market, I’m even more screwed

But for people who were actually smart and bought at the lows when you bought, they’ll be seeing green on a 15% rebound. For all our sakes, I hope the market gets going soon

Derek Truong

Hi Sam,

What are your thoughts on the general game plan for our April NVDA spreads and May QQQ spreads?

The expiration for the April NVDA spreads are coming up quick so wanted to understand your expectations for gains/losses and exit plan for that position. The breakeven price seems to be quite far away, is this a position you’re planning on taking a loss on? Perhaps using the cash to redeploy back into the markets?

We still have some time until expiration for the May QQQ spreads; however looking at the correction chart shows us that post correction rallies for similar corrections have taken 15-30 days to play out with 14-18% increase. That would potentially put us pretty close to expiration and OTM so wanted to understand what your game plan is for closing out / repositioning.

Thanks!

Gaurav Jain

any thoughts on today’s sideways action of market, Sam?

Todd Hoggan

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I follow other people too on the market. Your comments are always grounded in solid reasoning for your ideas, I appreciate and value the incites. I find them more helpful (and, correct) then some of the others I follow. I am sure that I will spend considerable time reviewing these forum comments in the future to refresh. Again, Thanks.

Nathan Outlan

Sam, this is the first time I’ve commented, and I’ve been subscribed since the early bird subscription cost – so, for some time now. I just wanted to say that I’ve learned so much from you and the team. I have a “for fun” options account that I’ve grown ~310% since being subscribed. This article is by far my favorite one so far… can’t wait to contribute my gains in the near future to the news cycle… lol

Joshua Baker

There are no bottoming conditions clearly forming. You would be correct Sam, if we are in a bull market. In a bull market people buy the dips. But we are not in a bull market, we are in a bear market.

Joshua Baker

I know but we are in a new market at the moment. This market is just going to continue sell off. The global economy is heading into a recession. We may get a few pops on dips when there is a low rsi sure. But market is heading consistently lower.

First Name

Joshua, the market isn’t just going straight down even in a bear market.

Joshua Baker

that’s literally what just happened

Kareem El-Gohary

What gives you conviction in a 12-15% rally rather than a 10% rally (which seems to have been the norm in 2022)?

NeverGonnaLetYouDown

VIX closed at 30, not bad. Another -2% at opening tomorrow and we could be in the capitulation zone, assuming volume. How did NYMO do?

Richard Holtz

Sam, I know it is most likely that we’re still in a bull market. But hypothetically, if this is the beginning of a bear market, how much lower would it go before we get a strong bounce? I know that even in bear markets there are some serious bear market rallies.

Richard Holtz

Thanks Sam!

Alf London

what’s that take today? seems rough out there

Julien Tran

Thank you Sam, we really appreciate your analysis.

Gaurav Jain

qqq touched 437 in premarket on friday! capitulation????

Todd

Let’s wait to see how we open and the first hour or so unfolds.

First Name

I still think ATH in May

Florian

Went as low as 433 I think

First Name

27.72 on daily 22.78 on hourly

Tevfik Gezgin

is this RSI?

J W

do we finally have capitulation and NYMO

Frankfurter

Russell 2000 and Nasdaq are in a bear market 🙁

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