Ugh. That's all we can really say about the week. It started out on the right foot, squelching a budding downtrend from two weeks ago before it could get going in earnest. The response surrounding (I'm hesitant to describe it as a "response to") Wednesday's interest rate decision even started out bullishly. The last two days have been nothing but bearish though, pulling stocks back to where they were exactly two weeks ago as well as two months ago. In other words, another fruitless week. Hopefully nobody's too surprised, however, since this has been the shape of things all year long. As of Friday's close, the S&P 500 is down about 2% for the year, even though it's been up as much as 3% and down as much as 9% at different points in 2015. And let me say that again in a different way... despite all of 2015's volatility, we're just a hair back under where we started the new year. So much for the buy-and-hold strategy. Look, we're not against buying and holding. In the grand scheme of things we'd prefer get into quality stocks and just sit on 'em. It's certainly easier than trading, and in some cases it can be far more profitable. You can't squeeze blood from a turnip though, which is to say, if the broad market isn't willing and able to make long-term forward progress, there's no point in trying to employ a strategy that relies on a rising tide. That's not to say there haven't been other ways to make money in this nutty market, however. I want to go back to something else I just mentioned... the part about how the S&P 500 was up as much as 3% at one point in 2015 and down as much as 9% at another point. The 12% disparity between the two is what I like to call "travel", and though it would be overstating things to suggest the index has simply zipped back and forth between those two extremes all year long, it wouldn't be wrong to say it's used a great deal of that range all year long to move back and forth. Each one of those moves has been a decent trading opportunity. Yes, it's easier said than done, though I wonder if for some people it IS just as easily done as said. I wonder, because John Monroe over at the Elite Opportunity HAS been pegging most all of the major ebbs and flows for the market all year long, collecting some proverbial nickels and dimes along the way during a period when the market simply wasn't handing out quarters and dollars. Take earlier this week as an example. I so very much wanted to tell you what John told Elite Opportunity subscribers on Monday, but it was just too soon. I can tell you now, though, since it's pretty much over - John got the EO people into that bounce few others saw coming at the time. Specifically, he said on Monday: "The daily chart isolates the activity from October until now. As you can see, we're not all that far away from the trend line we've continued to reference. Stocks have gone up and stocks have gone down. However, if you consider the fact the NASDAQ did manage to breach its November high earlier this month, it does have every right to hold last month's low and reverse last week's selloff.... ...When you consider everything we continue to point out from a technical perspective, the bigger question at this point isn't a matter of whether or not stocks are going to rebound, it's simply a matter of when. Based on what's taking place so far this morning, it would be no surprise to see the NASDAQ find its way to that trend line we've pointed to on so many occasions, while the S&P 500 potentially breaks the 2,000 level. The move would not only support a potential reversal off of a key logical level on the NASDAQ, a break of 2,000 on the S&P 500 would likely trigger enough stop losses out there to put the index in a position to rally once again... ...it's best to raise your SSL's way up in any bearish leveraged index ETF's and get ready for a potential year-end rally." You get the idea, and if you had seen the charts John was talking about, it would have all made perfect sense why he was calling for a rally over the course of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. As for whether or not he's out of that suggested trade or not, well, that too is reserved for Elite Opportunity members. I can tell you, however, John plays defense as well as he plays offense, meaning he knows when - and how - to pull the plug or not pull the plug on a trade. Then again, it may not necessarily matter, in light of the success he's finding with his individual stock picks (the index-based ETF and option calls are just intended to augment the EO stock portfolio's performance). As evidence that the Elite Opportunity portfolio is packed with some of the very few stocks able to rally with or without the market's help, his long-term pick of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) made back on September 11th is now up 33%. The market is up only 3% for the same timeframe. While I can't say every single trade has been that big of a winner that quickly, more than enough of them have. And that's just the long-term positions! He also maintains a short-term swing trading portfolio that's just as potent. Case(s) in point? Back on October 7th John added ORBCOMM (ORBC) to the short-term portfolio. It's now up 15%. On November 11th, John picked Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) as a short-term swing trade. It's now up 17%. Serapta Therapeutics (SRPT) is up 60% since John picked it on November 5th... at a point in time when NOBODY was thinking SRPT was positioning for such a bullish move. John saw it coming though, and Elite Opportunity subscribers reaped the benefit. Again, not every trade dishes out those kinds of gains or in that period of time, but enough of them do to make the Elite Opportunity a must-have for the folks receiving it. Remember, the market's down for the timeframes of most of the trades we just told you about. If your portfolio's growth in 2015 is less than thrilling, don't start 2016 out doing the same thing you're doing. Arm yourself with a better trading weapon in the new year - the Elite Opportunity newsletter. If valuation issues are going to keep the lid on the broad market next year (and I'm pretty confident they will), then John's multi-faceted approach may well be your best shot at making any real money in 2016. Here's how to get it, or cut and paste this link: https://www.smallcapnetwork.com/pages/SCNEO/v1/