Midday Wave #99: Breadth Breaks Down: The ABC Tape – Monday 8/31/2026

Welcome to wave rider mid-day wave your mid-session market intelligence. Let's dive in. I mean, breath just fell off a cliff since this morning. 40 SMA participation, down 8 points, 20 SMA, down 10. Is this a start of a real washing? It's getting close. Yeah. Oh, man. Okay, so give me the actual read. How bad versus this morning? So 40 SMA breath is sitting at 42.69% now. Down from 50.98% yesterday. That's an 8.3 point drop. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But the 20 SMA is the scary one. It collapsed to 9% down from 19%. 10 points. Gone. Wow. Wait, 9% above the 20 day? 9. That's near washout territory. Right. Oh, wow. And sentiment confirms it. Bearish on the 4% measure and the 40 SMA measure both. Yeah. So it's not one time frame lying to. Exactly. Both agree. And there's no sector rotation saving anyone here. The weakness is broad-based, not concentrated. Mm-hmm. Right. Like the whole tide's going out. Fewer boats above the water line every hour, basically. Okay, so with breath this thin, what setup still deserves attention? Honestly, very few. But there's one clean one. A-S-S-T. Talk to me. Up 8.4% to $23.56. And R-VOL is 1.3. It's the only top 10 signal pairing a real move with real volume. Right. Right. So the volume's actually there. The volume's there. Everything else is a claim without a receipt. Yeah. I mean, huh. What do you mean? Well, take V-V. Up 4.2% to $288.17. Looks great on the surface, right? Sure. R-VOL 0.4. Nobody's behind that move. Oh, wow. 0.4? That's nothing. Nothing. And it's the same story with Alvo. Up 4.5% to $5.18. And BRCB up 4.5% to $9.54. Both on R-VOL 0.5. Mm-hmm. So they're moving, but... But there's no conviction underneath. Right. Like, and the bigger names? See, that's the tell. MCK is down 0.9%. What? Down 1.0%. The weakness is spreading up market now. Right. Huh. So even the large caps are fading. They're fading. Now there's one wild one, CLGN, up 23.66% on R-VOL of 105.88. Yeah. Wait, 105? Tied to an acquisition headline, but it's a 36-cent microcap. Fun to look at, not a core setup. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a headline, not a trade. Exactly. Honestly, any catalyst names actually worth watching? A few. Mixed back. DE got an upgrade, up 0.56% to $630.19. TTOW at $235.39 are of all 1.56, but it's slipping on leak reports. And SRE took a downgrade, sitting at $84.32. Right. So the flow is tilting negative there, too. Mixed to negative, and the institutional momentum study scattered. CRWL at $75 are of all 2.43 testing supply. IRE at $7.32 are of all 2.36. But nothing. Nothing broad. A couple instruments playing loud while the rest of the orchestra sits silent. Yeah, totally. So basically, okay, so let's make it practical. What changes for the rest of the session? This is an ABC tape. Always be in control. Defense first. Defense first. Size down and only take continuation where our vol actually confirms. Mm-hmm. And the one level to watch? ASST holding $23.56 into the afternoon. That's your primary continuation test. Right. And if Veeve stays suspect until volume shows up behind $288.17. Don't trust it yet. Right. Bulls versus bears right now. 43 bulls against 94 bears. More than 2 to 1. Oh, man. So there's just not much fuel for follow-through. None. That's why caution beats aggression here. Exactly. Like driving in fog, you slow down, stay in your lane. Until visibility comes back. Exactly. Yeah. So basically, okay, so here's the whole day in one line. Breath collapsed on both time frames and only volume confirmed moves like ASST deserve continuation risk. Everything else needs proof. That's the session. So stay in control into the close. Size down, watch ASST hold $23.56 and let volume confirm before you chase. That's the mid-day wave. We'll catch you at the bell. That's all for today's episode of Wave Rider mid-day wave. Your mid-session market intelligence. See you next time.