{"id":79086,"date":"2026-02-20T15:07:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/?p=79086"},"modified":"2026-02-20T15:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:11:52","slug":"you-are-not-alone-in-the-twilight-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/2026\/02\/20\/you-are-not-alone-in-the-twilight-zone\/","title":{"rendered":"You Are Not Alone in the Twilight Zone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What a week!<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court smacked down President Trump's tariffs, Q4 GDP flopped, and <strong>Amazon<\/strong> (AMZN) surpassed <strong>Walmart<\/strong> (WMT) as the world's #1 company by sales.<\/p>\n<p>Our song of the week is Golden Earring's &#8220;Twilight Zone.&#8221; Blast it while you read this report:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z2xsbmBn09g?si=s869KeLf3ypi6ytI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>1. If You're Frustrated, You're Not Alone<\/h2>\n<p>Last week, we asked our community if the market felt easier or harder than usual in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>67.7% said harder.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-79092\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1273\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM.png 1273w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-300x129.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-1024x440.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-150x64.png 150w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-768x330.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-80x34.png 80w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-220x95.png 220w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-233x100.png 233w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-280x120.png 280w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-510x219.png 510w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-750x322.png 750w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-975x419.png 975w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.57.37-PM-1190x511.png 1190w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1273px) 100vw, 1273px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So if you're frustrated by this market, you're not lone. Because while the major averages are stubbornly range-bound, individual stock performance is all over the place.<\/p>\n<p>The S&P 500 is up about 1% year-to-date, and off the highs by about 1%.<\/p>\n<p>But drilling below the surface tells a much more interesting story:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The average stock has moved 14.4% year-to-date<\/li>\n<li>342 stocks are up, with an average gain of +15.4%<br \/>\n161 stocks are down, with an average loss of -12.4%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This implies traders and investors are having trouble with timing.<\/p>\n<p>Because 69% of stocks are up and the winners are up more than the losers are down.<\/p>\n<p>We can even see this from a sector perspective. If you look at our sector ETF tracker, you see that most ETFs are up:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-79091\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"702\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM.png 520w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-222x300.png 222w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-111x150.png 111w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-59x80.png 59w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-163x220.png 163w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-74x100.png 74w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-176x238.png 176w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-307x415.png 307w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-361x487.png 361w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-1.56.05-PM-441x595.png 441w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There has been a lot of gains in the market this year.<\/p>\n<p>It's just been touch to catch them because it feels like there's no follow-through.<\/p>\n<p>And if you're stressed and in need of a fresh start in your trading, check out the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.t3live.com\/sami-abusaad-webinar-replay\/\">Pristine Mentorship with Sami Abusaad and James Rich Young<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<h2>2. This Week Is HUGE for Tech<\/h2>\n<p>Yes, we all know that <strong>Nvidia<\/strong> (NVDA) earnings hit on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>But we're also getting reports from <strong>Salesforce<\/strong> (CRM), <strong>Synopsys<\/strong> (SNPS), <strong>Snowflake<\/strong> (SNOW), <strong>Intuit<\/strong> (INTU), <strong>Autodesk<\/strong> (ADSK), and <strong>Dell<\/strong> (DELL)?<\/p>\n<p>That means we get insights on software (important given the IGV debacle), AI, and my favorite topics &#8211; memory and storage.<\/p>\n<p>I own Nvidia stock, but I'm just as interested in Dell.<\/p>\n<p>Because Dell spend lots of dough on hard drives and SSDs.<\/p>\n<p>So what they say will impact the 3 amigos of storats: <strong>SanDisk<\/strong> (SNDK), <strong>Western Digital<\/strong> (WDC), and <strong>Seagate<\/strong> (STX).<\/p>\n<p>They are the #1, #5, and #9 best stocks in the S&P 500 this year, posting absurd gains:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-79095\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"677\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM.png 862w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-300x206.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-150x103.png 150w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-768x527.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-80x55.png 80w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-220x151.png 220w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-146x100.png 146w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-219x150.png 219w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-347x238.png 347w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-605x415.png 605w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.06.21-PM-710x487.png 710w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 677px) 100vw, 677px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>BTW, I own SanDisk and plan on holding it into the Dell report because I agree with JR Romero's take:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"SanDisk Is Going to $1,000\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6-kORVSOfqk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>3. The Mood Has Soured<\/h2>\n<p>There's still little evidence that investors and traders are overly optimistic, which tracks with how challenging this environment has been.<\/p>\n<p>The AAII Sentiment Survey shows that just 34.5% of investors are bullish.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/HBhzPFyWgAAtR29?format=jpg&name=medium\" alt=\"Image\" width=\"792\" height=\"381\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This is below the 37.5% long-term average.<\/p>\n<p>And it's well below the 49.5% reading notched on January 14.<\/p>\n<p>Also: the CBOE equity put-call ratio is 0.64, which reads pretty much neutral.<\/p>\n<p>This is all good news.<\/p>\n<p>Because extremes in bullish sentiment can signal complacency and mark tops.<\/p>\n<p>Just remember that timing the market with sentiment data is tricky, if not impossible.<\/p>\n<h2>4. OIH Might Hit a Sell the News<\/h2>\n<p>Energy has been a dominant force in 2026, thanks to geopolitical worries.<\/p>\n<p>And this week, President Trump gave Iran a 10-day ultimate to make nuclear deal, or &#8220;bad things happen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>VanEck Oil Services ETF<\/strong> (OIH) is up 36% year-to-date after the &#8220;Gap of the Year&#8221; on January 5 after the US Army Delta Force plucked Nicol\u00e1s Maduro out of Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p><strong>OIH<\/strong> has crushed every other sector ETF, including the <strong>Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF<\/strong> (XLE), which is up &#8220;only&#8221; 22.5%.<\/p>\n<p>And it could be getting overbought.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-79099\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"859\" height=\"588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM.png 859w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-300x205.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-150x103.png 150w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-768x526.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-80x55.png 80w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-220x151.png 220w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-146x100.png 146w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-219x150.png 219w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-348x238.png 348w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-606x415.png 606w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.23.33-PM-711x487.png 711w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 859px) 100vw, 859px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So if Trump and Iran make nice, there could be a sell-the-news reaction.<\/p>\n<p>I own OIH and XLE and have zero plans to sell. I'm in for life.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>5. Software Still Stinks<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Software looks like it was bottoming.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF<\/strong> (IGV) showed about 8,000 signs it was oversold, with record volume after a huge decline.<\/p>\n<p>And it bounced. For three days.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-79103\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"864\" height=\"592\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM.png 864w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-300x206.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-150x103.png 150w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-768x526.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-80x55.png 80w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-220x151.png 220w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-146x100.png 146w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-219x150.png 219w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-347x238.png 347w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-606x415.png 606w, https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-20-at-2.44.58-PM-711x487.png 711w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I thought I was smart by picking up the <strong>Global X Cybersecurity ETF<\/strong> (BUG). Because that's the &#8220;safer&#8221; side of the software arena.<\/p>\n<p>Nope.<\/p>\n<p>I'm losing money thanks to <strong>Palo Alto Networks<\/strong> (PANW) and <strong>Akamai<\/strong> (AKAM), the #1 and #2 components in BUG, both whiffing on earnings this week.<\/p>\n<p>Why haven't I sold yet?<\/p>\n<p>I wish I knew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What a week! The Supreme Court smacked down President Trump&#8217;s tariffs, Q4 GDP flopped, and Amazon (AMZN) surpassed Walmart (WMT) as the world&#8217;s #1 company by sales. Our song of the week is Golden Earring&#8217;s &#8220;Twilight Zone.&#8221; Blast it while you read this report: 1. If You&#8217;re Frustrated, You&#8217;re Not Alone Last week, we asked our community if the market felt easier or harder than usual in 2026. 67.7% said harder. So if you&#8217;re frustrated by this market, you&#8217;re not lone. Because while the major averages are stubbornly range-bound, individual stock performance is all over the place. The S&#038;P 500 is up about 1% year-to-date, and off the highs by about 1%. But drilling below the surface tells a much more interesting story: The average stock has moved 14.4% year-to-date 342 stocks are up, with an average gain of +15.4% 161 stocks are down, with an average loss of -12.4% This implies traders and investors are having trouble with timing. Because 69% of stocks are up and the winners are up more than the losers are down. We can even see this from a sector perspective. If you look at our sector ETF tracker, you see that most ETFs are up: There has been a lot of gains in the market this year. It&#8217;s just been touch to catch them because it feels like there&#8217;s no follow-through. And if you&#8217;re stressed and in need of a fresh start in your trading, check out the Pristine Mentorship with Sami Abusaad and James Rich Young. 2. This Week Is HUGE for Tech Yes, we all know that Nvidia (NVDA) earnings hit on Wednesday. But we&#8217;re also getting reports from Salesforce (CRM), Synopsys (SNPS), Snowflake (SNOW), Intuit (INTU), Autodesk (ADSK), and Dell (DELL)? That means we get insights on software (important given the IGV debacle), AI, and my favorite topics &#8211; memory and storage. I own Nvidia stock, but I&#8217;m just as interested in Dell. Because Dell spend lots of dough on hard drives and SSDs. So what they say will impact the 3 amigos of storats: SanDisk (SNDK), Western Digital (WDC), and Seagate (STX). They are the #1, #5, and #9 best stocks in the S&#038;P 500 this year, posting absurd gains: BTW, I own SanDisk and plan on holding it into the Dell report because I agree with JR Romero&#8217;s take: 3. The Mood Has Soured There&#8217;s still little evidence that investors and traders are overly optimistic, which tracks with how challenging this environment has been. The AAII Sentiment Survey shows that just 34.5% of investors are bullish. This is below the 37.5% long-term average. And it&#8217;s well below the 49.5% reading notched on January 14. Also: the CBOE equity put-call ratio is 0.64, which reads pretty much neutral. This is all good news. Because extremes in bullish sentiment can signal complacency and mark tops. Just remember that timing the market with sentiment data is tricky, if not impossible. 4. OIH Might Hit a Sell the News Energy has been a dominant force in 2026, thanks to geopolitical worries. And this week, President Trump gave Iran a 10-day ultimate to make nuclear deal, or &#8220;bad things happen.&#8221; The VanEck Oil Services ETF (OIH) is up 36% year-to-date after the &#8220;Gap of the Year&#8221; on January 5 after the US Army Delta Force plucked Nicol\u00e1s Maduro out of Venezuela. OIH has crushed every other sector ETF, including the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE), which is up &#8220;only&#8221; 22.5%. And it could be getting overbought. So if Trump and Iran make nice, there could be a sell-the-news reaction. I own OIH and XLE and have zero plans to sell. I&#8217;m in for life. 5. Software Still Stinks Software looks like it was bottoming. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) showed about 8,000 signs it was oversold, with record volume after a huge decline. And it bounced. For three days. I thought I was smart by picking up the Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG). Because that&#8217;s the &#8220;safer&#8221; side of the software arena. Nope. I&#8217;m losing money thanks to Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and Akamai (AKAM), the #1 and #2 components in BUG, both whiffing on earnings this week. Why haven&#8217;t I sold yet? I wish I knew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79086"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79109,"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79086\/revisions\/79109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.t3live.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}