Shorting Apple

I was thumbing through some charts this morning and screens this morning and I stopped on the chart of Apple (ticker AAPL). I have discussed this company's shares a number of times- be it either describing how ultra mega-cap stocks typically underperform (here) the S&P 500 after reaching that milestone or by saying "as AAPL goes , so goes the market". I was also careful to point out that none of my commentary was a recommendation of any sort.

Now, however, after looking at today's price action AAPL's chart, I now think the stock is shortable. The following is a recent chart of AAPL.

What is striking is the expansion of volume we saw on the initial decline that began in early September, followed a anemic volume trends in the counter trend bounce that began in mid-November. In today's trading, AAPL is down nearly 4% (as of this writing) on what appears like a significant expansion of volume. Take this in conjunction with a weak money flow, overbought conditions on the stochastics, and a negative MACD and I think that the gap that opened at $420 in January is more likely to be closed. If this objective is achieved, it would result in a price decline of 24% from current price levels. I am initiating a short position in AAPL shares in the Short-Trading portfolio.