Recent trading in small-cap stocks has shown volatility and mixed performance, particularly as holiday profit-taking took place. Yet, there is a growing interest in the potential opportunities these stocks present, especially when evaluated against large-cap counterparts. Additionally, yield and performance evaluations are becoming more critical as investors navigate changing market conditions. However, credit conditions and monetary policy continue to pose challenges to the foundational strength of these stocks. The price action of U.S. Small Cap (IWM) asset class is shaped by numerous forces, ranging from broad macroeconomic trends to asset-specific performance and market structure. The trend sentiment at -0.4 is modestly bearish. The market sentiment at 0.2 is modestly bullish. Trend sentiment measures the current trend of the stock price, and market sentiment reflects what market participants collectively think where the price will move next.There is no clear direction for IWM since trend sentiment and market sentiment are at the opposite directions. The positive sentiment force for sector is at 0.3, and the negative at -0.1 on 2026-01-01. The forces of Asset Sentiment (0.8), Price Level Sentiment (0.5), and Option Sentiment (0) will drive up the price. The forces of and Asset Price Trend (-0.4) will drive down the price. The sentiment for Asset Price Trend is calculated based on IWM trend. The sentiment for Option Speculation is calculated from put/call ratio. Price Level sentiment is positive when oversold, and negative when overbought. Asset Sentiment scores are extracted from headlines and market commentary. All sentiment scores are normalized on a -10 - +10 scale. The price level reaches 100 at Bollinger upper band, and zero at lower band.

IWM
Date	Attention	Price	Price Level	Change	SMA10 Trend	Trend Sentiment	Hourly Trend	Hourly StdDev	Market Sentiment	Action	P	Asset Sentiment	News Sentiment
2026-01-01	1%(0.1%)					-0.4	-0.08%		0.3			0.8	2
2025-12-31	0%(0.1%)	246.17	2	-0.75%	-0.12%	-0.4	-0.08%	0.5%	-0.2	Long	75%	0.6	0
2025-12-30	0%(0.1%)	248.03	22	-0.74%	-0.16%	0.5	-0.04%	0.4%	0.1	Long	70%	0.6	0
2025-12-29	0%(0.1%)	249.88	40	-0.6%	-0.16%	-0.2	-0.04%	0.4%	0.1	Short	60%	1.7	0
2025-12-28	0%(0.1%)					0.6	-0.04%		0.9			2.7	0
2025-12-27	0%(0.3%)					0.6	-0.04%		1.1			3.7	0
2025-12-26	0%(0.3%)	251.39	54	-0.52%	-0.28%	0.6	-0.04%	0.3%	1	Wait	50%	4.5	2
2025-12-25	1%(0.3%)					0.5	0%		1.3			4.5	7
2025-12-24	0%(0.1%)	252.71	66	0.26%	-0.08%	0.5	0%	0.3%	1.4	Wait	50%	6	0.5
2025-12-23	0%(0.1%)	252.06	64	-0.62%	0.04%	0.2	0%	0.5%	1.5	Long	60%	6.7	3.3
Wait action is recommended in three scenarios with either high uncertainty or high risk: 1. The trend sentiment and market sentiment are at the opposite directions. 2. Both trend sentiment and market sentiment are positive, but the price level is elevated. 3. Both trend sentiment and market sentiment are negative, but the price level is depressed. In an uptrend, as an investor, you may want to wait for the pullback to open long position. In a downtrend, the price will likely rebound after huge decline. As an investor, you may want to wait for the rebound to exit long position.
Market sentiment will accelerate the current trend when both trend sentiment and market sentiment are at the same direction. Market sentiment will generate volatility when it's at the opposite direction of the trend sentiment. News sentiment measures the daily emotion of the market. News sentiment may impact the daily price change while market sentiment is a more stable and consistent moving force.