Small-cap stocks are under evaluation for their yield and performance as investors weigh their volatility against large-cap stocks. Recent analysis highlights the potential opportunities in this sector, particularly with the Vanguard Russell 2000 Index Fund ETF showing favorable performance. However, small-cap fundamentals are currently impacted by prevailing rate policy and credit conditions, leading to concerns about market stability. The overall sentiment remains cautiously optimistic as the market evaluates these dynamics. 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 -0.2 is modestly bearish. The market sentiment at 0.1 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 0.5, and the negative at -0.4 on 2026-01-02. The forces of Asset Sentiment (1.8), and Price Level Sentiment (0) will drive up the price. The forces of Asset Price Trend (-0.2), and Option Sentiment (-1.2) 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
2026-01-02	0%(0.1%)	248.78	28	1.06%	0.04%	-0.2	-0.04%	0.4%	0.1	Wait	50%	1.8	0
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	Long	65%	6	0.5
Wait is the preferred trading strategy with 50% chance of being right. 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.