Sectors, New Strategy & Today's Thougths

March 20, 2026 - a blood bath in the market.

The above is a summary of the ETFs performance today, sorted from best to worst. I am certainly glad I exited my contract, I would've lost all of my investment had I gambled away with PPI and Ex-Dividend this week.

What happened in today's bleeding market?

Mainly the not cooling off on rates, plus the US is not ceasing fire on Iran. Inflation is going to continue to rise, which is why we see Utilities as the worst performing sector today. On the flip side, XLE and XLF were the last one standing in today's mess. The reason being that oil prices are going to continue rising, therefore XLE was only down -0.1%. At the same time, since we know inflation is still rising (we know this through the PPI report and uncut rates), XLF was the one in the green in the end. In short, we are witnessing a good sector rotation, and this can allow us to prep for our next move.

Let's take a look at XLF

There's a lot going on in the above chart so we'll break it down.

• RSI is at 51.57, a healthy range
• XLF vs SPY -4.89% – SPY tanked today, but XLF stepped up.
• Moving Averages (MA) – 20 days is $48.97, the current price of XLE is $49.08, this means that XLF is slightly bullish but treating the 20-MA as the support while treating the 200-MA of $49.96 as the ceiling. It's not far off.

So, the above looks promising for next week, but the ex-dividend date is coming up on Monday 23rd. This could also explain why XLF was in the green today, which we have learned that buyers will try to secure that dividend payout.

This weekend I'll study XLF and its holdings to understand which holding is the strongest, similarly to what I did with XLU. I'll use the relative strength method for better understanding.

I find it comical that I happen to learn to navigate the market when it's apparently one of the worst crime scenes. Although the silver lining is that it will turn me into a well seasoned pro trader. I'm learning to understand the waves slightly, although the finance world can be unpredictable, by studying and moving with it can allow me to surf it with quick swing options trades. It seems like XLF is the next one moving up, we just came from XLU and now XLF is next. Let's learn about the top holdings this weekend and secure an angle post the ex-dividend on Monday.