A Technical Take On Apple's Volatile iPhone X Launch Day

Tuesday was a big day for Apple Inc. AAPL and its shareholders. The company unveiled its highly-anticipated 10-year anniversary iPhone 8 and iPhone X models, devices mostly responsible for Apple stock’s nearly 40 percent gain year-to-date.

Apple's Big Day

As expected, Apple experienced a high-volume volatile day of trading. After opening Tuesday at around $163, Apple stock surged to as high as $163.96 at 1:57 p.m. ET, roughly one hour into the Apple event. At that point, the stock was within a stone’s throw of its all-time high of $164.94 from earlier this month.

Apple then made a 180-degree turn, dipping as low as $158.77 by 3:11 p.m. Although the stock bounced a bit into the close, it finished the day at $160.86, down less than 1 percent on the day. When the dust settled on the bid day, Apple’s range for the day was $5.19, roughly double its 9-day average true range of $2.78. The final volume for the day was 71.7 million, more than twice its average volume of 29.4 million.

Related Link: How Has Apple's Stock Traded On Each Major iPhone Release Day?

Technical Take

The bears won the day, but the reality is that the 0.7 percent decline gave very little definitive technical indication of where the stock could be headed next.

If Apple stock bounced back on Wednesday, a new all-time high is likely imminent. If it continues drifting lower, a test of $155 support could be on the way in coming weeks.

Apple found support in the $155 region three times in August, and $155-$156 served as resistance twice in May and June. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is also approaching $155, which should provide additional support in that area.

History Lesson

Historically, Apple stock has not performed well in the short-term following iPhone launch events. However, after finishing seven of the past 10 iPhone launch days in the red, Apple has bounced back and delivered an average gain of 0.71 percent in the week following the events.

Joel Elconin contributed to this story.