Finding Leaders in a Choppy Market: Joe Rabil on ADX, Momentum, and Breadth

In this episode, Dave is joined by Joe Rabil of Rabil Stock Research—one of my favorite chart-focused voices and a fellow StockCharts contributor. Joe describes his process as “trend following on steroids,” and he explains why this environment demands discipline: the major indexes can look fine on the surface, but momentum has been fading and leadership has been shifting beneath the hood.We dig into Joe’s use of ADX to judge trend strength, why a market can drift higher without real momentum confirmation, and how a consistent bottom-up routine (reviewing hundreds of charts) can give you an edge versus only watching indexes and sectors. Joe also highlights where he’s seeing emerging relative strength in early 2026—especially in materials, energy, healthcare, and select industrials—and how to think about risk, stops, and timeframes when conditions get choppy.  Recorded 1/20/26.You can check out Joe's book at https://amzn.to/4bNkFmp and learn more about his work at https://rabilstockresearch.com/.🎓 Take Dave’s FREE course on behavioral investing: https://www.marketmisbehavior.com/freecourse📘 Check out Dave’s recommended reading list: https://www.marketmisbehavior.com/readinglist👉  Follow Dave on X: https://x.com/DKellerCMT👉  Follow Dave on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dkellercmt.bsky.social👉  Follow Dave on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marketmisbehavior👉  Follow Dave on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marketmisbehaviorThe content in this presentation should not be considered as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. All information is intended for educational purposes only and in no way should be considered as investment advice.