I'm going to go through some signs that rabid bears might do well to pay attention to because I think the market is very close to a major bottom.  (That doesn't mean we are guaranteed to make new highs, although we might.  Just that we can probably expect an explosive rally soon, even if it ultimately turns out to be a counter trend rally in an ongoing bear market).

History says we should test the lows at some point in the next few weeks. The fact that we ended well off the lows does muddy the picture at bit, as most "crash" days have ended at or close to the lows of the day. So perhaps this time will be different.

INTC beat earnings yesterday and this morning the market is loving it. Cramer is wildly bullish. BUY, BUY, BUY!

Unfortunately INTC has a history of marking turning points. Let's just say that buying the gap up on earnings hasn't been kind in the short term. Buying when INTC has closed at new 52 week highs the day they report has led to losing trades three days later every time.

I can virtually guarantee that what I’m about to suggest isn’t on anybody’s radar screen.  But before I share my prediction, a little background analysis is in order.

There have been seven previous bull markets that were born in the depths of vicious bear markets similar to what we just went through.  Each one of those bulls racked up impressive gains during the initial thrust out of the final low.  Throwing out the `32 to `37 bull as an anomaly not likely to be repeated, the average gain for the first two legs of bulls with similar DNA as our own has been between 41% and 73%.  After the second leg each one of these bulls underwent a mild corrective pullback of 8% to 14%.