NASDAQ 100 gaps up on two-week ceasefire but traders take profit

The NASDAQ 100 gapped up 3.5% at the open on Wednesday, its largest single-session percentage gain since May 12, 2025. The cause was US President Donald Trump agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Iran late Tuesday, hours before he promised to destroy the country.

However, Israel has said it will fight on in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which violates the Pakistani-led ceasefire agreement, so hostilities continued overnight between Hezbollah, Israel and Iran. Still, the ceasefire agreement, which calls for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf nations' Oil, has led to a rally in stocks. Investors believe the short ceasefire will lead to a longer-term peace agreement, and Oil (WTI) in the US crashed 15% on the news.

However, as some anxiety emerges due to continued hostilities, traders opted to take profits off the table on Wednesday morning, and the NASDAQ 100 leveled off to a 2.4% gain.

NASDAQ 100 is now just 5% off all-time highs

This has been a volatile stretch for the tech-focused NASDAQ 100. After shedding nearly 13% one month into the war, the index now just needs to gain little more than 5% to reach all-time highs.

In the bulls' way lies resistance at the early March highs near 25,180 and the February resistance at 25,330. But bulls will assuredly note that the index now trades fully above the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) since early February, and this bodes well for further gains.

Bears will note that Oil prices remain above $90 a barrel in the US and require a much more resounding sell-off in order to stabilize the economy.

But the odds-on bet will be for the NASDAQ 100 to use the 50-day SMA as support before gradually rising toward the late October 2025 all-time high at 26,182. In the meantime, if more rain clouds emerge, the 200-day SMA near 24,500 offers firmer support.