Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) had a flat ending yesterday with a minor loss of about 0.37% with the volume at 16 million considerably lower than the average volume of 21 million. The interesting thing was that the price didn’t register a new low for the first time in the last 5 sessions. The short term trend poses a dicey stand here as the last swing lows has not been decisively broken yet and that can bring either bulls or bears with their full strength anytime.

Read what this analyst has to say about C.

Generally, it has been a good time for Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) overall, except dealing with the ban from conducting the local market operations the company is suffering from the Argentine government. The official reason is noted as a deal with the company with the legally embroiled holdout creditors. The coming quarterly result in April is expected to give further clarity over the financial burden from these issues.

From a larger perspective, the stock is going nowhere as it is trading in a huge range of $45-$55 for the last 2 years. The rangebound price action shows immense volatility and a technician can easily 3 sharp drops and 2 labored rallies testing the boundaries of the range. The count of the legs produces two possible scenarios if the Elliott Wave Theory is used – either the entire corrective phase starting from 2013 May took the form of an Expanding Triangle and ended in 2015 January or the current down leg from the current month’s top at $54.72 is to end with a lower low.

As the long term chart shows, as long as the long term support area in $45-$47 remains unharmed, the long term bulls can take the price much higher any time. The shrinking volume in the last 2 years point to that too. Investors may use any dip below $50 levels to take any entry.