the selloff in apple inc’s stock friday was enough for chart watchers to refer to it as a breakdown as it confirmed the break of a trendline that has defined the stock’s rally since the start of the year one of the most recognized and agreedwith trading axioms on wall street is “the trend is your friend” an addendum to that axiom is only slightly less well known the trend is your friend “until it’s not” the easiest if not the best way to identify a trend is by drawing a trendline keep in mind that while two points can make a line it takes a third point to confirm a trendline and the more points on that line the more valid the trend and the more clear the breakdown for apple’s stock chart aapl  there is a pretty welldefined uptrend line that starts at the stock’s 19month intraday low hit on jan 3 and roughly connects with a number of lows along the way the technology behemoth’s stock slipped below that line earlier this week ahead of apple’s fiscal thirdquarter earnings report out late thursday but it wasn’t quite enough to confirm the break of such a defined trend one of the six tenets of the centuryold dow theory of market analysis is that a trend is assumed to be in effect until it gives a definite signal that it has reversed also read don’t diss the dow theory just because it’s over 100 years old with apple’s stock down 36 in afternoon trading friday after the report was released the breakdown looks pretty definite don’t miss apple’s slowdown era rages on and the iphone may not be enough to power its stock with that breakdown fairlead strategies llc technical analyst katie stockton said she is watching how the stock trades around the 50day moving average to see if that shortterm trend tracker can provide support the stock is currently trading slightly below the 50dma which extends to just about 187 on friday for wall street followers of the mathematical fibonacci ratio of 1618 also known as the “golden” or “divine” ratio given its prevalence in natural systems the next downside level to watch would be around 169 that marks the 382 retracement 1 minus 0618 of the rally off the jan 5 closing low of 12502 to the july 31 record close of 19645 read more about wall street’s use of the fibonacci ratio below that the other key fibonacci levels to watch would be about 161 or a 50 retracement and at roughly 152 or a 618 retracement many on wall street believe if a retracement stays within 618 of the prior trend that prior trend still has life apple’s stock has rallied 419 since the start of the year while the technologyheavy nasdaq100 index ndx has climbed 409 and the dow jones industrial average djia has tacked on 65