The earliest possible date for an end to the bull market is rapidly approaching. While it definitely seems that the NASDAQ COMP and the NASDAQ 100 have topped, the real selling will also begin at the same time as the rest of the stock market is likely to top out. The bottom for the last leg of this bull was last March 23rd. Meaning, after the first day or two of this week, it will be a year since and all purchases from the 23rd of last year will now qualify for long term capital gain status. Any long term investors who have large gains probably haven’t sold yet, but will have no reason not to going forward. If the market starts to roll over and they fear giving up some of their gains they will do so because paying the higher tax for short term gains will no longer be an issue for them. Of course, not everyone was smart enough or quick enough to buy the exact bottom day of March 23rd. However, once the FED acted and everyone could see that they were coming to the rescue with whatever it took to turn things around, a lot more investors jumped in, in the days, weeks and months that followed. Therefore, there will be a lot of people whose purchases will become long term in the days, weeks and months that follow. That is a lot of people that will be ready to sell the minute their stocks show any weakness. The bull’s days are numbered.