Headline-heavy Tesla has had a bout of selling today after a WardsAuto.com report that U.S. sales fell significantly in September, and that the company was offering new incentives. Some analysts have come out to call the report misleading, but TSLA is still down more than 4% as I type.
Whatever the reasons for the selling, TSLA has now made it all the way down to its 200 day moving average, which has held as support throughout the past 2 years:
The technical concern on the retest of the 200 day moving average this month is that TSLA has usually rebounded off a test of the 200 day ma and not looked back. However, buyers in early October are now looking at a possible loss as TSLA is right back at the 200 day ma.
Of course, the stock has not convincingly broken the uptrend just yet. The earnings report is on Nov. 5th after the close. The options market is currently implying about a 11-12% move on the event, though that could change over the next week. Short interest remains high at around 28% of the float.
Implied volatility has reached a 6 month high on the recent selling ahead of the upcoming earnings event:
Given the highly anticipated report and the stock right at its long-term uptrend, the reaction to earnings will likely resolve whether TSLA maintains the uptrend or sees it fail for the first time since 2012.