Whether the market is exploding higher, diving or just treading water, traders tend to be nervous about the action in the next day, week or month. A bit of anxiety comes with the territory.

One indication that the market is getting into nervous territory is the tendency for traders to jump in and out of high-flying stocks while spending most of their time parked in less volatile issues or cash. Its called rotation.

When markets are stuck in a funk, chances are good for managers to sell something and simply go to cash. But when the market is like this, they don't want to miss anything even though they are nervous about the overall market. So they very often sell something and buy something else.

We find evidence by looking at the smaller cap issues. On a day when the big guys are getting cracked over the head, often we see the small issues pick up a few points. That means they don't want to take their money "home," so to speak. They want to stay fully invested, but they don't want to get killed if something goes wrong.

Have you noticed how analysts do some very interesting things when the market is running full tilt? Sure, they will come out on the high flyers, but you will also see them upgrade paper stocks and energy. There is a reason for that. They want those safer havens looking attractive as they rotate money out of extremely overextended stocks and into something else that has a chance of making even more. If the coast is still clear in a day or two, they can come back into a high flyer for hopefully more short-run profits.

For our money, wed follow the same type of management style also. If you see the NASDAQ futures down a ton in the morning, consider doing what the Street will do--take some profits out of your big gainers and put them into smaller cap stocks or even safety stocks for a day or so. Chances are good the big guys will be doing the same, and the smaller issues have a good shot at moving up.