Increased selling volumes in some bank stocks doesn't help this sector's attractiveness

I was beginning to wonder if the banking index ($BKX) really was going to look more bullish, as it moved up again to its 200-day moving average and the weekly chart was challenging a downtrend line I'd marked on it (see below). But it did not participate in the market's rallying today, and when I checked the BAC and Citigroup charts they both show an increased volumes on down days the past few days. That doesn't help make this sector look attractive, and I'm sure it contributed to the daily chart's indicators starting to droop again. In fact, on the weekly chart, StochRSI is retesting its 50 midline from below. I'm not sure the fundamentals are there to propel the banks higher, but just on a chart basis, I've mentioned before that there's a reason to be concerned even if "the lows are in." If the nice rally to the Fibonacci retrace on my weekly chart can be counted as a wave 1 or "A" wave that will lead to a wave 3 or "C" wave, then we still need to be certain that it isn't first going to continue lower in a deeper wave 2 or "B" wave retracement. Obviously it's been in a trading range for a couple of months. It would seem reasonable to let it lead the way up - or down - from the range (or use a strategy that benefits from a breakout or breakdown, straddling the range, either way). Might it just continue to stay in the range? Considering how narrow that range is, it looks unlikely. This doesn't mean that a move out of the range has to be drastic or sharp. Yet a move out of the range would only have to be persistent, in order to inflict damage on a portfolio that's locked into a one-sided bet the wrong way.

Above is the widely-watched 200-day moving average. Below, at the lows of earlier this month, is also the 20-week moving average midline of the weekly Bollinger Bands. These important levels give added significance to either side of the narrow range now bounding the banking index.