Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix Getty Images

Stocks have bounced hard off the Christmas Eve lows and many of the worst performers are the stars of the two-week period since then, including General Electric, Netflix and many energy names. "It was a dash for trash as the new year has come into play," said Todd Sohn, technical analyst at Strategas Research. Stocks continued to rally Tuesday morning in the ninth session since the Christmas Eve shakeout. Amazon was u[ 1 percent, adding to its already 21 percent gain in the post-Christmas period. The stock's gains in fact have pushed its market capitalization sharply higher to nearly $800 billion, and on Monday, it surpassed Microsoft as the largest public company. Investors are watching the action to see if new market leadership will emerge and whether the market is showing signs of having found a bottom. However, they say it will take time to tell, and there's still a lot of doubt as to whether the move higher is a sign of recovery, or simply a bear market rally. WATCH: How Netflix stock has made long-term investors rich

"I think that could be the low, but I still think it will be a process," said Frank Cappelleri, Instinet executive director. "We have some ability of the market to show it can create a higher low. There's a cushion now in place in front of earnings season."

Best S&P 500 performers since Dec. 24

Sohn doubts the bottom is set. "Is this just a bounce in a bear market or the start of some more durable advance? I think it's too premature to say which one it is," he said. The is up 8.5 percent since the close on Dec. 24, but the small cap Russell 2000 has sprung back more, up 11 percent. General Electric, down 33 percent in the fourth quarter, has rebounded 26 percent in the last two weeks. Netflix, off 28 percent in the fourth quarter, has risen 35 percent in two weeks. The bounce back in the most beaten down names is also a typical new year's phenomenon, when investors look for bargains among the rubble of the previous year. But this year, there are a lot of stocks to choose from. WATCH: Remember when Amazon's stock tanked 90%? Long-term investors still got rich

"Anytime you have a big market sell-off, the most oversold area is going to bounce back the fastest. The same with microcaps and small caps. That's typical of what we see. We have to see how leadership develops here," said Cappelleri. "It got crushed on the way down." Cappelleri said in the rout of 2017, tech bounced back strongly, but that may not happen this time and that group may not be the leaders next time around.

Major S&P sectors since Dec. 24