Two names could be a buy-and-hold opportunity, though, says Wald.
"Tencent and Alibaba [have] a little bit more of just an ongoing trendless range. … I think that caution is warranted but I don't want to get emotionally attached to a bearish view because I do see at least long-term potential — at least versus its peers in those names," said Wald. "Avoid China but even selectively in that group there's some that look worse than others.
"Take Baidu as an example of a bearish call. Baidu has basically put out a very debt-laden version of content acquisition. It's a big bet and it's going into a potentially slowing economy, so if you have growth rolling over it's not really a great name to own," said Sanchez. "Alibaba, on the other hand, is trying to open its doors to U.S. sellers onto its platform so it is actually taking a contrary play.
Chinese search engine Baidu is the worst performer this year, falling 37% as the FXI China ETF has dropped 2%. Blogging site Sina has declined 36%, while marketplace Alibaba and social media site Tencent have risen 12% and 6%, respectively. "I would agree with the split as Ari has put it, which is … Alibaba and Tencent as more domestically oriented with fundamentals that aren't necessarily bearish – I'm not saying they're bullish but they're not necessarily bearish either," said Sanchez.
TradingNation Why is BATS even a thing still? $BIDU’s market cap is only 9% of both $TCEHY and $BABA. Won’t even get into $SINA. It’s really just AT now.