Showing posts with label trading etfs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trading etfs. Show all posts

Monday, August 16, 2010

Gold, Crude Oil, SP500 and Dollar At Key Pivot Points

Last week was exciting as investments rocketed higher or tank… We saw Gold and the US Dollar pop while oil and equities dropped sharply with heavy volume.

Just to recap, Wednesday the market went into free fall mode sending traders and investors running for the door. This was obvious from looking at the large percent drop coupled with heavy selling. That day the NYSE showed panic selling with 37 shares sold for every 1 share purchased meaning pure panic. In my Wednesday night report “How to Take Advantage of Panic Selling for SP500 and Gold ” I explained how to read these extreme market conditions and what to expect the following sessions.

Currently the price of gold, oil, spx are trading somewhat at the opposite extremes seen last week. Below are a few charts explaining the situations:

GLD – Gold ETF Trading Signals
This 60 minute chart shows gold getting hit hard on Wednesday morning. Investors and traders around the globe were closing out positions and moving to cash. This high volume dumping of positions pulled virtually all investments lower and was the first tip-off that the market was in panic mode.

One the dust settled and investor’s regrouped we saw money surge back into gold creating a nice pop the following day. Problem I see is that gold is now trading at a key resistance level when reviewing the daily chart. And if you take a look at the 60 minute chart below you can see the price of gold sold down in the morning on August 13th and drifted up into the close on Friday forming a bearish wedge. Also there was some very strong selling just before the market closed which is also a concern.


USO – Oil Traded Fund
Both times oil has fallen we have seen the price pierce key support levels where the bulls would have the majority of their stops placed. The intraday pierce causes the stops to be triggered washing the market of long positions while the smart money loads up accumulating everyone’s sell orders . This is something which happens with virtually every type of investment and the main reason traders get shaken out just before the market goes in their direction. Anyways, running of the stops is something I will cover in a future report.

Looking at the chart below you can see oil trading at trendline support. Each time the key support levels (blue arrows) have been pierced the market has rocketed higher. Just from looking at the chart from August 9th forward you can see that this move down is overextended and visually looks ready for a pause or bounce in the coming days.

*Trading Tidbit - When trading trendlines it is important to try and play the third test. Reason being is that the first two pullbacks create the trendline and the third test is when active traders generally jump on board causing a sizable bounce. Each test of a trendline it becomes weaker and the probability of a breakdown is more likely.*


SPY – SP500 ETF Trading Fund
The SP500 chart shows last week’s breakdown on the 5th test of the trendline. The market is oversold here and ready for a bounce which I hope we get this week. My concern is that the downward momentum is to strong and a bounce will be negated.


US Dollar Index
US dollar put in a huge bounce last week after testing is 61.8% Fib retracement level from the 2009 December low. The strong bounce has pushed the dollar up to a key resistance level which happens to be 38.2% Fib retracement level from both the December up trend and the recent sell off. I figure this will hold the dollar down for a few days easing the pressure on oil and equities.


Gold, Oil, SPX and Dollar Trading Conclusion
In short, I feel there will be a relief bounce in oil and equities while the dollar and gold will have some profit taking and trade sideways or down at the beginning of the week. After that it looks as though stocks and oil will head lower while the dollar and gold rally.

If you would like to receive Chris Vermeulen's Trading Analysis and Signals Complete with Entry, Targets and Protective Stops please visit his website at The Gold And Oil Guy .com



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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Gold and Crude Oil Shine Compared to the SP500

Commodities have been shining recently as the US Dollar loses its luster for investors. Also the weakening dollar has helped boost equities as a lower US dollar helps the large multi national companies. This report is a quick follow up from the Weekend report showing what the odds were favoring which was higher gold, oil and sp500. As of today each investment is unfolding as planned, once candle at a time.

GLD – Gold ETF Trading
In my last report I pointed out how gold needed to break through its down trendline, the MACD had to crossover and then we needed to wait for a pullback which ends with a reversal candle to the upside. It seems gold is working its way through that process now.

Today’s Pop & Drop is not bullish price action and I expect we see a couple more down/sideways days before higher prices are reached. There are two bullish ways gold could pullback. First one would be a drop to $115 area with below average volume which could form the right shoulder of a reverse head & shoulders pattern, or we could see prices just fade sideways on light volume for 2-4 days before another up move starts.


USO – Oil Trading Fund
Oil just had a 3 day pop and with today’s doji candle the chart is saying it needs a breather. That also falls inline with the price of the US dollar which should continue higher tomorrow (Thursday Aug 5th) putting downward pressure on crude oil.


SPY – SP500 ETF Trading Signals
SP500 had a nice pop on Monday taking it up to the first key resistance level. The best play would have been to buy last Thursday or Friday when it dropped down to support unfortunately the intraday charts at that time were not that healthy looking.

I am not a fan of trading breakouts because so many of them fail and you end up paying a premium for your position and they can end up going against you very quickly. Rather I focus on trying to pick things up at support or sell them at resistance.

If we see the price pause for another 1-4 days on light volume and hold above the support trendline we could have a great low risk entry point with a stop set just below support. Or we could see a pop then pullback to test the breakout level as which point we can take a long position. This play needs to mature a little more.


Mid-Week Gold, Oil and Index Trading Conclusion:
In short, Gold, Oil and the SP500 look ready for a small pullback or some sideways price action. It will be interesting to see how strong the pullback will be on the SP500. The chart pattern and volume while they favor higher prices at the moment, if the support trendline is breached then selling volume will most likely spike and a sharp decline will occur causing the SP500 to drop approximately 3% all the way down to the $109 area.

If you would like to test out Chris Vermeulen's trading service which has a 30 day money back guarantee visit his site at the The Gold and Oil Guy.


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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Gold : A Minor Pullback or a Major Correction?

Wow....what a week it was in the world of Gold! After charging above $1,200 on the front month futures contract earlier in the week, Gold finally finished the week on a very weak note, closing below $1,150, which was right above the low established a week earlier in the wake of the Dubai debt debacle. Clearly, Gold is beginning a trend reversal on a daily based time frame, but the technical picture is less clear over the long term. Let’s examine a weekly chart for GLD (one of the financial instruments that holds actual Gold) to get a better fix on what might be expected in this volatile market over the next month or so.


Graphic credit: Metastock v.11

Before going any further, I must admit to being a Gold Bug, having been afflicted with this wonderful malady for many years, including the time period prior to the recent bull run in Gold from 2001-present. Long term, and given the abysmal long term outlook for the US Dollar (and all fiat currencies for that matter), declining mine production (most of the high quality, easier to mine deposits are used up already) and greater awareness among investors regarding the inclusion of Gold in their portfolios, I believe that Gold will easily make it to $2,500 to $3,000 at some point in the next five years, despite several massive sell offs along the way to the eventual summit. However, in the here and now, we need to also rely on our charts, technical indicators and COT futures market data (Commitment of Traders report, published weekly by the CFTC) in order to minimize losses and maximize gains by waiting for more opportune times to add to long term holdings of Gold and/or to capitalize on high probability, short term moves (up and down) that will likely commence from solid support/resistance (S/R) levels in the weeks ahead.
OK, now on to what the weekly chart of GLD is telegraphing to astute traders and investors here:

1. $1,200 was a key Fibonacci extension/Keltner Band resistance area on both a weekly and monthly time frame; major turbulence was expected well in advance, thus the recent tumble came as no surprise to experienced technical traders.

2. Note this week’s wide range weekly reversal candle, one that printed on extremely heavy volume (see circle at bottom of chart); this is a major reversal signal, especially for daily based traders, coming in the wake of such a high profile resistance barrier($1,200).

3. Look now at the short-term and long term money flows (lower portion of the chart); both of the Chaikin money flow indicators (CMF)(34) and (CMF)(144) are revealing pronounced negative divergences with the actual price trends of GLD, which means that the raw fuel (money flowing into GLD and Gold) needed to drive Gold higher is beginning to dry up, for the time being.

OK, so what? What’s a trader and/or investor to do now, given this information? Well, if you’re a long term Gold Bug, simply hold your core investment positions for the long haul; that $100+ trillion US national debt/unfunded liability problem ain’t paid off just yet (and likely will never be), so the future for Gold has never looked better, especially for those wishing to diversify out of the Greenback. Let this corrective move play out and trhen consider adding more at lower price levels, $1,050 might be one such a price zone, which happens to be the current 21 week exponential moving average (EMA) price for cash Gold. For those investing via shares in GLD, the area near $104 also coincides with its own 21 week EMA. More cautious investors might wait for a move lower toward the 50 week EMA, which comes in at about $96 for GLD and $975 for cash Gold. The 21 and 50 week EMA’s acts as strong S/R barriers in nearly every kind of market, and Gold is no exception, so you may wish to do further analysis to see if adding on at those particular price areas makes sense for your financial situation.

Traders can be a bit more aggressive; expect to see some sort of a reaction move higher once GLD/Gold hit their 21 week EMA (green box on the chart shows the likely time/price zone in which to anticipate a reversal higher) this will most likely be a high-probability swing trade play, one that also needs to have a logical stop loss and profit target as well. Daily based traders can do the same thing, plan on on the 21 day EMA offering some sort of a floor from which a short term tradable bounce will commence. But be very nimble, with firm stop-loss and profit targets in place before you enter the trade.

Yes, this is a real correction in Gold, but no one really knows how far the price might fall. Even the strongest bull markets need to pause and correct before moving higher, and perhaps this is the case with the Gold market right now. We should know more as the weeks ahead play out, as always, use common sense, be patient and learn to focus on what the charts and long term fundamental factors are saying, rather than giving in to fear, doubt or the opinions of those who may not have your best interests in mind.


Courtesy of Donald W. Pendergast Jr. - ETF Trading Partner

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