Trade ideas, analysis and low risk set ups for commodities, Bitcoin, gold, silver, coffee, the indexes, options and your retirement. We'll help you keep your emotions out of your trading.
From guest analyst J.W. Jones, an independent options trader using multiple forms of analysis to guide his option trading strategies. So far he's as on point as we've ever seen!
Recent price action in stocks and commodities reinforces the “don’t fight the Fed” mantra. What would our central bank be doing if it were not devaluing our currency, attempting to create inflation, and openly manipulating financial markets through a series of supposedly calculated open-market operations? I do not have any market prophecies; my crystal ball is on permanent vacation. The only certainty that presents itself is that the market pundits, the academics, and the analysts do not know exactly what is going to happen in the future.
We are in uncharted territory regarding government manipulation. We watch as our federal government actively and openly manipulates financial data in an attempt to boost asset prices with the hope that if Americans feel richer they will spend money more freely. What is going to be the catalyst to drive growth when the federal government and the Federal Reserve run out of manipulations?
By now the secret is out, the expected weakening of the U.S. dollar has propelled commodities and stocks higher in short order. The easy trade has likely passed and there are a few warning signs that are being largely ignored by the bullish masses. Business insiders are selling heavily while few are accumulating positions. The banks have not broken out and were under pressure for most of the trading day during Wednesday’s big advance. If the banks do not rally with the broad market, caution is warranted. We are approaching an uncertain period of time regarding earnings and the upcoming elections and we all know that financial markets hate uncertainty.
Additionally, the U.S. dollar is at key support and should that support level fail, stocks and commodities could continue their ascent in rapid fashion. If the level holds, the U.S. dollar could have a relief rally to work off the oversold condition, however a bounce will likely be short lived and the dollar will test and likely fail at that level. The chart below is the weekly price chart of the U.S. Dollar Index......Read the entire article.
We are at the tail of another light volume choppy options expiry week and a big move is brewing… So I thought I would do a mid-week update on what I think is about to unfold in the coming days.
First off I will touch on gold. Everyone is in love with this shiny metal. But as I mentioned last week I think we are nearing a sharp correction. Previously I pointed out that we needed gold to make a new high to the $1275- 1285 area before everyone piles in and gets married to it, only then will the market reverse… Remember the market is out to take money from the masses and the gold trade is getting a little crowded in my opinion.
There are fundamentals which can be taken into account… but when has any investment moved perfectly inline with the underlying fundamentals? I’ve seen investments lead fundamentals by years, and other times lag the fundamentals by years, not to mention manipulation… but that’s a whole different subject. That being said I don’t hold gold long term for the simple reason I don’t believe much in the buy and hold strategy, nor do I like to watch investments go much more than a few percent against me… I would rather sit in cash jumping in and out when things look ripe for the picking. OK let’s jump into the analysis....
Gold Futures Price – Daily Chart
As you can see gold is forming another rising bearish wedge. The last one lead to a $100 drop in gold earlier this year. The part that I find exciting is that this recent run up has been on relatively light volume and without any decent pullbacks along the way. What does that mean? It means fewer people are willing to pay top dollar for it and the big money is riding this train up until they feel its getting exhausted then they will start unloading large amounts at a premium. We also just saw another new high on Thursday which happened on light volume tells me this rally just may have the herd all rounded up before the slaughter.
Silver Futures Price – 15 Minute Intraday Chart
While I don’t trade silver as much as gold due to the added volatility/whipsaw action, this intraday chart is starting to show signs of weakness with a rising bearish wedge today. This is just an intraday chart but these short term patterns tend to lead the longer term charts pointing out exhaustion is starting to creep into the market. Both gold and silver could still have a blow off top and shot up, which is why I have been saying to stay long metals (if you have a position) and to keep raising stop as it could continue higher for some time if a new wave of buyers step in.
Crude Oil – 4 Hour Chart
Oil has been choppy recently making it difficult to get a good read off the chart. Currently it is testing support and looks to be forming a possible right shoulder. It could have some good potential to the down side if we get a neckline break. I’m keeping my eye on it for another low risk entry point.
SP500 ETF – Daily Chart
This chart clearly shows some extreme bullish sentiment levels in the market. The bottom indicator is the total put/call ratio and when it is below 0.80 in an environment like this, it means there are too many people bullish on the market. So with today's spike low its easy to tell that the majority of traders/investors are bullish as they buy all the call options they can.
That being said, we generally get a serious shake out before the market reverses. What I mean by that, we should see the market gap substantially higher or spike up intraday as key resistance is broken. This forces all the shorts to cover their positions just before the market rolls over and sells back down. That’s what I am looking for to take action.
Mid-Week Trading Conclusion:
In short, gold and silver are looking and feeling toppy here. While I am bullish on them long term, we could see sharp pullback which could take months to regain these prices. I am not short metals yet but very close to taking a short counter trend trade.
Oil continues to looks bearish but is taking a long time to play out. This is a 4 hour chart and if we do get this neckline breakdown, it would still take 1-2 months to pay off. That being said, it looks like it will go lower.
SP500, I think the chart gets the point across. The important part to know is that it should go another 0.5% – 2% higher before it goes lower as that would make for a perfect pop & drop reversal pattern which I will alert members to when the time comes to short.
You can get my ETF and Commodity Trading Signals if you become a subscriber of my newsletter. These free reports will continue to come on a weekly basis; however, instead of covering 2-4 investments at a time, I’ll be covering only 1. Newsletter subscribers will be getting more analysis that’s actionable. I’ve also decided to add video analysis per customer’s request, and I’ll be covering more of the market to include currencies, bonds and sectors. Before everyone’s emails were answered personally, but now my focus is on building a strong group of traders and they will receive direct personal responses regarding trade ideas and analysis going forward.
Precious metals soar as investors flock to gold and silver. But are they looking deep enough to truly understand the current trends at hand?
When reviewing the metals sector I like to look at it from different angles to get a solid understanding of the patterns and trend forming. I follow multiple time frames along with monitoring the gold mining stocks. Gold stocks tend to lead the price of gold bullion and when its out performing the price of gold substantially by 10% or more you should be expecting a pause or pullback in both gold stocks and gold bullion prices temporarily.
Below are a few charts showing the long and short term trends for gold.
Gold Bullion Price – Weekly Trend Chart
Gold continues to be in a strong up trend. The occasional test of support at the major moving averages can provide great long term points for adding to a position. The 50 period average is one which is tested frequently.
Looking at the weekly chart does give me a red flag for the intermediate price of gold. While the trend is clearly up I can’t help but notice the rising wedge which is a bearish pattern. During an uptrend we want to see bull flags and pennants, not a grind higher forming a narrowing range. This grind higher could unfold much similar to the price action of 2005 and 2007 instead of a correction but I am leaning more towards a sharp correction because more people are bullish on gold now then they were during the June top.
For those looking at gold as a long term investment/currency can be patient and wait for a pullback to a major moving average before adding to your position then you would lower your overall risk for this position. You will understand after reviewing the following charts.
GLD – Gold Bullion ETF – Daily Chart
(This fund moves identical to spot gold price so even though I am showing you GLD fund, the spot gold chart is doing the exact same thing.) As you can see below the price of gold is trading at resistance and becoming choppy. Buying gold at resistance does not make much sense to me. There is a very good chance gold will move lower in the coming weeks providing a better price for long term investors to add to their positions. For example, if you waited for the weekly chart to pullback to the 50 period moving average that would be like buying this GLD fund at $113, which is an 8% discount.
Gold continues to hold up within its channel but this week we could see fireworks if the price breaks below the blue support channels.
Gold:Gold Stocks Comparison – Daily Chart
This chart shows the performance of gold vs gold stocks from the Feb 2010 lows. The blue line is the performance of gold stocks while the red line shows gold’s performance. It’s obvious that when everyone is bullish on gold they buy the highly leverages gold investments in order to take full advantage of the upcoming move. This is much like reading the put/call ratio for trading the SP500 and it measures the bullishness of the precious metals sector.
When gold equities are strongly out performing gold bullion you should be thinking about raising your stops, taking partial profits and or hedging your long term position until the sector stabilizes is not trading at a premium.
Precious Metals Sector Trading Conclusion:
In short, Gold is in a strong up trend and will remain inrecious Metals Sector Trading Conclusion: one for a long time. Commodities have higher percentage of going parabolic. That means there’s a small chance that gold continues to move up quicker and quicker surging hundreds of dollars in a very short period of time. That being said, it’s not very likely, and from a technical point of view those buying gold now are paying a premium in my opinion.
Being a patient trader is not easy, but waiting for low risk entry points is very rewarding on many different levels when done correctly.
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WOW that was some big short covering and buying today! And we hope you got a piece of it! Wednesday was a big session with better than expected manufacturing surging the market 3%. In this article I will do a quick technical take on the current situation for the SP500 and gold as they are both trading at a key resistance level. also its important to know what type of price action we will get in the next 1-2 days so you can have your profit targets or protective stops in place depending on which side of the market you are currently playing.
SPY – SP500 Exchange Traded Fund – 60 Minute Chart
The market is currently in a down trend which means bounces get sold. But if you take a look at the buying volume ratio at the bottom of the chart you will notice that in an uptrend buying surges are the beginning of a rally, and during a downtrend buying surges are the end of a rally. I also want to mention that a lot of volume traded at this current level which you can see on the volume by price bars on the chart. This means there will be a lot of sellers to overcome before breaking to the upside.
The situation the market is at now makes things difficult to tell if this bounce will get sold, or if its just the starting of a rally. There are several arguments for each side but the one which I think has the most influence is the buying volume. It was very strong on this current bounce. It feels more like a rally but we will not know for sure for a couple days…
That being said, if the SP500 moves up Thursday then I would consider the market to be in an uptrend and exiting any short positions is a smart play. But if this bounce is sold and the market drops, then the 3% rally on Wednesday could all be given back and then some.
GLD Gold Exchange Traded Fund – 60 Minute Chart
Gold has continued to grind its way up to the previous top. Problem is the volume has been very light and that tells me there is not much demand for gold at these elevated prices. While we are still long gold it is crucial to have your protective stop in place so we lock in as much profit as possible for when the sharp selling spike happens.
Mid-Week Technical Take:
In short, the market feels like its trying to reverse back up but at this time its still in a down trend and trading under a key resistance level. This means trading with the trend and selling the bounces is still the play.
That being said today’s strong volume makes this bounce suspect. Keeping positions small and setting a protective stop should be done as a safety precaution. The next couple days will shed some light for sure…
As for gold, I am still bullish but expecting our protective stops to be triggered any day now, which means we get paid and can mark another successful trade down on the scoreboard.
Understanding the key differences between both gold and silver’s risk/volatility levels plays a large part in how I choose a low risk trade setup. Those of you who follow me already know the GLD etf is my favorite trading vehicle as it provides me with low risk trading setups along with a very high win rate.
Ok, let’s jump into to comparing gold and silver as trading instruments. I get the same questions from new traders all the time and I think these two questions will help clear them up.
The questions are:
1. Why don’t you give silver (SLV) trading analysis/signals?
2. Why don’t you trade silver?
My answer to the questions are simple and the chart below displays my view.
The gold (GLD) signals I provide work with silver so you can just trade silver when I have gold long or short trade. This is the reason I don’t provide much silver analysis because it’s duplicate info.
The chart below shows how gold and silver trade together when it comes to rallies and sell offs. But notice how volatile silver is while gold had a nice slow and steady trend upwards… Gold’s low volatility trending characteristics is what I love about it. Silver on the other hand is all over the place making it easy to have protective stops triggered before the majority of the trend is over. The silver charts almost always look terrible (tough to read for a direction). I really don’t like getting shaken out of a winning trade…
The pink circles show a quick short trade we did this week catching a quick 1% drop. The short trade was for FuturesTradingSignals where we capture 1-3 day extreme market sentiment shifts.
GLD – Gold ETF Trading Chart
The chart below shows several points as to why gold/silver was screaming BUY ME on Tuesday afternoon. The two things that carry 90% of the strength in my opinion are the candlestick pattern (Bullish Engulfing) and the volume surge. Those two things when seeing on virtually any time frame are a good indication to go long for 1-3 candlesticks minimum.
Gold VS Silver – 5 Minute 3 Day Chart
This chart clearly shows the power of trading a more volatile commodity with silver being the one. This week’s buy signal in gold is dwarfed by the performance of silver. Silver has always shined more in my opinion but when it comes to trading… It tougher than it looks to trade because of the wild whipsaw action it makes on a regular basis.
Gold and Silver Trading Conclusion:
In short, gold is the safe haven when it comes to actively trading. I do trade silver here and there but the size of my position is much smaller because of the difficulty level and volatility associated with it. I will not that I do trade gold and silver futures at times but for this report I focused on ETF’s.
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Did you close out any long positions today? Well if not then you are one of a few!
Today (Wednesday) the market gapped down 1.5% at the opening bell which set a very negative tone for the session. Volume was screaming as protective stops triggered and traders close out positions before prices fell much further. This gap seemed to have caught several traders off guard but those of you who follow my newsletter knew something big was brewing and to keep positions very small.
Just before the close on Tuesday I had a buy signal for the SP500 which was generated from the extreme readings on the market internals. After watching the market chop around and get squeezed into the apex of the rising wedge the past 3 weeks I knew something big was about to happen and I did not want to get everyone involved because I felt a large gap was about to happen and the odds were 50/50. Instead we passed on the technical buy signal and waited to see what would happen Wednesday.
Below are a few charts showing one of my extreme reading indicators I use which helps me to identify possible short term bottoms.
SP500 – SPY Exchange Traded Fund
This daily chart of the SPY etf clearly shows that when we see panic selling in the NYSE which I consider 15+ sell orders to each buy order to be PANIC SELLING. This is shown using the purple indicator at the bottom of the chart. Today there was an average of 37 sell orders to every buy order which tells me the majority of traders are closing out all their long positions.
In an uptrend this indicator works very well and can help time a bottom within 1-4 days. As you can see on the chart below we just had a huge sell off and everyone seemed to be exiting their positions. This panic selling tends to carry over for a couple sessions until the majority of traders around the globe are finished selling.
The problem with this indicator is that in a down trend we tend to get these panic selling spikes regularly which means this time it may not work out because of the trendline break today which I think has officially changed the trend from up to down. Because of this possible down trend starting I feel its best to wait and see if it’s a dead cat bounce or if there are real buyers behind it, then we will take action to go long or short the market.
Market Internals – Put/Call Ratio & NYSE Advance/Decline Line – 60 Min Charts
Here are two charts which are currently at extreme levels. This typically means we a bounce should occur the following day or a gap higher. If you did not know there was a strong trendline breakdown today you most likely would have taking a small long position into the close.
The Put/Call ratio when above 1.00 means more people are buying put options, meaning they are leveraging themselves to make money if the market drops. As a contrarian indicator, if everyone is buying leverage to the down side then they should have sold their long positions already. That would mean most of the selling has already taken place in the market thus it should have some upward bias in the near term.
On the other side you can see the NYSE A/D line which shows how many stocks on the NYSE are advancing and how many have moved lower. When this indicator is below -1750 then we know the market is oversold on a short term basis and there should be some upward bias in the near future.
Now Lets Take A Look At Gold
Gold was left on the side of the road today as traders and investors focused on the equities market. I was actually a little surprised that it didn’t make a big move today because the US Dollar rocketed higher for the entire session. Anyone who has been watching gold closely already knows that gold is doing its own thing now… Some days it moves with the dollar, other days it does not… its become much more random than it used to be.
Anyways it looks to be forming two patterns… first one is a bull flag. If a breakout to the upside occurs that would send gold to the $1230-40 level.
The second pattern is a mini head and shoulders pattern which would send gold down to the $1180 area if the neck line is violated. It is a very tough call for gold.
Mid-Week Technical Traders Update:
In short, it’s going to take a day or two before we get a feel for the SP500 as we wait to see if it bounces with volume behind it. I personally would like a bounce so we can short it. It is unfortunate how the market broke down today. We were so close to getting a really good setup in either direction but the FOMC meeting shook things up and caused the large gap which in turn made a large group of traders miss that beautiful drop… It’s frustrating when you wait for something only to have a piece of news mess things up. That’s just part of trading though.
As for gold, I feel it’s a 50/50 trade and could go either way so I am not going to take a position right now. I’m just going to wait for the market to tip its hand a little more before I jump.
As we all know there is an unlimited amount of ways to trade the financial markets. Each person sees the market in a different way, has different skill sets, trading experience and risk tolerance levels. While some individuals create and use complete systems to make money there are some very basic trading strategies which still work well and require nothing more than basic charting, patience and a little money management.
SPY – SP500 Index Trading Fund
You can clearly see the longer term trend which is down (blue trendine). But from simply drawing a couple trendlines and looking at the MACD (momentum) indicator you can see there is a possible trend reversal taking place. So far the SPY has broken out of its down trendline with a 4 day pop, and it’s now pulled back down to test support. A close below the trend line or the 50MA would be the exit points if the market did start to go south.
The SP500 is still stuck under major resistance, its 200 day moving average. But is trading above key support levels (20MA, 50MA and Trendline). I can feel the tension in the market between traders and we are about to see a big move once a breakout to the upside or down side is established. At this time its best to be in cash or have a small position with a protective stop in place. Once a trend starts there should be some low risk entry points along the way. If we see a strong reversal to the upside On Monday or Tuesday I would expect big buyers would step in to catch this new trend up.
Trading Fund
Looking at the price of gold we can see the trend is still down along with the momentum. A breakout would be the first step towards a possible entry point but I prefer to wait for a pullback after the breakout has taken place. Once we get a test of support I look to enter a position once there is a strong reversal candle to the upside. From there I draw a new support trend line from the previous low and connect it to the new pivot low (bottom of reversal candle). That becomes my new protective stop.
Gold still has some work to do before I would even be interested in taking a long position for a swing trade. But on a short term time frame (intraday charts) gold looks to be forming a low risk setup which I hope unfolds for my subscribers this week.
USO – Crude Oil Trading Fund
Oil has been trading in a large bearish pennant for the past 2 months and it is nearing the apex of this pattern. The longer term picture of oil is bearish but the most recent dotted trend line and the 20/50MA crossover is signaling some strength. Also the momentum for oil is positive and that helps support the price also. Again if this was to breakout to the upside I would wait for a low volume pullback to test the breakout level, then enter on a reversal back up.
Oil is one of the more challenging commodities to trade because it is affected by the US Dollar, Political Events, and Weather. In short, even if you had the analysis and timing correct there are other factors which move the price of oil on a regular basis that could quickly turn the trade against you. That being said, keep trades small when trading oil.
Trading Setups:
In short, trading can be complex, simple or somewhere in between. You can spend 14 hours or 20 minutes a day analyzing it depending on what investments you trade, whether you’re trading full time or just checking up on longer term investments.
This analysis and basic strategy shown above can be profitable if followed correctly and works for stocks, commodities and indexes. It’s just to show how simple one can swing trade the market using very basic analysis. Personally I use a much more complex strategy incorporating 15+ other data points which allows for precise entry and exit points.
Last week we saw stocks move sharply higher as traders started to cover their short position which added fuel to an already oversold market ready to bounce. Overall volume was not that strong on the move up which is a bearish sign. On Friday afternoon we saw the SP500 continue to move into the $1075 resistance level on very light volume. This indicates to me that buyers are not willing to pay these higher prices because the market has moved up so quickly and the fact that it’s trading at a resistance level.
I feel the market will gap higher on Monday just like we say on June 20/21 deep into a resistance level and the big money will short the pop sending it sharply lower. Gold looks to be shifting its momentum from a down trend to an uptrend as it forms a reverse head & shoulders pattern.
Weekend Conclusion:
In short is looks as thought the market is at a critical pivot point. We could see prices stall out here and continue the down trend or see strong buying step in sending prices higher in the equities market. We need to wait and see what type of price action unfolds in the coming days.
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It’s been, an interesting week as stocks and commodities claw their way back up after the end of week sell off on Friday. Most of the chart technical are pointing to another wave lower for gold, silver, oil and the broad market.
This next wave of selling would form an ABC retrace pattern on the commodity charts and this pattern is bullish. Also commodity prices would drop to key support levels which would most likely provide a low risk entry point depending on the price and volume action at that time. So lower price is good for the big picture which is higher prices.
The charts below are a quick visual of what I am seeing and thinking....
GLD – Gold Exchange Traded Fund Trading Chart The gold etf trading fund is getting closer to completing is 4 month correction and start another rally if all goes well in the coming week or two. What I am looking for is gold to hit resistance at $113 and then drop to the $110 level which is a key support level.
SLV – Silver Exchange Traded Fund Trading Chart SLV etf fund looks ready for a pullback also. Both gold and silver tend to move together and support would be tested here also.
USO – Oil Trading Fund Chart USO shows that one more thrust down would bring prices to a key support level also.
SPY – SP500 Exchange Traded Fund Trading Chart Stocks have been on fire the past few months but this rally looks to be getting long in the teeth. After a rally this strong without any pullbacks one has to think that when a correction does start it will be a very sharp sell off. I will point out a few years ago we saw this exact type of price action for the broad market and it continued higher for several more months before actually putting in a large correction. If we don’t see a large correction, then we would see similar price movement which we saw last November and December with the sideways choppy price action and slow rally higher.
Mid-Week Market Conclusion: In short, I think the market is ready to finally take a breather. What I am looking for another sell off which will break the low for gold, silver, oil and SP500 last week. If this happens then panic would be triggered washing the market of all the traders who have been buying at these high levels (chasing prices).
Stocks have been very strong and new money continues to push prices higher so we could just see a relatively small pullback between 3-5% and then the rally could continue…. This would work very well with gold, silver and oil as they would be testing key support levels and should be ready for a another upward surge.
It doesn’t really matter what the market does as there will always be great opportunities. Waiting for quality setups requires discipline and focus because it is not very active. I see traders making all kinds of silly trades which chip away at their profits because they cannot sit and watch when they should be.
During slow times I actually focus on learning more about the markets going through charts, inter-market analysis comparing things….. That kills a ton of time and helps make you a better trader in the long run. So if you don’t see a good trade get out and do something fun or educational. Don’t just start trading the 5 minute charts because you want to trade…
Three weeks ago on February 5th, we saw an extremely high level of fear in the market with selling vs. buying volume at a 9:1 ratio. We note that in 2009 this extreme level of fear occurred at the bottom of each significant pullback.
Since this panic selling low in February 2010 we have seen stocks and commodities work their way higher, which we expected. Overall the broad market looks as though it’s trying to make a move higher.
Below are some ETF charts of gold, silver, oil and the indexes.
Gold lead the market higher in 2009 and also lead the market lower in December of 2009. It looks as though gold could be starting a new trend higher.
You can see the clean breakout of the down channel and then a test of the channel at support. This type of price action also forms an inverse head and shoulders pattern for those who like trading patterns. This is very bullish price action.
SLV Silver ETF – Daily Trading Chart Silver has much of the same chart features as gold, but is slightly skewed. This is not particularly surprising though, as silver virtually always behaves with less defined chart patterns due to its characteristically funky price action.
USO Oil Fund – Daily Trading Chart
As with gold and silver, oil’s trading chart has formed a pivot low also, but the trend line is much steeper than what I am looking for. I prefer a flatter trend line as price growth is more sustainable.
As you can see in on the USO chart, back in December price rallied at almost the same angle as is currently the case, and then notice what happened. Once the momentum died out the price dropped straight back down. I call steep trends like this a Parabolic Rally.
Scroll up and look at the first chart (GLD) and observe the parabolic rally going into December. It too suffered a sharp drop straight back down when momentum died out.
Stock Indexes – SP500, Dow Jones, Russell 2000
Last week the market sold down the first half of the week, then bounced back up forming a possible pivot low. The daily chart for these indexes look virtually the same as the GLD, SLV and USO charts above for the past 5 trading sessions.
But, one little thing has me concerned…. When looking at the 5 minute intraday charts (posted below) you can see at the very last minute before the market closed HUGE selling volume flooded the ETFs. The market ended up losing all of its gain for the day.
With any luck this was just end of the month hedge, mutual fund, etc. portfolio rebalancing. But I am somewhat concerned that more of this selling could step back into the market Monday or Tuesday.
Weekend Trading Conclusion:
Overall, last week started on a negative note but ended strong after forming a reversal pattern.
It looks as though stocks and commodities have formed an ABC retrace pattern and are now ready to move higher.
How much higher you ask?
Well, I believe 2010 is going to be a traders market. I envision an 8-12 month sideways consolidation (large bull flag) forming. If this materializes then buying on over sold dips, as we did on Feb 5th, and scaling out on strength at resistance levels will be our goal in the coming months.
A bunch of 4-8% trades is what I’m figuring, but with leveraged etfs we can double and triple those type of returns. Now that is something to anticipate with delighted optimism!
Last week was strong with stocks and commodities moving up sharply. As nice as it was to see a rally, I still have my doubts whether this move has legs behind it. As prices moved higher throughout the week we saw volume become thinner and thinner.
Basic technical analysis of the recent price action, when looking at the hourly charts is pointing to a sharp pullback. The indexes, gold and silver have both rallied (drifted) higher on declining volume as they near resistance.
Let’s take a quick look at the US Dollar and Gold Charts The US Dollar has been in a strong rally since the last week of December. The once easy money trade (short the Dollar) has been over for a couple of months but it may be another good trade if gold is rejected here at the 50% retracement level.
The next month or so will be interesting to see whether the dollar will continue to rally or drop like a rock as traders sell Dollars for another easy short trade. There is not much we can do here other than wait for a setup on the daily and hourly charts to form.
US Dollar – Weekly Chart
GLD – Gold Daily Chart Gold still looks very bullish. Actually, the more gold pulls back the more I like the chart. This daily chart shows a very nice bull flag. The price is currently testing the upper trend channel line and this is what makes me think we are going to see a pop in gold prices or a sharp drop.
I would like to see gold pullback one more time and make a new multi-week low before heading higher. We did see extreme fear in the market 2 weeks ago which is when we took some long positions, but the lighter volume rally is not giving me comfort in adding more positions at this time.
Weekend Trading Conclusion: In short, we nailed the market bottom on February 5th taking some long positions in US and Canadian ETF’s. I tightened our protective stops for these positions a couple days later making sure to protect our hard earned money. The Canadian trades have performed extremely well for us.
Now we just wait for another low risk entry point which could happen this week depending on what the market does.
Everyone is wondering if gold, silver and the indexes have bottomed after last week’s heavy selling. To put things into perspective there were over 30 sell orders for every 1 buy order at the NYSE. That is pure panic and to confirm extreme fear, several of my broker buddies said last week was crazy with clients demanding to liquidate their positions ASAP to be 100% in cash.
This type of sentiment and price movement warns us of a possible market bottom. I am getting the feeling that traders and investors have been expecting this sharp drop I don’t see or feel a large amount of fear in the marketplace. Last Thursday and Friday war crazy but I think we need one more drop to really shake things up before a bottom is set.
Below are some charts showing where the market currently stands and what the charts are pointing to.
GLD Gold ETF Trading – Daily Chart
Gold is clearly trending down on the daily chart. One more thrust down should shake things up enough to trigger the next rally.
SLV Silver ETF Trading – Daily Chart
Silver has formed a Head & Shoulders pattern and has broken through multiple support levels. A measured move to the down side would be $14 for silver which could happen in the coming days.
SP500, NYSE, GOLD Futures, US Dollar Index – Intraday Charts
These charts clearly show the price action of the past month. As you can see the trend of stocks and gold are down with consolidations (pauses). This is the exact reason why you must trade with the trend and not do counter trend trades. Bounces are more like sideway movements making it very difficult to try and play bounces in a down trend.
If you focus on selling at key resistance levels then moves tend to be much more profitable. That being said, we did go long last Friday because of the extreme oversold market level. I was expecting a follow through Monday or Tuesday which has yet to happen. We have now moved our stops to break even or better to eliminate our down side risk.
Spot Gold 24Hr Trading Chart
This chart says it all. The market and gold is very volatile making it difficult to trade right now. Bulls and bears are battling it out. Only time will tell!
Stocks & Commodity Trading Conclusion:
In short, it’s been a slow week without any real exciting moves. Thursday and Friday could be interesting if traders exit their positions going into the long weekend in order to protect themselves from any surprise economic news.
From the looks of gold, silver and the indexes I sense selling could be just around the corner. We are currently long a few positions with our stops are break even or better in hopes for a pop and rally going into the holiday weekend but only time will tell.
For the past few weeks I have been expecting the market to correct. By looking at the price action on the weekly and daily charts we can see that there has not been any real pullback since November and that is important to note. Without regular market corrections stocks start to become over bought meaning everyone has/is buying them and no real sellers have jumped off the trend. So when the price in an over bought market starts to slide lower we generally see everyone rush to hit their sell buttons. This is what causes the high volume breakdowns similar to the GLD (Gold) breakdown last December.
Another way of getting a feel for the market to know if it is over bought is to look at market sentiment for bulls vs. bears (buyers vs. sellers). Currently almost everyone is bullish and with this high of a reading we must start protecting our positions by tightening stops and/or get ready to play the coming correction with a short term trading strategy.
We can add another level of analysis to assist our understanding of the market if we look at the 60 minute charts of the SPY & IBM.
The chart below of the SPY (SP500) clearly shows we are in choppy times. With the majority of investors buying up stocks left, right and center because they are bullish on both the economy and individual companies, we have continued to see the index crawl higher. This has been going on for almost 3 months now but the more recent price action in the SPY chart clearly shows there are some BIG sellers unloading positions into this buying pressure. When the big sellers slow their selling we see the price drift back up until selling kicks back in. This is a warning signal for lower prices in the coming days.
The IBM chart shows a perfect example of the ‘Buy on the Rumor – Sell on the News’ saying we all know. The share price of IBM ran up into their earning news as traders know IBM is great for beating estimates. Once the great news came out which actually beat the estimates, the price sold off. This is happening everywhere with stocks.
In short, the market looks top heavy and has also rallied into earning season. These two points really have me on edge for taking a long trade at the moment.
Gold Stocks and the Dollar
The HUI (Gold Stock Index) has been on fire the past 10 months. Both gold and gold stocks have been leading the market higher. But the past month we have seen gold stocks under perform the SP500 and as of today are testing a key support level. Only time will tell if it bounces or breaks, so keep a close eye on your positions.
I use the UUP etf of the US Dollar to show the price action of today’s price move. The US Dollar is now above a key resistance level and has started to move higher. If the Dollar continues higher commodities across the board will have downward pressure. This could trigger a large sell off in the gold and gold stocks which I think are still over bought using a short term time frame.
Gold & Oil Futures Trends
The trend of gold and oil has been down the past few days. Gold broke down in the past 24 hours in overnight trading which triggered a wave of selling when the US market opened.
Gold and oil are currently trading between key support and resistance levels. I am looking for gold to drift back up to the $1130 level where I will look for a short setup as the current price action is not bearish on the intraday charts.
Oil is still bullish so I am not really looking to short it at this time. I will wait for another low risk buy signal.
Commodity Trading Conclusion
I feel the broad market could be ready for a large correction ranging from 5-10%. I am calling it a correction as I want to stay positive thinking. But it could be the start of a major market top. Market tops tend to be a process and take several months to roll over. So let’s focus on protecting our money and wait for a pullback that will allow us to load up with some great positions in the coming weeks.
Patience is how money is made in the market. Waiting for the market to come to you is vital for success. Also having the patience to let winners run by scaling out (selling a portion) of a position when the price reaches a support or resistance level makes it easier to let them run. Each time you sell some of a position you are locking in a profit and lowering your risk for the balance of that trade.
Oil has pulled back the past few days and is now trading near a support level. I feel it is over sold and could bounce the second half of this week and I will keep my eye on it for members.
Overall this week has not been that exciting. Volume is below average as the big money traders slowly get back into action and wait for Fridays economic data to come out.
We have seen gold, silver and oil put in a nice rally this week but they are still not in the clear. If we get flat or better unemployment numbers we should see the US dollar rally. This seems to be exactly what the chart is telling us when using technical analysis. Here are the numbers for Friday.
Friday unemployment numbers come out for both the US & Canada. 7:00 AM ET – Canadian Unemployment Rate, Forecast 8.5%, Previous 8.5% 8:30 AM ET – USD Nonfarm Payrolls, Forecast 0%, Previous -11K 8:30 AM ET – USD Unemployment Rate, Forecast 10.1%, Previous 10%
Here is a table I created for understanding what economic data moves stocks, bonds, US$ and gold: http://www.thegoldandoilguy.com/Economic-Indicators.pdf
US Dollar Daily Trend The current trend of the dollar is now up when looking at the daily chart (higher highs and lows). The strong price thrust in December has formed a nice flag pattern. This is a continuation pattern meaning the dollar should continue higher once this pause is complete.
Gold Futures Trading Trend – 60 Minute Candle Chart As you can see from the chart below gold has made a short term bottom and is trading at a major resistance level. The question is, does gold reverse and head sharply lower or does it break through the resistance level?
Could this be the start of a new leg higher or a C wave lower (ABC retrace)? I hope it is an ABC retrace which is a bullish price pattern and it flushes out the weak positions before heading higher.
These are questions no one knows for sure but understanding where the current price is trading and that volatility could pick up very quickly in the next couple days is crucial. When volatility is about to increase managing your open positions or adjusting any possible new trades is an important part of being a successful trader.
Rule #1 Keep overall risk per trade low If volatility is about to increase I usually trade smaller positions unless I am in the zone and feeling the markets each and every move.
Rule #2 Never let a winning trade turn into a loser I scale out of positions a little quicker during volatile times to lock in a small profit (20-30% of position) which minimizes my overall risk. This also alleviates some stress as you now have a small profit and you feel good mentally.
Crude Oil – Daily Trend Trading Chart Many of us have had a great run with oil. Some of us traded the USO fund which is equivalent to buying oil at $71. Volatility was high during the time of the trade so we scaled out of the position at $75, $77.50 and $80. Some of you still have a small core position still in place which is fantastic to see!
Currently oil looks long in the teeth and ready for a pullback which could end up working perfect with Friday’s Economic news. Only time will tell so lets take it one candle at a time.
Commodity Trend Trading Conclusion: In short, this is the first week of the year with light volume as traders get back in the groove and wait for 2010’s first big economic news to hit the wires. No many of us want to stick their necks out just yet.
I don’t know what will happen but my thoughts are the news will be positive, even if its not. Some very well educated individuals think the unemployment numbers are false giving everyone the impression things are getting better. I don’t really know what to think, but I did just see Mr. Moores most recent file on Tuesday and I think it is very possible the US is pulling a long con on Americans. All I can say is thank god I’m Canadian Eh! lol
Anyways if the numbers are positive we will see money move into the US dollar, gold and oil will reverse back down. Stocks I think are decoupling from the inverse relationship with the dollar and if that is the case stocks should do well.
Trading before big news can be deadly so I continue wait until Friday or next week before doing much.
