Which Chart Is More Bullish?

Comments(6)

First off I want to get to my timing system and say it went bullish today. I excited my remaining shorts (both were down today so that was a good thing) and have the green light to start to look for long entries. The first four stocks that have shown up on my bullish scans tonight are below. All are overbought and any entry should be on a pullback.

AVGO CRUS OVTI SUN

When I look at the charts below it’s very hard to imagine that this market is going to move higher with any type of sustainability, but I have to have faith in my system. Now, how I get into those stocks I mentioned above is when they pullback, and then I’ll start building positions. Should my system whipsaw back into bear mode before I get a chance to buy these stocks then I’ll just refrain from buying any long positions. In the back of my mind that’s what I think will happen, given the market appears to be overbought and my market timing system just barely made it to bull mode.

That’s all I have for now as our middle daughter is graduating from high school tonight and I have to jet now. Hope you all have a great night.

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Food Sector Could BO To All Time Highs

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This sector caught my eye today with the following stocks leading the way:

CPO ADM GMCR HOGS HAIN HRL

We could see an extremely bullish breakout if the market firms up and moves higher. The big problem right now is that we’re just waffling around the June highs on the Nasdaq and we could really go either way. The best thing to do now is to build your watchlists of both longs and shorts and wait for a decisive move. What I’m pointing out here with the Food Products Index is a more anticipatory move.

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PSA Still a Bear

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Family Pic Minus One

Comments(6)

Here is a picture from yesterday’s Graduation. It was crazy after the ceremonies with everybody wanting to get pictures with Arielle. The really little one in the picture is our girls half-sister. We agreed this was one of the better pics so I decided I’d share so you all can put a face to a name.

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Drifting Higher

Comments(4)

I’m seeing enough positive things in the Nasdaq that leads me to believe we’re going to move higher. How far exactly I can’t say, but my signals are now bullish and the ability of the markets to stay above the June highs is encouraging. Right now I’d say we have about 50 points of upside before we’ll be able to determine if this is going to move above that area of resistance.

Everybody is going to talk about the volume issue and I realize it is the elephant in the room, but this is the summer and volume is often lower. Add in the completely obvious head and shoulder pattern that is developing and it’s easy to be a bear now. The main problem with this angle is that the market never rewards the obvious. 

If we break down from the little area of consolidation, all bets may be off. However we’re more likely to break out in the direction we’ve been moving over the last week. And if you want to stay out of this market, try the gold market as it just broke out and should be a good trade from here on out.

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Short Capital Gain Tax V/s Intra day Tax

Whether day trading is considered as short term trading and the same tax rate is applicable?What about the short term capital gains on profit made by me on intraday trading in stocks ?
How and when would i have to pay the short term capital gains. Is it allowed to deduct the STT paid, broker charges and AMC charges from my tax liability?

NO there is difference between the two day trading is considered as speculative income and you have to pay more on day trading as compared to short term gains.Share Trading is not speculation but Day Trading Square off the transaction in same day in Shares in speculation.Profit from delivery transactions and derivative trades is Non-speculative while profit or loss from jobbing is speculative in nature.Intraday trading in Cash segment is deemed as speculation, same as lottery or betting on horse racing.The tax rate applicable on profits from speculation income is flat 30%.

For calculating income-tax on short-term capital gain of listed securities, you are governed by section 111A of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Section 111A of the Income tax Act provides that those equity shares or equity oriented funds which have been sold in a stock exchange and securities transaction tax is chargeable on such transaction of sale then the short term capital gain arising from such transaction will be chargeable to tax

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Asian Stock Gains As China Allows Yuan To Gain on Dollar

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What is Average Stock brokers salary ? How can i get in this field?

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Too Far Too Fast?

There were good positive signals last week (see the "Is it Recovery?" post on June 13, 2010) and we had positive trading this week. I guess, now (as there always was, is and always will be) the same traditional question is "What is the next?"

By summarizing cons and pros of mine technical analysis I may say that the longer-term technical indicators suggest possibility of further recovery and shorter-term technical indicators point to a possibility of move down.

From one side we had a strong correction and it would be logical to see a strong recovery. From other side there are worries about Europe and, as I already mentioned before, the stock market run "too far and too fast" in period from March 2009 until April 2010 (CheckS&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 charts). The U.S. economy did not do as well as the Wall Street. I would consider that there could be a possibility that the market was pushed too far up by big institutional traders (hedge funds and big guys) - the same as during the stock market crash the market was (on my opinion) pushed down too far by the same "fellows".

From the technical analysis prospective, as I mentioned above, the longer-term indicators suggest possibility of further up-move. We may see positive money flow, volatility slowly declines, etc. The only thing that bothers me is that I have not seen high volume at the beginning of the current recovery. High volume at the beginning of a recovery usually suggests that the big institutional traders (those who run the market) expect strong up-move and do not mind invest into the market which is on the rise from the recent support. The trading volume over the past week was low (actually regular) which would not indicate greedy buying. I do not want to tell that this is the end of the recovery. We may see some drop down and then further run towards new highs. There is a possibility of such scenario and technical analysis points to that at at this moment. However, if "big money" do not believe in strong recovery, for me it's difficult to believe in it either. Furthermore, I would be cautious and monitor stock market sentiment more closely.

Posted byTraderJoeat6:46 PM

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Dollar Looks Strong, Albeit Overbought

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The US Dollar actually looks extremely attractive from the long side. Not at this exact moment….but after a pullback….and only if the pullback is orderly. Those two things have to occur before I’ll consider investing in this vehicle, however there are a lot of good things going on with this chart that suggests the dollar could rally. It almost seems strange to consider this because the dollar has been so beaten up for so long.

This scenario seems extremely plausible because weakness in the dollar could trigger a relief rally in the general markets. This could be short lived and if the dollar firms up it could cause the markets to plunge to new yearly lows. It almost fits together to well…

Higher highExcellent MACD and RSI actionRallied right up to resistanceThe only factor to consider is the pullback

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Sector Winner

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There’s not a whole lot to report in terms of market signals as my indicators are still bearish. They’re improved, but still no need to go long at the moment. I just wanted to look at the day’s winner in terms of % mover and ask you if this looks like a chart pattern that you would feel comfortable buying? It’s possible we rally some more, but this chart in my opinion does not have a good edge in terms of going long. 

I just checked on the 5 biggest winners within the sector (PCX ANR MEE ICO ACI) and they all have below average volume. When you add in the anemic volume on the indexes today it paints a much bleaker picture.

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Downside Day

Comments(2) 93% of today’s volume was upside. Now if this market is going to rally longer than 1-2 days it must break out of the pattern that it’s been in on the chart below. Every time it hits the moving average it reverses.

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16 Rules to Increase Your Equity Curve

I was going through some old emails this morning, trying to zenify my inbox and came across this ancient list that I saved from a forum I was a part of years ago. I always liked these rules for their simplicity and I think they can benefit some of you, if only in the form of a gentle reminder of what you should be doing…or not doing.

 

1. Market direction is the most important thing in determining a stock’s
probable direction.

2. Price and Volume action are more important than a jillion indicators and
complex theories, no matter how cool they may be.

3. Don’t miss the forest (broad market) for the trees (individual stocks).

4. Don’t anticipate. Wait for confirmation.

5. Don’t trade contrary to the market’s direction.

6. Don’t try to

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Great Lesson on the RSI

Comments(2)

I even picked up a few nuggets with this video. Must see video here. I’m off to enjoy some of this Vancouver sun!

Robert Kiosaki has an even more bearish view than Christian:

Clearing the smoke

The market’s response is proof that it isn’t fooled by the smoke and mirrors. The smart money is exiting the market

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Vix in a Healthy Pullback

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With the markets rally this week I wanted to look and see if the Vix was telling us anything.  To me this looks like nothing more than a healthy correction and it has 3 key things going for it that signals the downtrend in the markets is going to resume. I can also say this with my proprietary indicators remaining bearish and I believe if this market was really going to take of to the upside I would have already received a buy signal.

34 ema support has been strong. Yes we breached it on Friday, and it could just as easily fall to it’s 50ema. But so far no warning signs there.RSI has remained above 40. Typically the fluctuations between 40-80 are normal for a bull market.ADX has remained positive and extremely strong.

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Quantitative Easing Dead Ahead

Comments(2) I can’t even begin to imagine what another $5 Trillion QA will do to the future generations, and what they’ll be responsible to pay back in interest. Gordon Long makes a good case for an extremely bleak economy where the Government controls just about every aspect of our lives.

I wouldn’t normally recommend an article so doom and gloom, but he’s suggesting a rally here heading into 2011, then the other shoe to drop. That could very well be what happens.

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Nasdaq Ceiling Could be 20ema

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An opening gap higher (futures pointing to this) would almost put us above the 20ema, which has been some significant resistance since the market collapse in early May. Now is when we’ll see what kind of traction this double bottom has. All of my indicators are still pointing down.

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Not Much New to Report

Comments(0)

Stocks appear to be hitting a ceiling. I still have a sell signal on the markets and yet I didn’t add any new shorts today because my signal could turn bullish any day. Therefore I’m sitting tight on what I have until the picture clears up a bit. Tonight was a good night to take a break from the markets and finish up some other projects I’ve been working on.

--

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Asian Stocks On the Rise

Global equities markets are set for a fourth consecutive session of gains, with the growth-sensitive materials sector likely to be in the driver’s seat again after being one of the most heavily sold sectors in recent months as investors cut exposure to riskier assets, fearing the worldwide recovery was losing momentum.European leaders will meet on Thursday to set out proposals to convince financial markets they can contain a debt crisis by agreeing to tighten economic policy coordination and strengthen budget discipline.
U.S. crude for July rose 77 cents to $74.55 a barrel at 10:51 p.m. EDT, still down 14 percent from a 19-month high above $87 in early May. ICE Brent gained 58 cents to $74.93.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 91.85 yen in Tokyo on Monday from 91.77 yen in New York late Friday. The euro climbed to $1.2175 from $1.2125.

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Golden Hello

This term is used in case where employee of the competing company is persuaded to leave his /her present company and join the other firm which is giving offer.

It is like a bonus which is paid by the offering/hiring company to attract the employees from rival firms.

Example

Money can be more than twice of what would have been that employees average salary for eg in feb 2010 Marks & Spencer had said to Marc Bolland to lure Bolland away from Morrisons.This deal was around

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Excel Spreadsheet for Fundamental analysis (Ratios)

If you are looking to analyze a stock on the basis of fundamentals using excel and just thinking from where to start off then here is the simple answer to your problem.Here are some handpicked spreadsheets which will make your work more easier and will auto calculate the different ratios.

Ratio Tree – A simple yet comprehensive tree of ratios for most businesses – Strategy Expert

As soon as you change values you will be getting automated calculated ratios such as gross margin,current and quick ratio,f asset turnover and others like Dividend yield etc.

Ratio Calculator (zip) – Calculates a standard set of ratios based on input of financial data.

Ratio Reminder (zip) – Simple worksheet of comparative financials and corresponding ratios

It consists different ratio analysis for short and long term solvency like Debt ratio,Total assets to equity,Total liabilities to total assets,Total liabilities to equity,Interest bearing debt to total assets,Interest bearing debt to equity,Long term debt to long term capital,Return on assets,Return on equity,Gross margin and others

SLG Ratio Master (exe) – Excel workbook for creating 25 key performance ratios.

This is actually a shareware product.In which you have to  enter data from your company’s
financial documents into the appropriate worksheets.  That’s it!.It automatically creates four pre-formatted, printable reports one for each of the ratio categories.

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Advance/Decline

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Money Flow

I mentioned a week ago in the "Advance/Decline" post on February 22, 2010 "... when you take a look at lower time-frames, you may notice that many indicators are overbought in short-term, by signalizing a possibility of some retracement, at least in a short-term. The stock market (majority of indexes) right now is in the range of its side-way trading where it was in period from November 10, 2009 until December 18, 2009 This is another factor that may suggest a possibility of staking in this range for a while...". In the past week we have seen exactly this scenario when the indexes (S&P 500, DJI and Nasdaq 100) stuck in side-way trading. One day we saw indexes dropping down and the next day the strong recovery moved them back to the November-December 2009 highs. Then, we had another day of strong decline followed by another strong recovery. At the end of the week the indexes are almost back at the November-December 2009 highs

Now, after a week of volatile trading, I think a correct question for technical analysis would be to ask if the longer-term indicators (that were bullish last week) are still bullish enough to push the indexes higher toward the next possible "pit-stop". Another question regarding shorter-term technical indicators would be to check if those ones that were overbought in short-term last week are still overbought.

From technical analysis prospective, by taking a look at the longer-term index charts (1- and 2-year S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and DJI charts) I would say the same I said a week ago. The January's decline was pretty strong and during that decline we had very strong bearish volume surges and extremely negative advance/decline readings. If you check (Chaikin , Index or SBV) during that decline you may see that the stock market was strongly oversold during that time and accumulated oversold power still has not been released completely. Because of that, I would continue assuming that the odds are still good for further recovery towards January, 2010 highs.

Taking a look at shorter time-frame charts, I would not say that the technical indicators are overbought as they were overbought a week ago. Majority of technical indicators on the 60-day chart are slightly bullish or neutral by suggesting possibility from flat to rising markets. However, you should remember that shorter-term outlook may change any time during a trading session on any day. Furthermore, I would recommend monitoring the shorter-term charts for changes in a sentiment during the trading hours.

Overall, I would say that results of my technical analysis are still Bullish and I see good odds of market moving higher. On the other hand, there is a possibility of volatile side-way trading in the same range the stock market is now. In November-December 2009 the indexes (NASDAQ 100, DJI and S&P 500) have been in side-way action for a month. Now, they have being moving side-way at the same levels for a week only. So, there are still some odds we may see further side-way move.

Posted byTraderJoeat12:27 AM

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Low Volume and Volatility

Another week of bullish trading and indexes (S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and DJI) have climbed close to their January 2010 highs. In my "Money Flow" post on March 1, 2010 I wrote "I would say that results of my technical analysis are still Bullish and I see good odds of market moving higher. On the other hand, there is a possibility of volatile side-way trading in the same range the stock market is now". This exactly what happened this week - three day of flat, side-way trading and then up-move to the January's highs.

On January 31, 2010 in my "Technical Analysis" post I have talked about coming reversal and on February 4 and 7, 2010 in "NYSE Advance/Decline" and "S&P 500 Chart" I confirmed that the market hit the bottom. In one of my posts I mentioned that at that time the market was strongly oversold and it had power to climb back to the November-December 2009 flat levels and then to the January 2010 highs.

As a rule, when I look at the longer-term charts, I'm not trying to where the market is going to be in a month or two. When a trader (technical analyst) is trying to say where the market is going to be in a month he/she could run into situation when he or she can become relaxed and miss some important and critical events. I look at charts every day (during the trading session and after the market close). When I look at longer-term charts I have made a habit do not analyze where the market /indexes or stock could be in a month but rather say how strongly overbought or oversold market is and what is currently moving longer-term trend. I'm not stating that everybody has to do it, yet on my own experience I found that this is the best way to come to the longer-term charts and longer-term trends.

When somebody tells you that his technical analysis results tell him that the Dow Jones Industrials (

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High Volume and Volatility

Last week (see "Low Volume and Volatility" post on March 7, 2010) I have talked about possibility of flat trading as indexes come to the January 2010 high levels. Now the indexes are at those levels. The past week could be considered slightly positive (the indexes gained modestly over the week), however we may see slow tuning into sideway trading. Actually, that DOW Jones Industrials (

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Technical Analysis

, QQQQ, SPY, DOW, trading, stock, chart, stock market, options trading. Stock Market Analysis, QQQQ Options, SPY options, trading system, trading strategy, stock market trading

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Nasdaq Health Care

I'll try to make short post this week. Last week in my "Technical Analysis" post on March 21, 2010 I have stated "Overall technical analysis became more bearish over the last week, mainly because of the Friday's decline. Many technical indicators started to show bearish signs. Yet, I would not disregard high volume during the Friday's decline. This volume may push indexes back to the most recent highs." - yes, we had push back, yet the market dropped down and the stock market (Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and DJI indexes) is where it was two weeks ago (on March 17, 2010)

As I mentioned two weeks ago "I would prefer to stay in cash. On such overbought indexes I think it would be too risky to trade "Long" and 1% of gain over five day does not worth a risk. At the same time it could be a little bit early to open a short position." (see "High Volume and Volatility" post on March 14, 2010) I would continue to stay on the same note. It is better to stay in cash during uncertain market then risk for one percent move.

Yes, the volume and volatility suggest that the market is predisposed for a correction down, yet, I would wait for a conformational signals. Taking into account that we had another week of almost side-way trading I may say the the market became overbought even stronger. The longer we stay at top (possible resistance level) the more shares (bigger volume) are traded at high price and the more overbought market is. Actually, over the last week we had some increase in volatility as well which is a bearish sign. Should we see further increase in volatility it would increase (on my opinion) the odds of a correction.

Just a thought: we still have not seen reaction of the Wall Street on the Health Care Bill... Personally, I would try staying away from buying stocks of insurance and health care companies. If you have access to index, check it - this index only 1 point below its highest historical level which was hit in 2008. Pretty strong rally for this index over the last 12 months. Do you think it will continue to go up???

Posted byTraderJoeat10:58 PM

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Resistance Coridor?

Two weeks of side-way trading are behind (for some indexes it was a third week). As I mentioned last week in my "Nasdaq Health Care" post (March 28, 2010) "The longer we stay at top (possible resistance level) the more shares (bigger volume) are traded at high price and the more overbought market is."

I think, there is no question that we are at some resistance corridor. There should not be discussion that positive money flow since February 2010 has pushed stock market into overbought condition. The only question that could be placed now is where the market will go from this side-way trading. Will it go into a correction (which I consider would be healthy)? or will it continue to go up on ... positive unemployment report (nothing more positive comes to mind)???

One of the simplest strategies (that could be used in the current situation) is waiting for indexes (S&P 500, DJI andNasdaq 100) to break their resistance corridor lines. Over the last two weeks, the upper line of the resistance corridor could be drawn through March 25 and April 1, 2010 highs. If the indexes break this line on their up-move then we may start to think about resumption of up-trend. The lower resistance corridor line could be drawn through March 26, 20010 low. If the indexes drop below this line we may start to think about a correction down.

On my opinion, this is very simple (no complicated technical analysis has to be performed) and very conservative approach. The gap between upper and lower lines of the resistance corridor is only about 2%. Yes, the market has been in up-move for two months. Yes, the indexes are overbought. Yes, many mid-term indicators suggest good odds of correction down. However, I am not a follower of guessing the highest points to sell and lowest points to buy, especially in case of mid- and long-term trends where 1-2 percents are not as important.

There could be other strategies used to confirm the exit from the current sideway trading. Personally, in addition to the resistance lines, I would watch volatility (increase in volatility would indicate increase in bearish mood among investors) and money flow (in the current moment money flow is on the way to become negative).

Posted byTraderJoeat10:46 PM

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Russell 2000 Volume

I usually do not post during the week. So, just a quick note for those who track indexes, especially for those who trade Russell 2000 index and its derivatives (Russell 2000 emini...):

Check the volume in the Russell 2000 sector over the last two trading sessions - I have not see something like that in the Russell 2000 sector since September 18-19, 2008...Posted byTraderJoeat10:04 PM

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Big Volume

Another day on the high volume - now, we may see it on almost all indexes. Still, the Russell 2000 index has the biggest volume surge.

I think something is going on. As you know, volume is always two side transactions and the number of sold shares is always the same as number of bought shares which is equal to volume. Price moves up because there are traders willing to buy at higher than the current market price. surge at high price means that somebody (who has huge number of shares – could be institutional investors) decided to dump those shares to bullish traders and fix profit.Posted byTraderJoeat9:47 PM

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Volume and Advance Decline

I guess now, at the end of the week there should be no questions that the high volume surge may lead to the shift in supply demand balance and reversal. In current case, strong volume surge during the price up-move pushed the market into situation when those bullish traders who wanted to buy bought and the number of bullish traders who still wants to buy became too small to continue feeding price up-move. As I mentioned in my "Big Volume" post on April 14, 2010: "institutional investors decided to dump ... to bullish traders...". The number of dumped shares on April 13-15, 2010 was quite big and basically it changed the balance of bullish and bearish traders.

Of course, the one may say the market dropped down because of the "Goldman Sachs". I do not consider that this is the reason for the drop we had (unless institutional traders, who dumped on April 13-15, knew about this far ahead and they manipulated the market). Of course, it may amplified the decline, yet, it would not happened if the market would not be overbought. The market declines after high volume surge during price up-move. It has to decline to restore supply/demand balance. In the same way, the Google shares declined despite the record profit.

The media will always explains any market movement as a result of some news. Media sells news and if nobody relays on news then media will not be needed. That is why they do it. Personally, I do not build any trading decision on news releases. Following news release, on my opinion, is equivalent to obeying the commands of those who try to manipulate the stock market.

Coming back to strong decline we had on Friday April 16, 2010, I would say that it was not an ordinary decline. The decline was quite strong and volume during this decline was even stronger than the volume generated on April 13-15 during the price up-move.

As a rule, the stock market (when I mention stock market I assume main indexes: S&P 500, DJI and Nasdaq 100) does not crash suddenly, especially after prolonged in time advance. It is custom to see side-way trading and increase in volatility first. That is why I would assume that we may see the indexes moving back to their recent highs. The volume surge during the Friday's decline itself may push indexes higher. The third factor pointing to possibility of rebound up is critically low advance/decline volume and ratio reading on Friday 16, 2010.

Overall, we still may see some push down, however, I do not expect Friday's decline to grown into strong correction, at least not at this time.

Posted byTraderJoeat10:10 PM

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Volume and Volatility

It's nice to be right. In the last two paragraph on my last report (see "Volume and Advance Decline Post" on Sunday April 18, 2010) I mentioned "...the stock market ... does not crash suddenly ... It is custom to see side-way trading and increase in volatility ... I would assume that we may see the indexes moving back to their recent highs. The volume surge during the Friday's decline itself may push indexes higher. The third factor pointing to possibility of rebound up is critically low advance/decline volume and ratio reading on Friday 16, 2010 ... I do not expect Friday's decline to grown into strong correction, at least not at this time."

The indexes (S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, DJI and others) have not just bounced back to the most recent highs, but many of them run over by hitting new high levels.

At the current moment many investors (I guess) asking for how long and how far will the up-rally (started in the first half of February, 2008) go? I bet many traders (including me) expected down move in the March 2010 during the side-way trading (see the "Resistance Corridor" post on April 3, 2010). Yet, the market continued its rally - that is why it is recommended to be sometimes a little bit more conservative (see last three paragraphs of the same "Resistance Corridor" post).

Now, by the end of the week many technical indicators remain positive by suggesting good odds for further up-move. Stochastics and RSI are above 70 and 80 lines respectfully. Advance/Decline volume and issues are positive as well. Money Flow indicators remains positive as well.

Despite all the positive indicators, there are two things that are worth paying attention to: high daily volume over the last two weeks and increase in volatility. The last two weeks of trading (starting from April 13, 2010) has been supported by high daily volume: huge volume surges during the April 13-15 up-move, even stronger volume surges on April 16 when indexes dropped down and still strong high volume surges during another strong up-move on April 17 - until now.

The second negative factor is an increase in volatility. As a rule increase in volatility suggests bearish mood and usually higher volatility is witnessed during a decline. This is not a good thing to see market rising on high volatility... At the current moment volatility raised to the level it was in January 2010 (during correction down). And increase in volatility on high volume during up-move is not very good sentiment...

Even technical analysis results suggest good odds of further up-move, because of high volume and increase in volatility, I would be very cautious. If volatility continues to grow or stay on the same level and we see sudden strong drops and strong bounces up, then I would expect to see a correction which could be stronger that the one we had in January 2010.

P.S. For monitoringVolume, Advance/Decline data and volatility for major US indexes and Exchanges (NYSE, S&P 500, DJI, Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000, etc) I would recommend visiting MarketVolume.com web site.

Posted byTraderJoeat11:46 AM

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Volume, Advance Decline and Volatility

I have decided to make a quick post - something that I usually do not do during the week. As a rule, I update my blog during week-ends, yet, there is some stuff on my opinion worth mentioning.

I would recommend checking three things:
a) today's daily volume on indexes (Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, DJI and others);
b) advance/decline issues and volume readings on the S&P 500 and NYSE;
c) volatility level on indexes (the same set - Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, DJI)

You may try to compare today's decline with decline we had on April 16, 2010:
1. The same as on April 16, we had very high volume surges during the indexes' decline, yet these volume surges are not as big as those that we saw on April 16, 2010 (today's volume signal is weaker).
2. The same as on April 16, we had today extremely low advance/decline issues and volume readings on the S&P 500 and NYSE indexes, yet today's readings were much lower (more extreme - today's advance/decline signal is stronger).
3. Current volatility is growing and is higher than we had on April 16, 2010.

The first two points above would suggest bounce up which could be similar to the one we had after decline on April 16, 2010. The last point (volatility) suggests that we could be on an edge of a strong correction. I think, there will be a reaction on the first two signals (volume and advance/decline signals) as some up move. I would not try to guess now how strong this up-move could be. If I do not see an up-move reaction then I would not expect to see a strong correction.

Posted byTraderJoeat10:49 PM

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Volatility

During the week I had an unscheduled post. Something that I do not usually do, yet signals were very nice. I mentioned there: "suggest bounce up which could be similar to the one we had after decline on April 16, 2010 ... there will be a reaction ... as some up move. I would not try to guess now how strong this up-move could be. If I do not see an up-move reaction then I would not expect to see a strong correction." (See "Volume, Advance Decline and " post on April 27, 2010).

We had bounce up. It was not as strong and not as prolonged as the bounce after April 16, 2010, however up-move on April 29, 2010 was quite strong and many indexes (Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones Industrial, S&P 500, etc) bounced up, close to their highs seen on April 26, 2010. The current bounce up could be considered very nice from the "Correction" point of view. The reaction on high bearish volume surge and oversold advance/decline readings (seen on April 27, 2008) was strong and short-lived (indexes bounced down on April 30, 2010) - in other words - very volatile. Overall, the past week have added to the and right now the level is quite bearish.

In general, since April 12, 2010 the stock market could be considered in the volatile side-way move. Taking into account , I would assume that the odds are on the side of the development of a correction down. Big bullish money flow since the end of February 2010 has pushed the stock market into overbought condition and it is in the favor of correction down. Many of technical studies point to correction as well. I think, if the indexes go below lows seen on April 28, 2010 it could be as another confirmation of correction.

There is only one thing that makes me cautious - this is high volume during the side-way volatile trading that we have been seen since April 12. It looks like there are two big institutional forces fight each other: one institutional "big money bag" is trying to push market down by selling at high levels and another institutional "big money bag" starts to buy in huge volumes as soon as indexes drop a few percents down. Big volume always indicates actions of big players, and there is no doubt (for me) that now, we see in actions these big players. However, if before they were playing together, it looks like now they are playing against each other. It difficult to say who from them will win, yet it looks like, since Friday’s decline was on lover volume, that bearish traders are taking over.

It is difficult to recommend anything right now. You cannot set tight stop-loss in such volatile market - it could be eaten very easily. The only thing I may recommend is watching technical indicators, review your position at least on daily basis and adjust it in accordance to new coming volume, and advance decline data.

Posted byTraderJoeat6:20 PM

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Greece with Media versus Volume and Technical Analysis

Very nice day. If you take a look at my Sunday's post (See "Volatility" post on may 2, 2010) and you will understand why I am in a good mood.

In my Sunday's post I wrote "Taking into account volatility, I would assume that the odds are on the side of the development of a correction down. Big bullish money flow since the end of February 2010 has pushed the stock market into overbought condition and it is in the favor of correction down." and it could look skeptical yesterday, yet, today it is completely another story.

It was interesting to watch financial news today. News always can find an "explanation" of event. If the market goes down the media states that investors are disappointed by FED keeping rates unchanged (if the rates stay unchanged it tells that the economy cannot afford higher rates). If the market goes up media states that investors are happy that FED keeps rates unchanged (low rates stimulate economy). There are always bad and there are always good news on the stock market. Media's job is to pick up news that fit the current market movement, which should not be very difficult, especially taking into account that it is done after the fact. In this way they always look smart and professional and they are "never wrong".

Today media blame Greece financial situation about stock market drop. Common, Greece has been all over the media over the last half of year and state that investors became worried about Greece today (not yesterday and not a month ago) is funny.

The market went down because it was overbought. Over the last two weeks I repeatedly mentioned about increasing volatility and high volume as an indication of coming changes. Whoever (from big institutional investors) was worried about "Greece" have left the market within the last two weeks. If you check the index volume (NYSE volume, S&P 500 volume, DJI volume and especially Russell 2000 volume) you will see it clearly. Now we see only a result of institutional traders' actions over the past two weeks.

P.S. Volume indicators continue to be my favorite tools in technical analysis.

Posted byTraderJoeat9:39 PM

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Market Crash

Very nice volume we had today during the crash. It does not matter what was the reason, "computer glitch" or Greece crisis, the market hit down eat, all stop-losses and when there were nothing more to eat it bounced strongly up. Such strong volume means that the institutional traders were buying from those who placed stop-loss orders. All this high volume mean that, now, most likely we have oversold condition when we may have luck of bearish traders to support further decline.

It was crazy day, It was almost impossible to buy (many orders bounced back canceled), still, I like it, because such huge volume surges are clear signals of possible reversal. We still may see some volatility and maybe some decline, yet, I would expect to see the indexes (DJI, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and other) moving up.

I'll try to post my view of a "computer glitch" during the week-end.

Posted byTraderJoeat8:45 PM

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Stock Market Crash

The on Thursday May 6, 2010 is quite interesting. Someone may even call it very suspicious by the following reasons:
1. It happened when market was already in decline.
2. The indexes dropped to the lows seen in February 2010 - where the majority of stop-losses were set (support levels always were sensitive for many professional and retail traders).
3. It looks like somebody new that something has to happened and that somebody fix profit in the second half of April 2010 - see high volume surges in that period at the resistance.
4. The huge number of stop-losses were traded and somebody bought them - see huge volume during the crash on May 6 - 7, 2010.

Isn't it suspicious that somebody was fixing profit in huge volumes in the April and than we had "human or computer error by accident" and then somebody was buying in huge volumes during the crash...

I think that, now, after "Goldman Sachs Scandal" everybody knows that it is "OK" for a broker to trade against it's clients. I'm just wondering: is it true that brokers know where the majority of stop-losses of their client-traders are set?

When the Government set a new Law for Credit card Companies, before that Law took affect, almost all credit companies raised rates and introduced additional various fees. When The Government pass Health Care Bill  by which pre-existing condition should be treated, some insurance companies started to through out clients who have pre-existing condition before the new Law is in force. Now, the Government is working on the Wall Street Bill, I am wondering how Wall Street will do the last days of its freedom???

All the above are just guesses and we, simple people and simple traders, will never know what really happened. However, what we can do is to monitor through volume the action and manipulation of big  institutional traders. The first rule is that if you see increase in volume that means that the big traders are in action. If you may spot it then you may try to interpret it and build your trading strategy accordingly.

P.S. Tomorrow I'll try to post some technical analysis points and my view on possible further trend development.

Posted byTraderJoeat8:27 PM

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Oversold?

When the market goes down it triggers stop-losses set by traders. The job of a broker is to close a position when stop-loss order is triggered. A broker does not have to close a trader's position at stop-loss price - a position should be closed at any available price. Still, under usual circumstances if a stop is hit a position is closed at stop-price. However, if a big number of stop-loss orders are hit in a short time span and brokers have to close position of many traders and sell billions of shares and there are no enough buyers for these shares than those shares crash down until they are price low enough to attract buyers to buy them. That is how market may suddenly crash and that what most likely happened on Thursday May 6, 2010.

Now from technical analysis prospective we have strongly oversold volume and advance/decline signals. You may see very strong bearish volume surges in all market sectors: in NYSE, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, DJI, etc. Actually, NYSE Composite trading volume on May 6, 2010 is the highest daily volume since October 10, 2008. At the same time you may see strongly oversold advance/decline readings on the NYSE Composite and S&P 500 indexes on May 6-7, 2010.

There is no doubt that the market has become strongly oversold during the recent crash down. There is enough oversold power to push indexes strongly higher and I would expect to see this move. However, majority technical indicators remain bearish indicating bearish mood among traders. In this case it could be good idea to wait at least for a few signals that would confirm a reversal. Personally I would be looking for decrease in volatility and change in the direction of the money flow.

Posted byTraderJoeat6:32 PM

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Volatility still Up

As expected, we had a strong bounce up from the oversold levels.

I will be short:

Today's rally up is logical reaction on high volume surges during May 6-7, 2010 decline.

The good news is that today's trading session daily volume on all indexes (NYSE Composite, Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500, DJI, etc) is lower than the daily volume we had on May 6-7, 2010. We may see changes in the money flow toward positive readings. Many technical indicators became bullish suggesting a possibility of further recovery.

Not very nice news is that the volatility remains on high level and still is raising. Today's advance was quite strong - we have not see such strong daily gain since 2008th stock market crash. Because of that, Even I consider that the odds on the side of up-move, I would be very cautious and I would not be strongly bullish until I see some decline in volatility.

Posted byTraderJoeat10:14 PM

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Advance Decline Analysis

Overall, we had quite a positive week with the exception of the last trading session on Friday May 14, 2010 when indexes declined strongly: S&P 500 - 1.85%, Nasdaq 100 - 1.97%, DJI - 1.49%, NYSE Composite - 2.15%, etc.

The good news is that it was not 3% or stronger (as we had before) decline and biggest part of trading session on Friday was in side-way range. The bad news is that it still was a strong decline and it pushed volatility trend up again.

Let's take a look at the Friday's decline from the prospective of my technical analysis and what I would expect to see. I emphasize on my and I because it is my personal opinion and my personal analysis which may not necessary goes along with analysis of other "professional" traders, investors and or advisors. I always recommend (before relaying on anyone's analysis or recommendations) checking the charts and doing some analysis by yourself and only then you can create your own opinion which may be based on the analysis results of others or may not. But it will be your opinion and at the end you will be investing your money.

Below I tried to summaries negative and positive aspects of Friday's decline and how it possibly may affect future trend.

Advances and Declines: We had extremely low NYSE Composite and S&P 500 Advance/Decline reading as a rule such low readings suggest strongly oversold condition and in most cases we may see strong bounce up after this. This is a good sign and we may see bounce up and recovery to the April’s high levels and even higher.

The bad thing about it is that this is fifth occurrence of such low advance/decline readings over past one-month period: on 4/16/2010, on 4/27/2010, on 5/4/2010, on 5/7/2010 and on Friday 5/14/2010.

After April 16, 2010 we had 5-session up-move; after 4/27/2010 2 days of strong recovery; after 5/4/2010 no bounce up and after 5/7/2010 we had 3 days of strong up move. Now after 5/14/2010 low advance/decline readings I would expect to see bounce up as well. Yet, the bad thing is that we witnessed too many such low advance/decline readings within short period of time. Usually it happens at the bottom of down-trends or before begging of a long-term downtrend. Such frequent occurrence of low advance/decline readings in many cases is considered as a pre-signal of possible radical changes in the longer-term trend.

I do not want to scary anyone that we are on the edge of new stock market crash. As I mentioned above, it could be played both ways. Personally, I would expect to see the indexes moving up to the April's highs and even higher, however, if this is not the case then I would be very cautious about longer-term trend.Volatility: Volatility on daily charts (1 bar

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Volume and Money Flow

The indexes did not bounce up (as I expected) after extremely lowadvance/decline readings seen on May 14, 2010. Last week I listed bad and good things, on my opinion, and if we compare the previous week decline with the recent week decline we may say that the difference is that the decline on May 20, 2010 was supported by big bearish volume surges. High volume surges during such decline are a very good sign to support extremely low advance decline reading.

Overall, there are several very strong signals as I see:

1. Extremely low NYSE Composite and S&P 500 advance decline readings on May 20, 2010 would suggest strongly oversold condition and possibility of up-move.

2. High volume on May 20-21, 2010 suggests that many investors started to buy attracted by low priced stocks.

3. On May 21, 2010 we may see change in the money flow toward bullish side.

4. McClellan Oscillator became positive which suggests that majority investors are focused on the advancing stocks.

5. The biggest positive signal for me is price's behavior on May 21, 2010. The indexes (Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, DJI and others) started session strongly down, during the first five minutes of trading they generated huge trading volumes and then on low volume the price went up. That tells me that the market went down to kill stop-loss orders and then when all stop-losses orders were eaten the price went up because of luck of bearish traders.

There is only one thing that on my opinion is not very nice - is a big number of low advance /decline reading over the short period of time. This is not a very good sign. Even if I am right and we will see a recovery, I would be very cautious and I would watch that recovery closely.

Posted byTraderJoeat7:45 PM

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Short Technical Analysis

Overall, the past week was positive on the market (see my "Volume and Money Flow" post on May 23rd, 2010). The only negative thing was the strong negative opening on Monday, May 24 of 2010. The first fifteen minutes of trading on that day were extremely bearish. Basically, because of these 15 minutes of bearish trading, the indexes (Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, DJI and other are only modestly higher than the previous week close on May 21, 2010.

This week I'm not as bullish as I was last week. Yes, taking a look at the longer term chart, the odds are good that we may see a recovery to the higher levels. However, on shorter-term charts we may see some bearish signs

What exactly makes me worry is that the volatility remains at high level and that many technical indicators (Money Flow indicators, Breadth Indicators, Stochastics, RSI, etc) on the hourly chart have turned into bearish.

Another thing that makes me worry is that during intraday trading at the end of the session on May 26, 2010 we had strong bearish volume surge. For short-term frame this volume was quite strong, however we did not see strong up-side reaction on that bearish volume. Only one day (on May 27, 2010) we had bullish trading. If we do not see up-side reaction on that volume tomorrow or the day after tomorrow then I would consider a possibility of retesting the Lows seen on May 25, 2010.

Posted byTraderJoeat10:18 PM

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Another Crash

As I mentioned in my previous post (see "Short Technical Analysis" post on May 31, 2010) "If we do not see up-side reaction on that volume tomorrow or the day after tomorrow then I would consider a possibility of retesting the Lows seen on May 25, 2010."  - we had side-way volatile trading at the beginning of the past week with strong decline on Friday, June 4 of 2010.

The Friday's decline wiped out almost all gain of the past two weeks. Now we are getting close to the May 25th bottom.

As with majority of the strong declines, the indexes (Nasdaq 100, NYSE Composite, DJI, S&P 500, etc) have generated strongly oversold signal: strong increase in volume during decline (volume surges) and extremely low Breadth (advance/decline) indicators readings. From one side these oversold signals indicate panic selling and possibility of shift in supply and demand balance which could lead to a bounce up.

From other side, we had too many similar signals (7 by my count) over the past month. In majority cases we had bounce up after such signals, however, all of them were short lived and the indexes are still at the bottom. Another negative factor is the high volatility level. We do not see a decline in volatility which tells that the stock market continues to be very sensitive and we may see any time other strong declines.

It is difficult to believe that we are going to face another stock market crash or strong recession. I would rather say that in period from March 2009 until April 2010 the stock market went too far and too fast (it was driven by institutional speculators and not by economy). The economy does not develop so fast and now it could be a time to level it up.

Posted byTraderJoeat5:08 PM

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Is it recovery?

By following my last week post (see "Another Crash" post on Sunday June 6, 2010) we had two days of decline (Monday-Tuesday) and then after the indexes (S&P 500, DJI, Nasdaq 100, etc) hit the May 25's lows they reversed and recovered.

Now, when the indexes are at their June 3rd high levels (S&P 500 and DJI, Nasdaq 100 is lower) the question could be asked whether we see bounce from these levels down and continuation of downtrend, or the indexes will continue to recover. To answer on this question, I think we have to take a look at higher timeframe charts.

By looking at 1-year and higher timeframe charts I may say that starting from the beginning of June, I may see slow change in the money flow. The same tendency could be seen in the sentiment defined by the  group of the Advance/Decline (breadth) indicators. This is a good point and would suggest that we may see a recovery toward May 12th highs.

The second positive sign is that the correction down (the market is right now) is quite strong. We had very strong bearish volume surges and we had strong oversold readings on many technical indicators. So, from the technical analysis point of view the stock market could be considered oversold which mean that it has a potential (the money that were pulled out from the market could be injected back) to go up.

The third positive point is that the trading volume is lower which could suggest that the period of panic actions could be over. The indexes did not drop below the bottom marked on May 25th and we did not see any strong bearish volume during June 4-8 decline. This is good and if we continue to see market going up easier (on weaker signals) then going down (on stronger signal) it could indicate that period of worst is over (at least for some time).

Still, the biggest negative sign is high volatility level. Starting from the end of May volatility did not increase, yet, it has not became lower as well. This suggests that even if we see a recovery toward May 12th high, if we do not see decline in volatility, it could be just a temporary recovery before other correction.

Posted byTraderJoeat7:23 PM

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UNG - What's Next

UNG (Natural Gas) appears to have put in a bottom in my opinion which means I am looking to get long this market at some point. The breakout area was at 780 so this area should now act as support if the trend of this market is indeed bullish.  Lets keep an eye on this level and see if it holds.

Posted byKevin 

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Must See Charts For The Stock Market

"https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin-CSMNdpF8K6urBWWl8ls5V5YUWQdNEE1PXzzymbhWmOtsaj7WG5kNqhDjALT9EwlVnhqMPY0t7AvU0OlS3gdh8q7F3XXDz7MV9fK5_J3ECLXtZtNtbliKan5UkX-W4rCQ2R0TAjcQOQy/s320/ALCAVOHC6HCAD27WGSCA13DKMPCAH4RCQSCA6V9RRCCAVGQ8J6CANJMC5BCA5SRQ8VCA1BBL1ECALE6BG1CA7149N7CAO766PSCAIZH401CASVSVWLCAKQ9ZR4CAMS72B0CAQPLPGGCAZMNMVNCA0UJ8KL.png" /

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UNG - Upside Target

UNG was strong today moving higher on decent volume. It appears that the next leg up for UNG is underway. The most obvious upside target for this leg up would be the 9.20 area which is where we find the 200 day moving average along with a minor resistance level.  

Posted byKevin 

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Stocks Open Higher But Sell Off Into The Close

Stocks gapped higher this morning but sold off late in the afternoon on news that credit rating agency Moody's lowered its rating on Greece's debt to junk status.
The S&P tested the high of this month today but was unable to close above this key level. You'll notice in the lower panel that the MACD is on a clear buy signal. Recently, the MACD signals on this chart have been good for several weeks once we have a decisive crossing which is what we have now. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Posted byKevin 

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