MARKET OBSERVATIONS FOR September 29, 2013: The stock market has declined steadily since its recent new closing Dow high. The most recent advance and decline have been between 14 and 17 days long. That timing pattern would suggest that the market still needs one more week of declining action in order to reach a bottom around October 8-10. In the meantime, the current list of relevant indicators suggests that an oversold condition will likely be met in the coming week. That being said, it looks like a buying opportunity is starting to shape up over the near term.
Key market indicators show the following:
For now, my advice for traders and investors to keep your powder dry in anticipation of a good buying opportunity in the next week or two. At this point, the sentiment has not changed significantly enough to warrant a bottom. But with a steady flow of negative news, the market can quickly change to one where savvy traders and investors can take intelligent risks to the upside.
“B
uying low-beta stocks is a common mistake investors make. Why would you ever want to own boring stocks? If the market goes down 40 percent for macro reasons, they’ll go down 20 percent. Wouldn’t you just rather own cash? And if the market goes up 50 percent, the boring stocks will go up only 10 percent. You have negatively asymmetric returns.”
Source: Schwager, Jack D. (2012-04-25). Hedge Fund Market Wizards. John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.
“I
f a stock is extremely oversold—say, the RSI is at a three-year low—it will get me to take a closer look at it. Normally, if a stock is that brutalized, it means that whatever is killing it is probably already in the price. RSI doesn’t work as an overbought indicator because stocks can remain overbought for a very long time. But a stock being extremely oversold is usually an acute phenomenon that lasts for only a few weeks..”
Source: Schwager, Jack D. (2012-04-25). Hedge Fund Market Wizards. John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.
MARKET OBSERVATIONS FOR August 17, 2013: The stock market had a big drop last week as it heads into its August bottom. From this bottom, we should see a new rally which will either form the right shoulder of a “head and shoulders top” or challenge the early August highs. But so far, this decline has been a confusing one to analyze and trade effectively. Time and cycle studies indicate that Monday or Tuesday should see the low for August, but it remains to be seen what kind of strength, if any, awaits investors and traders. And despite last week’s weakness, it is still entirely possible that the decline could resume in earnest. So watch your step out there, play it tight to the vest, and keep your bets (position sizes) small.
Key market indicators show the following:
For now, my advice for traders is to wait for the next oversold condition and then take positions for an upside move into the Fall. But last week’s unusual TRIN readings on this current decline, shows an absence of selling. This makes it anyone’s guess as to how much further the market will drop in the coming week. Perhaps this is one of those times when it’s best to just stand aside and let the market set itself up for a better percentage move.
“Do you know what happens in a bull market? Prices open up lower and then go up for the rest of the day. In a bear market, they open up higher and go down for the rest of the day. When you get to the end of a bull market, prices start opening up higher. Prices behave that way because in the first half hour it is only the fools that are trading [pause] or people who are very smart.”
Source: Schwager, Jack D. (2012-04-25). Hedge Fund Market Wizards. John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.
Categories: Trading & Investing Quotations Tags: AAPL, investing, QQQ, stock action, stock market, stock tips, stock trading, stock trading tips, trading, trading tips, wall street
“Staring at the screen all day is counterproductive. He believes that watching every tick will lead to both selling good positions prematurely and overtrading. He advises traders to find something else (preferably productive) to occupy part of their time to avoid the pitfalls of watching the market too closely.”
Source: Schwager, Jack D. (2012-04-25). Hedge Fund Market Wizards. John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.
Categories: Trading & Investing Quotations Tags: AAPL, investing, QQQ, stock action, stock market, stock tips, stock trading, stock trading tips, trading, trading tips, wall street
“Virtually all traders experience periods when they are out of sync with the markets. When you are in a losing streak, you can’t turn the situation around by trying harder. When trading is going badly, Clark’s advice is to get out of everything and take a holiday. Liquidating positions will allow you to regain objectivity.”
Source: Schwager, Jack D. (2012-04-25). Hedge Fund Market Wizards. John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.
MARKET OBSERVATIONS FOR APRIL 29, 2013: The stock market may be headed to its final closing high in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It is approaching overbought levels while remaining 150 points below its previous high. From a technical standpoint, the final closing high in the Dow Jone Industrial Average while not be confirmed by the majority of other key indicators or averages. Be on the lookout for this final solo march up by the Dow. On the other hand, if the Dow does have support from the majority of other averages, then this rally can continue higher into June.
Key market indicators show the following:
For now, my advice is to remain on the sidelines and let the market set itself up for its next big move. A major top could be ahead of us shortly. But the neutral sentiment readings cause me to think that the market still needs more time on the upside. Stay flexible and read the market as it moves in either direction for clues.
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MARKET OBSERVATIONS FOR FEBRUARY 11, 2013: The stock market looks like it is about the test its February 1st highs. It is only 17 points away the old highs in the Dow. You can expect one to three consecutive closing new highs in this index before it’s ready to turn down for a more extensive correction. If these new highs are not confirmed by equal or greater strength in the Dow Transports, S&P 500, and Nasdaq indices, it would signal that the general market has lost momentum to the upside. But since the internal breadth indicators are largely neutral, the market may simply consolidate at this higher level instead of crashing down. That would confuse and frustrate a lot of traders by doing so.
Key market indicators show the following:
The market is about to test the February 1st highs. The risk-reward ratio is not good for a more extended move to the upside. And because of neutral readings in the breadth indicators, I would not expect the market to drop much either. This is a time to step aside from the market and keep your powder dry for special situations that may appear in either the Long-Term Treasury Bond Fund (TLT), Gold Miners (GDX), Silver Trust (SLV), or the China ETF (FXI).
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THE APPLE BEAR MARKET OPTIMIZED MOVING AVERAGE:I have devised a new indicator for Apple which I call the “Apple Bear Market Optimized Moving Average“. It is a 50-day exponential moving average of the price of Apple. It currently has 3 points that served as the top of small rallies since early October 2012. This will help those who want to buy the stock low but want to get out before it turns down again. As of today, the moving average is at 539.
With so many traders, investors, and institutions having paper losses in this popular stock, it appears that the one thing that people don’t expect is a bear market in this issue. Almost all of the fundamental projections for the stock are in the 700-800 price range. Until these weak hands get scared out of the stock, my technical and behavioral indicators point to lower prices. It seems hard to fathom, but it may take a move to $425 before panic sets in with this stock. Only then will the stock of Apple trade from weak hands to strong ones. There are just too many investors relying on “hope” which is almost always a bad thing to bet on when playing in the stock market.
Despite what Tom DeMark said on CNBC, I would contend that the stock of Apple has not fully exhausted itself on the downside. So my word of advice is simply to trade carefully with this issue. And if you buy it, do it incrementally on the way down as an investment rather than a trade.
Until the “Apple Bear Market Optimized Moving Average” is broken to the upside, the trend is down for this popular stock.