Gaming Melt-Up Monday

We are looking forward to a decent rally in stocks at the open this morning.  In fact, up a couple of hundred points isn’t out of the range.

We have seen a pretty good recovery in the global picture:  The Asian markets were trying to turn around.  Exception:  Japan down 2.3% Friday, didn’t trade Monday.  In Europe this morning things are up 1.2 to 1.6% and a similar gain – call it 1.5% – would bounce the Dow up 350, or so, today.

There is just a mess on the news front, so we are tentatively looking at today and tomorrow as a good time to “sell the news” coming later in the week.

(Continues below)_

 

Among the headline worries:

Wednesday both retail sales and consumer prices will be released by the government.  This might clarify where the bond market herd might stampede next.

By the same token, there will be some forward-looking data this week, as well.  For instance: Treasury Budget this afternoon, small business outlook tomorrow, producer prices Thursday…though most of it is terribly boring stuff.

HOWEVER there are a couple of calendar notes of sizeable importance.

One is that this is options expiration week.  Thjird
Friday of the month.  Which means index options will settle on Thursday’s close, so I’m expecting a solid bounce from the last couple of weeks of decline until that window.  Look for a “running of the shorts” in order NOT to pay off on cheap put options.

But then, going back to cash may be a “feel good” move…we’ll look at the slope of things in a day or three.

A three-day weekend ahead is just ahead, too, and while we always enjoy some time away from the keyboards and monitors (gives us time to make things), there many other factors weighing.

As we pointed out to Peoplenomics subscribers Saturday, the presence of large, massed forces of China AND Russia on their respective borders with North Korea are a major concern.  How to read it?  One school of thought is that they are in place to ensure that Kid Korea doesn’t go off half-cocked during the Olympics.  The other school of thought is they’re on hand to “take his back” when he does something dumb.  Either way, put that on the worry list.

Second item on the worrywart’s list is the situation in Syria.  An Israel jet was shot down over the weekend, and the Israeli’s are making it clear to Iran today “You want to go for it…let’s go…

While the markets ought to be up early this week, there’s that OTHER big event with a clock running in the background.

While the market will likely try to “run the shorts” ahead of options this week, there is still a circle on our calendar for March 22.  That’s because the normal length of time from a market peak (like Sept. 3, 1929) to the market crash (wiki the details) is often-enough in the range of 55-days that we’re not planning to be playing in the middle of that freeway.  Looks to us like a good way to get hurt.

So, if there is a major market meltdown ahead, what would be the best way to play it?  I get this question several times a day lately.

To be sure, the “normal” ETF’s that are triple geared, seem safe enough for now.  But what may have had a hand in the recent declines was the ETF was that gearing the volatility index (V IX) and the main one was called the XIV.

We had warned subscribers about the “clay feet” of ETFs several months ago when I explained that you can’t operate a casino offering both long and short players a 3X leverage because at either an upward – or downward – extreme, the casino goes broke.

That’s what happened last week in a sense, so we strongly recommend deep study of How XIV and SVXY Went Off the Rails and Took the Market With Them.

The good news, which we pieced out mid-session Friday in our own accounts, was that a hell of a snap-back rally is due the first part of this week.  With futures up more than 250 when I looked, that one seems to be “in the bag.”

Less clear is where we go next week, so just a heads up:  Peoplenomics may post tomorrow instead of Wednesday because of the long-term tactical problem outlined in the Saturday report.

You may get a kick out of this:  Working title of the report is “Occam’s Spreadsheet” for reasons that will become apparent.

Is there other stuff going on?

Sure…but with nothing new on the docket that would hurst Schiffty and the Schumerviks that requires liberal pals of funds to drive their bad news off the front page, we think the snapback rally this week ought to be a marvel to behold.  My last batch of upside true believing was “UDOW Executed @ $79.3195.”  It was trading $89.59 in the extended hours session when I looked.

THIS IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION.  We don’t offer financial advice, but I do write about what I really trade.  Sadly, not all my Friday UDOW was at the genius-level price.  Most of it was $84.6452.  Still, it should be lunch money.

Still, was I gleeful to read “Futures up more than 1 percent after worst week in two years?”  D’uh.

I wrote a spreadsheet for Peoplenomics users which is on the Master Index page.  It’s called brainamp.xls.  To open it, the password is on the page, too.

You might want to build one of these for yourself if you’re not a subscriber because I find it really, really useful as hell.

Essentially, Elliott wave says when the market makes a wave 1 down and then a 2 up, there are reasonable ranges for the following waves (3,4, and 5).  This spreadsheet (no warranties, yours mileage may vary) let’s you plug in the first wave and then it takes a stab and where the whole dog and pony show will end up.

So let’s look at the all time high to the Friday low in the S&P 500:  The spreadsheet tells me the first leg down was 340.18 (I used the close on all-time-high day and the intersession low Friday if Ure wondering).

My version of the spreadsheet is a bit more detailed but in terms of how far we COULD OR MIGHT bounce, basis the S&P 500, I’m looking at my spreadsheet and seeing this:

Based on how strong markets are today, we could hit that first Fibonacci level today or tomorrow.

Being a full-blooded coward. these are SOME of the zones where I might “get off the bus.”  But, I can’t emphasize this enough:  I DON’T GIVE FINANCIAL ADVICE.  I do share my own thinking and some of my own trades.  But you’d have to be nuts to try and trade like me…I have big swings up AND DOWN.

Though Peoplenomics, people says, if very interesting in a sick horror show kind of way.

Bye-Bye Warming Nonsense?

Oh-oh.  Time for Al Gore to polish up the resume?

Live Science is headlining that the possibility of massive SOLAR COOLING will begin to be sorted out in 2020.  Meantime, WHO has been telling you WHAT and for HOW LONG despite much derision from the peeps?

And In Other News

What?  Talking about making money is market’s isn’t newsy enough?

I don’t know WHY you read the news, but I do it for money-making ideas.  Who care about Hollywood and crap?

So how about these stories?

Obama-backed, Holder-led group raised more than $11 million in 2017; will target Republicans in 12 states/

Does it really matter “How Jamie Anderson, America’s Olympic Hippie, Won Snowboarding Gold?”  I’d say the Winter Olympics have been going downhill, but that would be a comment of momentous gravity…

And under #NotHerToo:   Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says the #MeToo Movement Is Here to Stay.

Now please excuse me:  I have to go do a “happy dance” now and work on Occam’s Spreadsheet.  Wonder if my Scrooge McDuck suit is back from the cleaners?

Moron the ‘morrow…

16 thoughts on “Gaming Melt-Up Monday”

    • Good call! Highly possible.
      Maybe his Parade will mark a Wave 2 top — incidentally IF this is Wave 2 up, then Wave III down is gonna be BIGLY. A bigly version of 1987. Check out Figure 5-7 or At The Crest of the Tidal Wave. Somewhere between Tulipmania Sell Off, Gold Post-1980, and Nikkiei Post-1989.

  1. I’m feeling a mild vomit sensation at the idea of Ginsburg doing a #metoo. She’s 84 years old! That idiocy needs to stop. If a girl is legitimately harassed, she needs to deal with it within the week, if not much sooner. If she’s playing games, we are not amused. Guys are expected to make the first move socially/sexually, and girls are expected to be clear in their signals, both pro and con. If they won’t be clear, they’ll be ignored.

    • Um, no.

      #metoo and the definition of “harassment” is rapidly expanding, and morphing to include things like “looking, even from a distance.”

  2. Feels like the feel good times are back today. Hmmmm. Maybe the correction done? Feels good to feel good. ;)

    • I could be wrong, it happens. Just felt like humanity had a huge sigh of relief happend today. And although it’s colder than a witches brass bras if feels like spring.

  3. Over the weekend I watched a You Tube video called “Learn the Powerful Stochastic Trading Strategy”. Today, after I returned from the gym senior social hour, I charted the strategy. I used the NASDAQ Index.

    I used the Medium Term Strategy mentioned in the video which is 3 charts. The first chart is a Trend Chart which uses a 1 day time frame and gives you the trend direction of the market either up or down. The second chart is a Signal Chart which uses a 1 hour time frame and gives you a buy or sell signal, & The third chart is a Timing Chart which uses a 15 minute time frame and gives you the entry or exit point for the trade.

    Results: A buy signal on 2/9/18 at 1500 hours. Also, I backtested & had a sell signal on 2/1/18 at 1500 hours.

    The stochastic I used was the “Stochastic Momentum Index” with settings of 5,3,2 which I got from a Topdog Trading video. I had to attend his webinar to learn how to use it.

    It is a lot of work and I need to determine how to use it over time. First I have to wait for my head to stop spinning & take an aspirin.

    • I forgot to mention. All the stochastics for the charts need to be going in the same direction before a buy or sell trade is suggested.

  4. “Bye-Bye Warming Nonsense?”

    Global warming was the wrong term to use.
    It is something I was taught in school long before Al decided to coin the phrase global warming.
    It is a reality and yes it is really a threat. what he was referring to was the overall ambient temperature.
    https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/
    it is kind of like a car with the windows all rolled down in the sun. we know that if you start rolling one up slowly the temperature rises a little bit as the windows go up. the same effect is when the earth CO2 increases that is similar to rolling up the windows slowly.
    Now.. the big debate hasn’t been whether or not it is going on but whether or not mankind has any affect on it. some states are now going to make farmers make fart bags and have them surgically attached to their cows.. ( I actually know a couple of people that need these.. they could sell the gas it is that potent..)
    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/29/california-targets-dairy-cows-to-combat-global-warming.html
    Now.. My stand is on this is that mankind has to have an affect on this naturally occuring process. the thought that man can do whatever he wants and it not have any affect at all is just something that 7 billion plus little furnaces alone makes a difference. Not to mention the land that we consume in our annual growth.
    https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/sectors/land-use-and-land-cover-change
    We do not usually grow or build on the crappiest land around instead we see farmer browns farm and its nice rolling hills or plains and we say this is where I want to build.. Hey a nice golf course over there and some houses here and wa la we have growth. depending on how much land we consume yearly also effects how much food is produced. ( another reason why anyone building a sky scraper or suburban or urban dwelling should be adding in what I call greenscape to the construction layout. ) because of this is also why the big push for GMO foods. I think last year or the year before was the first year in the history of mankind that we were not able to grow enough food to feed the population of the planet. .. oops off track here back to global warming..
    Now even considering that data of global warming we loose refective mass.. snow melts less co2 being filtered yada yada yada. some light morning reading from some of my favorite places.

    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL065194/epdf
    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL063926/epdf
    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL061324/epdf
    http://www.fao.org/docrep/U3550t/u3550t02.htm

    Now in my honest opinion.. the crises is very real. we are in the middle of the the sixth Extinction level event. Will Mankind be part of this.. who knows who really cares.. in the end right now everything revolves around the Benjamin’s..
    Can we do anything about it.. NOPE.. it is a natural cycle and like all cycles will continue till its done. What changes though is that most climatic cycles happen at a slower rate giving evolution a chance to adapt to the changes. then when the tipping point happens only a few of the species that were not able to adapt to the change is eliminated during the flip.
    this cycle is happening a little faster and more species won’t be able to evolve enough for the flip.
    during climate change ( the term used when I was in school instead of global warming )
    here is a great thought provoking double coffee and doughnut read..
    https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/esp_ciencia_cataclysmearth.htm

    what will happen is strange weather changes.. colder or dryer winters more drought, more floods in areas not accustomed to floods.. farmland becoming deserts and deserts becoming farmland. the core will heat up and there will be more volcano’s and earthquakes erratic changes in weather patterns etc..
    If mankind wanted to have made changes they would have had to start long before I was even a twinkle in my fathers eye..
    Now we live it out.. the good thing is for you and me.. we won’t get to see the big show we will get to see some of the coming changes. that big show will be for our children and grand children and great grandchildren..
    this young school teacher is way ahead of the game in my opinion.. enjoy
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8wwiadQ

  5. True, global warming is a misnomer. Climate change is far more accurate — except (of course) we’ve always had climate change. Just go back 10,000 years when Greenland was green!

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