Watch Currencies, Not Stocks, As Geo-Political Tensions Continue to Rise

The news headlines rang out today that Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin gave the orders to send “peacekeeping” troops into two breakaway regions of Ukraine. Stock market futures reacted instantly. Yahoo had a particularly dramatic headline declaring that futures “tanked.” Reflexively, I checked CNBC to review the preliminary damage: S&P futures down 1.8% and the NASDAQ … Read more

Bitcoin: A Tale of Two Plunges Clear A 2022 Pathway

Back in October and November, Bitcoin (BTC/USD) created renewed excitement when the cryptocurrency challenged its all-time high and then set three new all-time highs. Unfortunately, the breakout turned into a fakeout. Bitcoin peaked with the NASDAQ (QQQ) in November as financial markets moved away from aggressively priced risk assets. However, a more sustainable bottom may … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews: An Impressive Year Full of Important Exceptions

Stock Market Commentary The stock market indices enjoyed an impressive year. However, weak and declining market breadth produced numerous exceptions to the strong performance of indices and ETFs. A number of important and well-known individual stocks corrected, collapsed, and crashed in 2021. For some, the tailwinds of the pandemic ran out. For others, investors tired … Read more

How to Identify Parabolic Trading in Stocks and Currencies

Identify Parabolic Trading I often warn about the dangers of chasing parabolic trading action in stocks and currencies. Since parabolic trading tends to end with steep price reversals, traders need to know how to identify trouble. A parabolic price run-up is an extreme uptrend. It is usually brief and features frequent, often consecutive, trading days … Read more

A New Lesson In Parabolic Price Action from the Turkish Lira

A month ago I asked “how long can a parabolic Turkish lira last?” The answer turned out to be a month. However, the path to the end included two false conclusions and a massive blow-off top. The trading in the Turkish lira (USD/TRY) provided a new lesson in parabolic price action. Parabolic trading is inherently … Read more