ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
AT40 = 63.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 55.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 12.9Short-term Trading Call: neutral Stock Market Commentary The stock market is keeping the faith. The previous week ended with a U.S. GDP report for Q1 2019 that represented well the … Read more
Chaos After the divided politicians of the United Kingdom managed to postpone Brexit to October 31, 2019 from March 29, 2019, I assumed the British pound (FXB) would take a break from wild and sudden gyrations. I was wrong. On Thursday, local elections plunged the Conservative party (the Tories) into a resounding defeat that most … Read more
AT40 = 64.0% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 53.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 12.3Short-term Trading Call: neutral (change from bearish) Stock Market Commentary It was one of those amazing endings. First round of the NBA playoffs. The Portland Trailblazers up 3 games to … Read more
When I used Google search trends to confirm a buyable breakout and sustainable bottom in Bitcoin (BTC/USD), I created the following hypothesis: “a spike in search interest confirms a strong change in price behavior.” With Bitcoin breaking out again, the hypothesis now looks solid. The chart below shows Bitcoin jumping to a 5-month high that … Read more
The Australian dollar (FXA) tends to be correlated with the S&P 500 (SPY). The Japanese yen (FXY) tends to be inversely correlated with the S&P 500 (SPY). The exceptions to these relationships are notable because the inevitable return to these relationships usually present unique trading opportunities. The drivers of these relationships are related to trader … Read more
When U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico last November, the U.S. dollar was in the process of making a major top against the Mexican peso (USD/MXN). When Trump threatened a border closure again on March 29th, oddly enough, a minor relief rally in USD/MXN came to an end. At … Read more
I have finally jumped into the crypto-era. Bitcoin broke out into the first “convincing” and buyable technical pattern I have seen since the bubble burst over a year ago. Breakout Anyone who follows cryptocurrencies knows by now that Bitcoin (BTC/USD) broke out last week. The move was a powerful one that launched the cryptocurrency out … Read more
The problem with pattern-matching in financial markets is that “THIS TIME” could be different. Difference is exactly what happened with my latest trading plan for the Turkish lira (USD/TRY). The well-constructed plans I described a few days ago quickly hit a brick wall, forcing me to pull the cord and adjust those plans. The Central … Read more
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) released its latest decision on monetary policy on Thursday, March 21. Apparently the warnings from the SNB were drowned out by the rallies in financial markets that day. The SNB dropped its growth forecast, its inflation forecast, and reiterated that economic risks are biased to the downside. I took particular … Read more
AT40 = 45.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (2+ month low)AT200 = 38.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 16.5 (20.9% gain)Short-term Trading Call: bearish Stock Market Commentary Friday’s trading action provided delayed confirmation of my short-term bearish trading call. The week previous to the last, … Read more