Forex Critical: Turkish Lira Reverses Weakness As CBRT Gets More Aggressive

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

A Big Bet On Home Builders As Seasonal Trade Winds Down

On March 25th, CNBC’s Fast Money discussed very active options trading in the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction Index (ITB). Call option volume was triple put option volume. Of note, some trader purchased 5000 April 12 $35 weekly calls with ITB trading at $34.60 and just under its 200-day moving average (DMA). That trader … Read more

Swiss National Bank Speaks Frankly On Growing Downside Economic Risks

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

Above the 40 (March 22, 2019) – Tension Headache: Dovish Fed Fails to Keep Market Complacent to Risks

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

Housing Market Review (February, 2019) – A Potentially Peaking Recovery

Housing Market Intro/Summary {This post marks the last one impacted by the previous U.S. government shutdown. I delayed publishing until I gathered a complete set of January’s housing market data. At the time of writing February’s data are rolling in}. In the January Housing Market Review, I described a pause in the bad housing data … Read more