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 – A Dramatic Week of Historic Price Swings

Stock Market Commentary Last week was full of dramatic price swings. Traders reacted in extreme ways to key earnings results. The wild behavior cascaded out to related stocks. Some of the collateral damage in the blast radius likely came from portfolio managers scrambling to rebalance holdings. I expect this kind of action to continue through … Read more

Churn Zones Hold Against Wild Price Swings – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary: The churn zones continued to hold sway over the market last week. Buyers effectively fought off a descent into a bear market by rallying the major indices up and out of the churn zone. Still, the narrative of churn stands thanks to a refresh of fear from Facebook’s post-earnings blow-up. Meta Platforms, … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews – A Telling Mosaic from All-Time Lows to Breakouts

Stock Market Commentary The stock market is scraping by just above oversold territory. The churn of last week has created a mosaic different trading conditions. The bears are salivating at the all-time lows. The hopefuls like me are finding slivers of opportunity in the breakouts. The stock charts in this review cover some of everything. … Read more

A Churn Zone Stands Against A Bear Market – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary: I started last week’s trading with a call for discipline over precision. That post turned out to be timely as the bears and bulls took the stock market on a wild ride through the Fed’s latest monetary policy decision (more on that in a future post). The indices plunged deeply on Monday … Read more

A Time for Discipline, Not Precision – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary: The week’s trading started with intraday extremes to the downside and upside. With such wild swings at work, it is tempting to look backward and conclude that timing bottoms and tops are possible. This reach for precision distracts from the discipline required to navigate through the volatility. Relying on trading and investing … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews – Snapshots of Forlorn Stocks

Stock Market Commentary I earlier wrote about a forlorn stock market writing a love note to the Federal Reserve. This love note comes in the form of a basket of sell-offs. The selling is so broad and so deep that traders could throw a dart and find descriptive stock charts. The examples below are some … Read more

A Forlorn Stock Market Sends A Love Note to the Fed – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary: The stock market is expressing its disappointment with the Federal Reserve’s plans to tighten monetary policy. The Fed will have the backdrop of a sharp market sell-off when it meets this week to further execute on those plans. Like a forlorn partner, stocks sent a wistful love note to the Fed asking … Read more

A Bear-Like Fade Stretched Trading Conditions Toward Oversold – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary Investor psychology took another hit. A spirited relief rally turned into a dispiriting fade and reversal that had tinges of bear market action. The bear-like fade stretched the stock market closer to oversold trading conditions. All three major indices covered here are now setting multi-month lows. They are also very extended to … Read more

Goldman’s Inflation Bomb Symbolizes Fresh Selling Pressures – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary Investor psychology took an important hit this week. During the Goldman Sachs (GS) Q&A period for the Q4 2021 earnings conference call, Chairman and CEO David Solomon dropped an inflation bomb. Solomon claimed that “there is real wage inflation everywhere in the economy, everywhere” (from the Seeking Alpha transcript). Solomon responded to … Read more