Thursday, July 30, 2009

Markets 7/30/09



Another bubble popping? If not now when?
I want to go over this chart in some detail as the selling points and thinking were for the most part real time on too little sleep as usual. In other words this is a practical method. The market gapped to a higher open and after some consolidation began to move higher. Now I was expecting the gap open and because of the weakness I commented upon a few posts ago, I was prepared to find a top. The first bar that struck me was 10:00a.m. It is a reversal bar, narrow range but the same heavy volume as the previous wide bar. Supply is coming in. Then 4 bars with up-down pumping action, more evidence of supply. But we scurry to a new high. Probably a short covering rally and for all the fear, we are only 1% above the previous high. Now I was looking for evidence the demand from pained shorts had diminished. The 10:45 and 10:55 bars caught my eye. As if I had not thought my previous thought, I was musing how could we run out of demand here? I cannot believe it. Seeing how it just hung around no one else could either. Then I remembered the words of a legendary s and p trader, tops and bottoms are a lonely place. At 11:00 I pulled the trigger. The ease of movement down at 11 and 11:05 confirmed my opinion. Prices fell until noon and I noted the inability to rally until 1:00. The heavy volume at 1:00 showed large supply above the market. Perhaps all those longs hoping to sell to us little guys when it crossed 100. The rally to 99.64 was very weak, further confirming our deductions---no demand at the top of a rally. The wide range and ease of movement at 1:55 was duly appreciated. The move probably would not start until the last hour. Another weak rally climaxing at 3:00 at a lower high with minimal volume. It is the last hour and no demand is kicking in. This rally to 99.63 had no follow through. In the next 20 minutes down bars seem to have more volume than up bars. We are meandering. At 3:25 I noted to my colleague, "this is not healthy." His comment a few bars later as we had loaded up, "Finally supply."

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Markets 7/29/09


The hinge could not be clearer. A mark-up is very likely. Should the market fail here in a potential minor upthrust and head straight down it would mean trouble. Highly unlikely.
A chart to analyze yourself after the discussion of the daily below.
For you after the discussion below.

A very small range, close at the top and good volume with an inability of prices to decline despite the evidence of distribution I pointed to yesterday spells a likely advance.
1 is a sign of strength. It is the first advance with volume, wide range, closes at the top and ease of movement. This is different behavior than anything we have seen previously in this trading range. Because of this sign of strength, the likelihood is that the spring around 1:30 will not fail and will likely end the consolidation. 2 shows ease of movement in the rally from the spring. To make the higher high the burnt orange line must be penetrated. This is tested successfully with the higher low marked. to three we have ease of movement and a higher high for this small wave. The higher low and test places us on the spring board and the upward trend is made more likely by rising above 3. At 4 about 2 points above the low, you have about all the evidence you need for a change in trend. How far this trend will take us is yet to be seen.
Please use the charts I have indicated above to perform a similar analysis of trend change.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Markets 7/28/09

I want to make four brief, I hope, points about this chart. First, notice the change in behavior. Remember how I commented on the strength of this move and how reactions were often contained within the preceding up bar. Reactions are now swift and furious, moving with wide bars and often heavy volume. We saw the opposite behavior at the bottom in March which was preceded by a few days in which there were swift and furious intra day rallies. Second, notice how long it takes to recover from these declines, all day. There is no consistent buying on these rallies. The average floats up primarily due to lack of selling. Perhaps this variation between fast wide declines and meandering advances is characteristic of one type of distribution. Time will tell. Third the bar which rallied to 98.25 had higher volume than any of the bars in the last hour. This is very unusual just as the 10:00 bar on 7/27 being the highest volume bar of the day. Both are heavy selling checking an advance. In fact supply consistently comes in to overwhelm demand on these advances. Supply will not yet follow and push prices out of their trading range of the past few days. Finally, the last bar on the 28th was an upthrust but by .01 points and as such we ended the day in a potential small downtrend.
BUBBLE, BUBBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE. The bubble machine at its finest, ready to pop???

Monday, July 27, 2009

Markets 7/27/09

Nothing has changed with the USD. It will probably coincide with or determine the direction of equities. A move above somewhere above 79.15 brings a potential uptrend
Inverse of dx ab0ve

A new high on very low volume while still in an upthrust position with a narrow range and a very steep angle of advance tells the Wyckoff trader demand is exhausted.
A very nice channel, but on these last thrusts was unable to touch the upper supply line. Today we threatened to burst the bottom channel. Demand is tottering.
How many bullish bars do you see today combining price volume action?

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Markets 7/26/09

In my last post I said the support for the spx was in the weakness of the dollar. As you can the dollar continues to hug the low of its trading range and must rally away from here strongly or it can swoon and the stock market will boom.
The count across the 910 line is seven which projects to a possible high of 980--7 x's up from 910.
I threw in a chart of the bank index. As you can see it is not rising with the market which implies that the credit crisis is not over.
If the dollar were going to fall one would expect precious metal prices to be creeping up and perhaps like the dollar index and the euro to be near some range boundary.
Energy prices too are weaker than the stock indexes.

The average eeked out a new high on low volume in what looks like a successful test of the break above 96.11. That volume fell so much makes the bull case not as convincing because just as there was no supply, there might have been light demand as well, although heavier than the supply.
Prices gapped down as might have been predicted by our little method of anticipating gap down openings and then rallied on diminishing volume. Prices fell until supply dissipated into small ranges around 11:00am. The market then rallied persistently on small volume and small ranges but was able to take out any supply that appeared( the higher volume bars with low end or mid range closes.) This move ends right before lunchtime with a price and volume surge. The next hour has a small variation in price and no volume. That is no selling enters the market and the reaction is flat. Prices and volume again surge around 1:30 and again prices flatten out. The last 15 minutes, the close is painted higher on low volume for the close. The market is moving up on lack of supply. Markets can go a long way in this fashion. Strength in the dollar would end this bull market.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Markets 7/20/09

We have a count of 6 across the 89 line giving a high count of 95, where we currently are. 7 across 91 gives a high count of 98. We shall see.
Today was the high close for the recovery. We did not get the upthrust I described yesterday but instead had more of the same, narrow range, low volume close at the top. Today had some shortening of the thrust and again we have the possibility of an upthrust of the previous high. Conversely the SPY could easily go up another 10 points without any problem.
The qqqq has moved into new high ground for the recovery on narrow ranges with closes at the top and decreasing volume for the past 4 days. This looks like a set-up for an upthrust and any gap down opening with declines back into the trading range with heavy supply would be much welcomed by the bears.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Markets 7/19/09

Mr. Wyckoff believed one of the advantages of Tape Reading is that one could watch the entire market for clues. Of course the market then was much smaller, but as I have been pointing out, the options market has a disproportionate influence on stock and futures prices, and it is frequently ignored by Wyckoff traders. Please notice how high the level of put buying rose in July. In fact since our last options expiration it was below the blue line only once. As of a week ago Wednesday, the put holders were there to be squeezed.
One week ago Wednesday was the selling climax in a spring(?) position followed by the test of the spring on Friday. Wednesday prior to opex begins the very rapid fall off in time premium and not coincidentally that was the bottom of the move. Then began the short covering rally driven by put owners closing their positions, buying calls, buying futures or long etf's. In my last post I showed how strong this rally was, it was so strong because it was driven by panicky short covering originating in the put owners and spreading to other shorts as well. Interestingly the move in prices created the news, not vice-a-versa. For example, if prices were falling, Intel's gross declining around 15% and revenue declining in every sector except China, and Intel's offering guidance for the third quarter all would have been emphasized rather than its profits.
So we have our hypothesis, this is a short covering rally. Short covering rallies end, when the last short has covered. The source of demand has then exhausted itself. On Friday the strikingly low volume at the top of the rise signals a lack of demand and that the short covering has ended. This low volume was in the etf's shown and the QQQQ which I might post separately. Since it was opex the NYSE volume would not have been a good measure as it almost always goes up on opex.
If our hypothesis is correct, and no new demand kicks in what can we expect? A very rapid drop in the market. This drop might be preceded by an upthrust of the 95.51 high. We have seen many times that this market upthrusts after demand is exhausted to get every last share.
The one caveat to this position would be serious weakness in the dollar which moves opposite the stock market recently.


Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Markets 7/15/09

Please notice how strong this rally was. Letters b to g show reactions where the closes are completely contained within the previous large up bar. The selling was unable to drive prices down beneath the low of that bar on a close basis. 93.51 is a buying climax. The next bar is a test on low volume and then prices break through the previous low (small blue line) and fall smartly making a lower low. A rally follows which ends with a two bar reversal at a lower high. This is a set up as we have shown before for a gap down opening.
Volume is sharply lower. Volume does not look like the beginning of a new bull move, but that is one of the few bearish things one can say about this chart. The other is to far too fast.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Markets 7/13/09

Please begin with the daily first. The point and figure did the only bullish thing it could have done today, it went straight up. Either we will build more count for a larger down move as the lower low would suggest, or we have made a spring and a new bull move is about to begin.
Please begin with the daily first. I am trying a new way to upload charts and I did it backwards.
This was a strong upward move that began with the spring at 87.59. Buying power was strong enough to take out all areas of resistance easily and prices gave back nothing on reactions. The largest reaction seems to have been about 0.3 points. At no point did this market make a lower low, so the upward trend on the intra day continues. The strength of this move smacks of short covering, but as we have seen many times before short covering can carry this market a long way.
I misread yesterday's chart. The oval encloses 4 days of closes that are about equal, implying demand overcoming supply. Wednesday was a high volume spring and Friday was its test. Prices were supported by the lower trend line. All that being said the relatively low volume today does not lend strong support to a new bull move. The short term trend is up and I am not one to argue much.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Markets 7/12/09

The Dow is clearly below its May trading range lows and twice tried to rally above this resistance and failed. There is no sign of a bottom, no ability to rally and the market is on the hinge. The bloggers seem to believe the market will rally into Goldman's earnings, a nice theory, but not necessarily supported by this chart.

This chart found support at the April highs after decisively breaking the May low. So far it too has shown no ability to rally.
I used the chart of BGZ for our daily chart because the brewing scandals about Program trading and sniffing order flow coming into the NYSE for the purpose of front running it, might be effecting the volume numbers. This type of parasitic trading accounts for 70% of NYSE volume. The best and the brightest minds in finance pride themselves on how smart they are because they figured out how to steal billions of pennies a day from the elderly, the retired, widows and orphans without anyone knowing. We will now turn to the chart to use low tech skills that our brilliant competition has long ago forgotten. The increasing volume on July 2,6,7 is the harbinger of a large move as traders move into the stock seeing the play that is developing. July 7 we exceed the highs of May 21 and June 23 and volume, when price is giving renewed evidence of an upward trend, volume gives a climaxing indication at over 20 million shares. Volume however falls off sharply and price does not follow through on 7/9.
Turning to the daily for Friday, the market from the outset was supported and rallied sharply only to meet even heavier selling at 88.49 and the long red bar that immediately followed it. This bar tells you unequivocally that heavy selling is out there. The market is again supported at 87.65 and rallies on diminishing volume to a lower high. Demand has evaporated in the bar beginning at 10:55 in a rally attempt that fails. After that volume picks up with prices falling to the low of the day. An outside key reversal bar ends the move. It is tested 2 bars later and more decisively at 11:55. Until 1:45 the rally is anemic, punctuated by volume surges that are promptly reversed. That this rally is so weak makes the upthrust to 88.22 probably terminal. It too was on pathetic volume and was immediately given back. Plus it looks like the sellers stuffed the buyers with shares during the closing 15 minutes and there was not even that much demand.
Just in case you do not believe our analysis that selling was dominant on Friday I have added the put/call ratio, to this chart. Look what happened to it during the trading range between 2:50 and 3:30. Price was not moving and someone was buying puts like crazy. It takes a lot to move the put call ratio towards the end of the day as it accumulates over the course of the day's trading.
Put call ratio for 7/7 and 7/8 for your interest and study. Do not forget our much earlier post where I showed how the buying for the March low was in the options.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Markets 7/6/09

(I briefly answered the question in the comment section yesterday.)
Today is an interesting day and it is an example of what we have been discussing for many months. The index made a new low today. How do we know if that new low is a signal to expect further weakness or is a spring and a turn around in price? Our hypothesis is that it has to do with whether strength or weakness precedes the new low. Given the weak rally and swift decline that took place in the nine days before this new low, I am expecting further weakness after this brief rally ends, quite possibly beginning tomorrow. This is a good test of our hypothesis because today's increase in volume, narrow range and close at the top all point to strong support. If that support is going to contradict the long period of weakness the market has experienced, it must do so emphatically with a strong move up.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Markets 7/5/09

22 across the 93 line gives a count of 74-71. This is nearly 2 months of distribution.
Just in case you thought there was no bubble after the bubble. Above is the ratio of Nasdaq volume to New York Stock Exchange volume. The bubble making machine is still intact and can blow some beauties. Note the energy index below as well.
To follow up on the discussion some weeks past about financials being the down side leader: The banking index penetrated its May low in June and is below the May low now. It has yet to fall under the June low.
A few months ago this blog began posting charts of the commodity indices to show the incipient bull market in commodities, energy having been among the strongest. Please now observe the top is likely in place. The largest previous decline in this up move was in April and was around 27 points. In June the decline was 32 points, a sign of weakness that should not be ignored. The up-down pumping action the last 4 days in June frequently presages a turn in trend and this occurred at a lower high.
We must mentally adjust Thursday's volume higher as it was the day before a holiday and it in fact was larger than Wednesday's. The wide spread, close at the bottom on our mentally higher volume could not be more bearish, especially coming after the weakness and lack of demand that has been the substance of these comments for quite sometime. This very weak back-up to support/resistance was followed by heavy selling. Declining beneath 888.86 according to Mr. Wyckoff confirms the trend has changed to downward. Distribution began in the first week of May with the very high volume and continued until demand was totally exhausted July 1. Look, you can see it. This is far more real and experience close than RSI, MACD crossovers, or Elliot Wave which are statistical or theoretical. This is the market talking to you as clearly as it can. Of course it can change its mind, but with this much distribution the upcoming decline can be a doozie. The point and figure chart at the top uses these dates in our calculation.

Both the hourly and 5 min chart show extreme weakness. In the previous 2 days not one hour exceeds the high of the preceding hour. Similarly on the 5 min not one rally exceeds the high of any rally of similar stature for the past 2 days. As such one could argue that we are oversold and a normal bounce off of any of the many strong support lines 1.0-2.0 points below the market is in order. Unless demand should magically appear, such a bounce should be weak and confirm all the indications of weakness we have discussed.

I would like to make an editorial comment here. This is the first time in many months the market has responded to bad news in anything like a rational manner. Thursday's unemployment report and the budget crises in multiple states are disastrous for the Obama plan. The stimulus package aimed to prevent job loss in the state and local governments and thereby save jobs. Job creation was secondary. As the surprise loss was in government jobs, even before the state fiscal crises hit, this plan failed. PPIP has seemingly disappeared. There is no plan B. We once again are faced with the problem that in bubbles the citizen, taxpayer, voter, homeowner and consumer, the citizen takes on too much debt to finance his asset purchases. The financial intermediaries extend too much debt. They have too much money to lend and too much money also warps judgement. Asset prices and debt loads rise until the citizen can no longer support his debt load. The bubble bursts and the great liquidation begins. People cannot pay their debts, prices of assets fall thus toppling financial institutions, exposing their all too human foolishness, and toppling even those citizens with what were once prudent debt loads. Unable to finance further purchases with debt, unemployment increases. Transferring debt from consumer and homeowner, or more importantly from financial intermediary, to citizen via government borrowing does not fix the problem of the overextended citizen. Perhaps it makes it worse. It is rather like borrowing from your Visa to pay your Mastercard. The whole idea of preventing job loss by borrowing to maintain jobs in the areas not dependent on the overburdened consumer or homeowner is too smart by half and has nothing to do with the problem; the massively indebted citizen and the financial intermediaries who cannot collect on their debts and whose collateral is worth far less than their loans. To come back to earth, this is why the banking index, the intermedaries, are the down side leader.