Analysis, Perspective, Trading Strategy
In a Difficult Market Patience is the Antidote tO Confusion
Editor Joe
Duarte in the Money Options
For a couple of days last week, I thought maybe the bull market was
going to be resurrected. But by the end of the week I had once again
donned my doubter’s hat. And if recent history is any clue to the future,
we could see a 3-5% move up in stocks at any time, followed by something
just as dramatic to the downside in a few days. In fact, given the
current environment, the best state of mind may be to be prepared for
the unexpected.
Yet rather than being sour this is a good time to review the major
influences in the market over the last few years. Indeed, in this market,
unlike in the not so distant past, price movement is not about human
traders, investors, mutual funds and hedge funds sorting through the
available information and placing their bets.
Instead, today’s market is all about robotic trading algorithms reading
headlines and triggering knee jerk trades based on rudimentary technical
analysis and who knows what other voodoo tricks. And since robots just
follow canned instructions, the market moves on just about every piece
of somewhat important sounding items in the news.
Furthermore, due to the overhang effect of a decade of zero interest
rates, central banks buying stocks, the distorting effects on revenues
and earnings of billions in stock buybacks, along with an increasingly
volatile political situation, it’s hard to get a feel for any tradable
trend for longer than a few days at best. Yes, we are living through
a market which is rocked on a frequent basis by multiple distortions
which trigger the robot trade programs and - down the rabbit hole we
go.
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Surely this stuff can be depressing, if you let
it get the best of you. But savvy investors understand that knowledge
is power. What I’m saying is that all is not lost. Consequently, the
flip side to the market’s distorted grind is that at least for now,
it’s still difficult to fool a good price chart.
What Just Happened?
As I noted in the introduction, for a couple of days last week, I
thought the bulls were back. This is because the New York Stock Exchange
Advance Decline line (NYAD), the most accurate indicator of the market’s
trend since the 2016 election, managed a marginal new high on April
19. But just as I breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday’s action, Friday’s
decline took care of the brief moment and we were back into “what just
happened?” land.
Note the digital precision in the market’s turn around as the NYAD’s
tagging of the upper Bollinger Band led to an immediate rolling over
of the trend. Note also the sudden reversal in RSI and ROC suggesting
the next move is to the down side.
So given what we’ve seen in the last month the best guess I can make,
based on NYAD’s current trajectory, is that we may be in the early
stages of a consolidation period where the daily gyrations in prices
will slowly decrease and that at some point when volatility is extremely
low will eventually break into the new market’s trend.
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1. Over Twenty-Seven Years of
Trading Experience
2. Now Joe is
bringing all his years of expertise
to his new options focused web
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and Profit Delivery.
3. Weekly
market
analysis
and
portfolio
updates
gives
you
the
big
market
picture.
4. Joe
has designed and
fully tested a select
group of easy to
follow and deploy
option strategies
coupled with on-
point stock and ETF
picks focusing primarily
in the biotech, healthcare,
and technology sectors.
5. In
depth
individual
position
technical
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fundamental
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6. Unlimited
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Lower Highs and Lower Lows Make for a Down Trend
Even as the NYAD suggests a sideways trend for the near future, the
S & P 500 (SPX) and to a slightly lesser degree, the Nasdaq 100
(NDX) indexes are suggesting that the heavily weighted stocks in the
indexes – mostly technology and banks – are getting sold. This is especially
visible in SPX, where a pattern of lower highs and lows is increasingly
apparent.
Couple the obvious short term down trend in the indexes with a rise
in volume on down days (pink volume bars), a breakdown in the Accumulation
Distribution (ADI) and the On Balance Volume (OBV) indicators and it’s
becoming very difficult to be bullish about the whole market.
Patience is the Antidote to Confusion
What am I then if not bullish or bearish these days? To be honest,
I am patient and careful. I don’t really care if I’m not getting rich
right now. Mostly I’m trying to stay in the game and not give the robots
my hard earned money. And the best way to live to fight another day
is to trade small amounts over the short term and to use tight money
management techniques such as using ETFs, options, and taking profits
at reasonable targeted areas on price charts when prices reach them.
Someday there will be a clear trend, up or down and when that trend
is clearly discernible, you and I will be glad we preserved our capital
by being prudent during this difficult period in the markets.
Joe Duarte is author of Trading
Options for Dummies, now in its third edition. He writes about
options and stocks at www.joeduarteinthemoneyoptions.com.
JoeDuarteInTheMoneyOptions.com is independently
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All sources of information are believed to be accurate, or as otherwise
stated. Dr. Duarte and the publishers, partners, and staff of joeduarteinthemoneyoptions.com
have no financial interest in any of the sources used. For independent
investment advice consult your financial advisor. The analysis
and conclusions reached on JoeDuarteInTheMoneyOptions.com are the
sole property of Dr. Joe Duarte.
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