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By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
The S&P 500 bounced off 3k support Monday morning and it continued that resilience today. The index now finds itself with a 100-points profit cushion as it continues defying all predictions of an imminent collapse.
The most prominent headlines scream “second wave”. This initially spooked the market into a 6% tumble a few weeks ago. But that single, fearful session was as far as this got and prices have remained “surprisingly” resilient ever since.
To those of us that have been paying attention, this resilience isn’t surprising. We know panicked sellers abandoned the market in droves two moths ago. But just as important as chasing off the weak, for every panicked seller, there was an opportunistic buyer who confidently ran into the fire to snap up those steep discounts.
Fast forward a few months and most of those confident dip buyers are still confidently holding for higher prices. If they bought during the “first wave”, doesn’t it make sense to assume they would continue holding through “second wave” too?
No matter what the critics claim, when confident owners don’t sell, scary headlines don’t matter. As long as prices remain above 3k support, the Covid rebound is alive and well. Savvy traders are buying this bounce off of support, not selling it. If prices tumble under 3k, we will be forced to reevaluate our outlook. But until then, continue giving this market the benefit of doubt.
Buy the dip and keep adding to what is working. If prices undercut 3,030, start peeling off longs and use 3k as a hard stop. If prices retest 3k over the next few days, buy the bounce and short the breakdown. It really is as easy as that.
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By Jani Ziedins | Free CMU
Cracked.Market University
Three traders find themselves standing on a road at the top of a mountain. All three are looking over a blind crest, wondering what is on the other side.
The first trader announces to the other two, “Look at how the camber of the road leans a little to the left. Obviously that means the road turns left on the other side of this crest.”
Confidently, the first trader jumps in his car, turns the wheel to the left, reves the engine, closes his eyes, and guns it.
A few seconds later, the other two traders flinch as they hear crashing sounds coming from the other side of the blind crest.
The second trader responds with, “Can you believe that idiot, what was he thinking? If you look at the terrain a little further down the valley, obviously the road turns to the right on the other side of this crest.”
Confidently, the second trader jumps in his car, turns the wheel to the right, reves the engine, closes his eyes, and guns it.
By now, the third trader is not at all surprised when he hears the sound of crunching metal coming from the other side of the blind crest.
Hopefully by now, everyone realizes the point of this story. Successful traders react to what the market gives them. They don’t just guess at what is ahead and blindly trade it. And as such, the third trader calmly gets in his car and with his eyes wide open, carefully navigates all the twists and turns on his way safely back down the mountain.
If you want to survive in this business, you must react to the market as it comes to you. There is nothing wrong with making educated guesses about what lies on the other side of a blind crest. But by no means commit to that position regardless of what you find when you get to the other side.
In our current environment, there is nothing wrong with having a bullish or bearish opinion about these Coronavirus shutdowns and the unlimited resources governments are throwing at the problem. It’s human nature to anticipate what’s coming. But when we get to the other side of the crest, we must follow the road, not our biases.
Three weeks ago that meant buying a relentless rebound no matter how far we were above the March lows. This week, that meant locking-in profits as prices slumped back to support.
What is coming next week? I’m not sure. But I do know that if we go up, I will be buying and if we go down, I will be selling. What will you be doing?
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By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
Did someone forget to tell the Nasdaq we’re in the middle of the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression???
Talk about a major divergence from reality. While the cynics cannot help but argue with this market, never forget, we trade stocks, not headlines or the economy. If stocks want to go up, there is only one way to trade this. If you don’t agree, your only choice is to get out of way because if you don’t, you are going to get run over.
Without a doubt, this rebound will end at some point because they always do, but this is definitely not that point. This month’s 6% collapse was the perfect setup to trigger a much larger collapse. If this rally was overbought and vulnerable, that was more than enough to trigger a much larger avalanche of follow-on selling. Instead, confident owners shrugged and bought the dip. When stubborn owners refused to sell, headlines don’t matter. End of story.
At this point, keep an eye on Monday’s lows. If we fall to this level, start locking-in some profits. If we retreat back to the previous Monday’s close, peel off some more profits. And if we return to this June’s lows, get all the way out. Anything other than that and lookout above. I fully expect the S&P 500 to match the Nasdaq and reach new highs over the next few weeks. We buy higher-highs, we don’t sell them.
If everyone knows the Fed rigged this market to keep going up, quit complaining about it and enjoy the ride!
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