AM: More constructive trade

AM Update

The S&P500 continues finding support near recent highs.  AAPL is struggling for direction.  AMZN popped above the 50dma plus a few other individual stock stories below.

MARKET BEHAVIOR

Stocks gaped up at the open, sold off to break-even by midday, and are attempting a rebound as I write this.  Nothing new or insightful from this price-action and the previous analysis and expectations of a continuation remain intact.

MARKET SENTIMENT

Any selling widely viewed as the start of an expected pullback will not turn into said pullback.  This rally will top, but it will happen when everyone is convinced it is another buy-the-dip opportunity, and we are not there yet.

So far this Q1 is a carbon copy of last year’s Q1.  Last year’s rally kept going and going until everyone gave up fighting it and that is when it finally nosed over.  People will point to some fundamental story that broke last year’s market, but the truth is fundamentals can only break the market when it is already setup to fall.  We have all witnessed when markets reacted counterintuitively to a major story and that is because the underlying supply and demand was setup for a different direction.  When fundamentals and supply and demand disagree, always go with supply and demand.

TRADING OPPORTUNITIES

Expected Outcome:
Some weakness is normal and healthy.  Anyone rushing for the exits or piling on the shorts because the market dipped a few points is going to have a bad time.  Markets top on complacency, not fear, and as long as traders keep predicting the top, it won’t happen.

Alternate Outcome:
The end of this rally is coming and the market doesn’t always follow a set playbook.  There are countless examples of markets topping without a surge of buying that exhausts demand, but we are playing a game of probabilities.  If most rallies top on high volume, that becomes the basis for a high-probability trade.  We could be wrong, but if we trade this way over a long period of time, we will win more often than we lose and that is the key to succeeding in the markets.

INDIVIDUAL STOCKS

Quite a bit of indecision in AAPL as it struggles for direction.  The stock opened low, surged higher, and is now drifting lower.  While the technical rally attempt is still intact, we can probably say the fundamental justification for the rally, an imminent dividend and buyback increase, is dead.  Can this rebound continue without its rally cry   As it stands, I see no fundamental or supply and demand reason for this stock to rebound here and I continue expecting lower prices.

AMZN broke above the 50dma on elevated volume.  Anyone who jumped on the short bandwagon is having a bad day.  Same goes for those that bought unconfirmed 50dma support and were chased out by the recent pullback.  Going forward, anyone looking for a good entry into AMZN, here is your shot.  Put your stop near $260, but this bounce should not fall back under the 50dma.  If it does, consider selling before it reaches $260.

NFLX is recovering from a few days of selling.  Any bears who used this weakness as a shorting opportunity are second guessing that decision and many are buying back their shorts, adding fuel to the rally.  These stories go further and longer than most expect and bears would be better off burning a pile of cash in their driveway than shorting a strong stock.  Maybe NFLX is overvalued here, but that doesn’t mean the market will recognize that any time soon.

LNKD is finding buyers at these higher levels and this is supportive of a continuation.  The market obviously doesn’t care what its P/E is and neither should you.  Anyone shorting this stock because of the P/E should just send their money to me and I promise to put it to better use.  No doubt this stock could crater here, but that doesn’t make shorting LNKD a good trade, just a lucky one.  The difference between luck and a good plan is luck always runs out.

FOSL is having a bad day.  We will see if it respects support at $102.  If a stock falls more than a few percent under the pivot, then the chances of success diminish dramatically.  Success in the market is not about being right all the time, but how a trader responds when wrong.

Stay safe