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Free After-Hours Update

The S&P 500 3% popped at the open as global Coronavirus infection rates showed their first hints of moderating. This was welcome news for fatigued markets and the relief extended the market’s rebound more than 500-points above our lowest point.

As I often write, the market loves symmetry. It was almost inevitable that a historic crash would be followed by an equally historic rebound. As incredulous as people were two weeks ago when the market rebounded 20% and headlines proclaimed the bear market was over, here we are, still standing. As bad as things seem in their darkest hours, we always manage to push through them and this episode will be no different.

That said, there is a huge difference between starting to heal and being recovered. This market is still incredibly volatile and that means big moves in both directions. While the free-fall might be behind us, that doesn’t mean we should expect clear sailing back to the highs. There are definitely promising signs in the battle against the Coronavirus, but the economic cost of this progress is staggering and cannot be ignored. Following this brief relief rally, expect our economic reality to start weighing on stock prices again. We saw the first signs of this second-guessing show up this afternoon as stocks retreated from their early highs.

Markets move in waves and this latest rebound will invariably end in the next move lower. I don’t expect a major crash, but any retest of support feels scary. It has to. If it didn’t feel real, people wouldn’t sell and we wouldn’t dip. But rather than tumble out of control, realize this next move lower is simply an exhale, not a crash.

As for how to trade this, anyone with short-term trading profits should have locked them in. As volatile as this market is, waiting a day too long is the difference between harvesting profits and accumulating tax write-offs. While no one likes taxes, I definitely prefer paying taxes on profits than using losses as a tax deduction.

More important than how the market opens tomorrow is what its initial move is. Gap lower or higher doesn’t matter as much as that move in the first 30 minutes. Buy an early bounce with a stop just under the opening levels or short a dip with a stop just above the open. If we get stopped out, consider switching direction and going the other way. Collect profits before the close and limit overnight exposure. Repeat this process again on Thursday.

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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Apr 06

CMU: Always have a plan to be wrong

Cracked.Market University

The S&P 500 exploded 7% higher after Coronavirus infection rates showed a modest moderation over the weekend. While these are only just the first hints of a beginning, anything remotely positive is being embraced by the markets. These small rays of light reassure traders there will be an end to this crisis and we are not falling down a bottomless pit. That said, today’s relief could easily turn into tomorrow’s disappointment when our economic realities come crashing back down on the market.

These 4%, 5%, and even 7% moves in both directions are a constant reminder we cannot survive these markets without a plan that allows us to be wrong. Despite the constant boasts on the internet claiming otherwise, no one is right all the time. In fact, any honest trader freely admits to being wrong…a lot. While braggarts are trying to convince us they already know where the next breakout/breakdown will be, I’m over here looking at all these boasts with a highly skeptical eye.

There is a popular saying in the market, there are bold traders and there are old traders, but there are no old, bold traders. And it’s true, only the novices boast about their trading prowess. (Many people still act like first-year traders even though they’ve been doing this for a decade!) Savvy veterans have been humbled far too many times to even consider tempting the market’s vindictiveness by bragging about their successes.

My most recent humbling experience occurred today. Last week I was looking for a market swoon back to 2,300 support following the previous week’s 20% rebound. While I felt like a near-term dip was the most likely outcome, I knew better than to tempt fate by holding a short position over the weekend. With 3%, 4% and even 5% opening gaps as common as they are, a simple mistake could easily turn into a very costly mistake by leap-frogging any sensible stop. (IMO, stock options are far too costly to be usable right now.)

Since my trading plan couldn’t effectively manage my risk over the weekend, I chose not to hold a position and would wait until this morning to trade the next move. That decision meant I couldn’t profit from a nice move in my direction over the weekend, but it also meant I wouldn’t end up on the wrong side of a 5% gap against me. And it’s a good thing because that’s exactly what happened today.

Sometimes the best trade is to not trade and I’m glad my trading plan kept my gut out of the market this weekend. And more than just saving me from a big opening loss, my cash position and trading plan actually got me in on the right side of the market and I finished the day with a decent profit. Not bad for being wrong.

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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Apr 03

What to expect next week

Free Weekly Analysis and Lookahead

It definitely felt like another rough week for the S&P 500 as the market retreated from last week’s rebound, especially Wednesday when the market shed 4.4% in a single session. That said, if you stand back and look at the weekly chart, it doesn’t seem so bad. For the week, we only gave back 2% of last week’s 10% rebound. I’d actually go so far as to call that resilience a win.

Stocks tumble from unsustainable levels quickly and the market had plenty of invitations to unleash bigger waves of defensive selling. Yet, most of the weak daily opens were met with buying, not follow-on selling. At least to this point, investors seem more interested in buying these discounts than selling them.

How much longer this can last is anyone’s guess, but the longer this goes, the more solid the ground is under our feet becomes. Calm and rational trade is almost always bullish and the longer we hold off another waterfall selloff, the better our prognosis becomes.

That said, the best case is falling into a trading range near the lows. Just because we don’t tumble doesn’t mean we are ready to race back to the highs. Expect prices to settle into a range between 2,300 and 2,600 for a while. As long as we remain inside that spread, everything is under control. Just make sure you remember this includes dipping back to 2,300. While everyone else is scared out of their minds, we will know better. (If the crowd didn’t think a dip was real, no one would sell and prices wouldn’t dip!) As long as we recognize what is going on, then we will be in a far better position to profit from it.

Chances are good the market tests 2,300 support next week and until further notice, we treat that as a dip-buying opportunity. That said, our greatest asset is our nimbleness. If prices tumble under the lows, we close our longs and go short. If prices bounce back, we close the short and go long. Moving proactively and keeping a nearby stop minimizes the cost of these whipsaws. More important is we ensure we are in the best possible position to profit from the next move no matter which direction it goes.

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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Apr 02

The only way to figure out where this market is headed next

Free After-Hours Analysis

In a bit of a mixed day, the S&P 500 recovered a big chunk of yesterday’s selloff. Initial unemployment claims surged past 6 million, easily shattering last week’s record and the economy continues screeching to a halt at an unprecedented rate. That said, the stock market is already coming to terms with this staggering uncertainty. As dramatic as the crash seems, we are only down about 25% from February’s highs. While it felt like we fell off a cliff, stocks are actually holding up fairly well all things considered.

As usual, there are two ways to interpret this. Bulls are impressed by the market’s reluctance to continue falling. If we already chased off most of the fearful sellers, supply will dry up and prices stabilize. Remember, headlines don’t move markets, only people actually buying and selling stocks do that. Quite simply, when owners stop selling the headlines, the headlines stop mattering. The bear’s counterpoint to this resilience is it is little more than a pause on our way lower and we are in the middle of a dead-cat bounce.

Who’s right? That’s a hard question and people are desperately searching for answers in many different places. Some are consulting charts, moving averages, and ratios. Others are looking to fundamental data. Some are even consulting the stars or reading tea leaves. At this point, one approach isn’t any better than the other. This scenario has never happened before and nothing based on historical data is of any use in figuring out what comes next.

The effectiveness of these social-distancing campaigns and lock-downs can’t be found in stock charts, ratios and moving averages that are based on past price data. The only thing that matters is if this epidemic continues spiraling out of control, or if the fever finally breaks and we start getting a handle on it. No moving average or ratio that can predict what happens next so quit looking for one. Trade this market by looking ahead, not behind. Watch what the market does next and then react to it. If prices keep falling, get out and go short. If they find support and bounce, buy it and hang on. Quit looking for the easy answer. There isn’t one. This is a very tradable market, we just need to cut out the noise and focus on what matters. Follow the market’s lead and the rest will take care of itself.

Over the next couple of weeks, expect prices to retest 2,300. While dipping back to those levels will feel scary, as long as they hold, this situation is getting better, not worse and we should be buying this dip, not selling it. But if prices slice through 2,300 and the selling accelerates, short the weakness and see where it goes. One of the greatest strengths we have as independent traders is our nimbleness. We don’t need to predict the future if we are nimble enough to follow the market’s lead.

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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Apr 01

What to make of today’s 4.4% selloff

Free After-Hours Analysis

The S&P 500 tumbled nearly 5% in what would normally be classified as one of the worst days in stock market history. Today, it seemed like just another routine midweek dip. As callous as it sounds, 5% crashes don’t feel all that dramatic after experiencing -7%, -10%, and -12% plunges over the last few weeks. It’s almost gotten to the point where we could find ourselves saying, stocks “only” fell 5% today.

The financial press claims today’s selloff was in response to Trump’s new estimates of 100,000 to 240,000 American deaths from Covid-19. While that excuse sounds plausible enough to satisfy newspaper editors, the simple truth is today was little more than a natural snap-back from last week’s towering 20% rebound. These 100k and 200k estimates have been floating around for days and are actually far less draconian than the 2 million fatalities that were initially projected. Trump’s update didn’t surprise anyone who is paying attention and it sure didn’t catch the market off guard. The truth is today’s move was nothing more than the natural ebb and flow of supply and demand. But rather than take place over 1%, 2%, or 3% increments, we are seeing 5%, 10%, and even 20% swings. This is routine stuff, just super-sized.

As for what comes next, expect more of the same. Last week’s towering rebound consumed a truckload of demand and now it is time for the sellers to take control. Unless we see these social-distancing efforts have a dramatic impact on infection rates over the next few days, expect the market to slip back to the lows. Whether we bounce above, at, or under the prior lows has yet to be seen, but we should expect more down than up over the next handful of trading sessions.

That said, this is still an incredibly volatile market and that means big moves in BOTH directions. Just because we will retest the prior lows at some point doesn’t mean it will be a straight line getting there. Expect volatility to remain off the charts and the best trading plan includes taking profits early and often. Hold a few hours too long and today’s profits turn into tomorrow’s losses.

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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 31

Is anyone still interested in TSLA?

Free After-Hours Update

It’s been a historic few weeks with this viral pandemic sweeping across the globe and grinding the world’s economy to a halt. While those headlines dominate the financial press, it’s easy to forget about the other things going on in the market. It seems like forever ago, but TSLA was the hottest trade less than two months ago. While the world has largely moved on to bigger things, this trade matters for the people still holding it, so let’s take a look.

Along with everything else, TSLA’s stock plunged in late February. But as is often the case, the higher they go, the harder they fall. At one point, TSLA was down nearly 65% from those heady highs. While it seemed inevitable this stock would tumble from those unsustainable levels near $1,000, no one could have predicted the tsunami that was coming. This was an unprecedented global catastrophe that pummeled all stocks, not just the highfliers. But that still doesn’t justify someone holding this thing as it shed nearly 2/3 of its value.

While I was skeptical of the frenzied buying that propelled this stock up nearly 100% in just a few weeks, it was obvious to most this was too good to last. If it wasn’t a global pandemic, it would have been something else. That’s why it was critical to protect our profits by following this up with a trailing stop. Not long after the stock bumped up against $1k, it tumbled back under $800. That would have been a good place to lock in some profits. The stock did a good job clawing back above $800 over the next few weeks, but that second violation of $800 was definitely our signal to get out.

Rather than “hold and pray”, we should have locked-in profits and waited to see what comes next. As individual investors, our greatest strength is the nimbleness of our size. We can jump in and out of full positions with a few mouse clicks. If we don’t take advantage of this ajility, we give up one of the few advantages we have over the larger institutions.

That said, hindsight is 20/20 and the horse is long gone. What owners really want to know is what comes next. While I like these big discounts in the other high-flying FAANG stocks, it is hard to feel the same way about TSLA’s future prospects. Without a doubt, this was a momentum story and the momentum has clearly been broken. The giddy buyers are long gone and won’t be back anytime soon. While I could see the FAANG stocks returning to their all-time highs over the next several months, it is hard to see TSLA getting back near its highs for a long, long time.

Now don’t get me wrong. This is still a great company with a great story. The stock will do well, but well is a relative term. While we will most likely return to the pre-bubble highs near $600 over the next few weeks, I wouldn’t count on anything above that for a good long while. There are a lot of people who have lost a lot of money in this stock and it will take them a while to admit defeat and get out. Until then, expect this to remain rangebound between $400 support and $600 resistance. Once these retakes and holds $600, we can revisit it as a buying opportunity.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM $TSLA

Mar 30

CMU: The importance of having a plan to be wrong

Cracked.Market University

One of the things I learned a long time ago is that while I’m pretty good at trading, when I’m wrong, I tend to be really wrong.

I’m an optimist at heart. It’s almost a requirement to surviving the markets over the long-term because we definitely go up more than we go down and bull markets last a lot longer than bear markets. That said, when things go south, they south in a hurry.

While I tend to give the market the benefit of doubt, I always have a plan for being wrong. The most obvious example is starting every trade with a sensible stop. But beyond this tactical technique, I also need a mechanism for recognizing when my outlook is flat-out wrong. When what seems like a buyable dip is really the next good shorting opportunity. Or what looks like a great short is actually the next great buy.

The most expensive mistakes we make are when we think the market is headed one way but it is actually going in the opposite direction. This is when we need to be the most open-minded about our outlook and the quickest to changing course.

I was looking for last week’s huge bounce to fizzle in a near-term pullback. As I wrote previously, “one day up, the next day down.” While that approach worked brilliantly for the first few weeks of this selloff, it stopped working late last week. Rather than alternate daily between losses and gains, the gains started piling up day after day. Cracks that should have triggered another waterfall selloff ended up bouncing even higher instead.

I could have gotten stubborn and dug my heels in like so many other traders that were skeptical of last week’s 20% rebound. But when my initial short trade didn’t work as planned, I had to acknowledge that I could have this backward. When the market refused to collapse in a waterfall selloff Friday, that was a strong indication it wanted to go higher, not lower. When the market opened strong this morning, rather than argue with it, I saw this counter-intuitive strength as a buying signal. Rather than argue with the market and lose money, I plugged my nose and bought the strength instead.

I still expect this market to pullback very soon (maybe tomorrow is finally the day), but as long as this keeps going up, my trading plan is going to keep forcing me to buy it. And for that, I’m thankful.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 27

Free Weekly Analysis and Lookahead

Free Weekly Analysis and Lookahead

This was one of the most volatile weeks in S&P 500 history with the highs and lows spanning more than 20%. The moves were so dramatic in fact, the index actually started a new bull market after climbing 20% from Monday’s lows! (Also making this the shortest bear market in history.)

These are strange times. I was there for the dot-com bubble. 9/11. The housing crash and financial crisis. I even have memories of 1987’s Black Monday. But few things compare to the levels of uncertainty we are feeling today. 1987 blindsided market participants and few things are as shocking as watching 9/11 unfold in real-time. But neither of those events affected Mainstreet the way Coronavirus has completely and totally shut down the global economy. Everyone was numb after 9/11, but most people resumed their lives after a few days.

Not today. Governors are instructing, if not downright ordering, citizens to stay in their homes for at least two weeks. And that is just the start. No one knows how much further this could go. Stocks rallied this week after Congress approved a $2 trillion dollar stimulus package and the Fed assured us they have “unlimited ammunition” to combat this economic slowdown. That was good enough to launch stock prices 20% above Monday’s lows. But can these things solve our problems? No…not even close.

This week’s rebound was more of a massive relief-rally and short-squeeze than a vote of confidence about our “new” outlook. While it was definitely nice to see the stock market string together a few positive days, our situation is not any better this Friday than it was last Friday. In fact, in many ways, they are worse now because this virus continues expanding at an exponential rate and this week’s shelter-in-place orders had a minimal impact on the growth curve.

As nice as it felt to see the market put together an impressive performance this week, we are far from out of the woods and should expect this historic volatility to stick around for a while. At the very least, expect prices to retest the lows over the next week or two. Maybe we find support at the prior lows. Maybe we don’t. Either way, hopefully, anyone who was savvy enough to buy this week’s rebound is also savvy enough to lock-in a big portion of those profits before they evaporate. Investors can buy these discounts for the long-haul, but traders need to be extremely nimble because today’s profits will turn into tomorrow’s losses if we allow ourselves to get greedy.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 26

If you’re not taking profits, then you’re taking losses.

Free After-Hours Analysis

The S&P 500 produced its first three-day win-streak since early February. Congress agreed to a $2 trillion stimulus package and the Fed assured us they have “unlimited ammunition”. Those headlines were enough to launch stocks nearly 20% above Monday’s intraday lows. Looking beyond this relief rally, the bigger question is if these government interventions are enough to solve the market’s problems or if this strength is just another fleeting bounce on our way lower.

Three days ago bears were gloating over their investing prowess. Today it’s the bull’s turn. And so goes the swinging pendulum of sentiment in this violently volatile market. While it was definitely better to be a bull today than a bear, is the Coronavirus epidemic really solved? Did our politicians actually accomplish anything more meaningful than adding $2 trillion to our national debt? Ummmmm, no. We are in much of the same place we were Monday…and last Friday…and the Friday before that. Nothing has been fixed but at least some issues have been addressed…if only marginally.

These constructive headlines were at least good enough to stem the cascade of relentless selling. That said, we shouldn’t expect prices to race back to the highs anytime soon. The world is still gripped by fear of a killer virus and all the economic damage that goes along with these extreme preventative measures.

As I wrote on Monday, this market is incredibly volatile and that means huge swings in BOTH directions. One day’s gains become the next day’s losses (plus or minus a day or two). In periods like this, if swing-traders are not taking profits, then they are taking losses. Rather than gloat over the corpses of your adversaries, be savvy enough to realize that if you hang around too long, your corpse will soon be the one underfoot. While giving up on a winning trade is always hard to do, if you don’t, the market will take all those profits back.

I warned bears a few days ago and now I’m warning bulls. Lock-in those profits and be ready to go the other direction. The next big swing is just around the corner.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
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Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket

Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 25

CMU: The criticality of timeframe in trading

Cracked.Market University

As crazy as the last few weeks have been, far and away the most critical factor determining our success is timeframe. One person is buying with both arms while another is shorting like mad. Who’s right and who’s wrong? As strange as it sounds, they could both be right and make a ton of money from their seemingly contradictory trades. The secret sauce is timeframe.

I bring this up because in these short, after-hours posts, I often neglect to stress timeframe when talking about positions. While it is often obvious given the context, for new readers, I want to make sure everyone understands how important this distinction really is.

Two days ago I wrote a post about the safety of buying these levels and yesterday I told readers the opposite thing when I said this strength was shortable. The difference between these two posts is the first covered long-term investing while the second exploited the market’s daily gyrations.

Despite how it sounds like I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth, I still believe both of these cases are as true today as when I wrote them. Anyone buying these discounts and holding for 12+ moths will see some really healthy profits. When prices finally reclaim 3k, whether a person bought at 2,300 or 2,400 will be fairly insignificant. The most important thing is they were busy buying discounts when everyone else was desperately selling them.

On the other hand, if a person wants to lock-in short-term profits next week, I would definitely suggest shorting today’s strength. This market is stuck in a choppy basing phase and one day’s gains become the next day’s losses. While today’s stimulus headlines were great and worthy of a 10%+ pop from Monday’s lows, now that we are at much higher levels, chances are good the next move is lower.

As strange as it sounds, I truly believe a person should be both buying and shorting this market. The distinction comes down to whether they are doing it with their long-term investments or in their short-term trading account. (You use both strategies, right?)

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
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Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket

Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 24

Why both bulls and bears insist on losing a lot of money

Free After-Hours Update

The S&P 500 surged more than 9% today, putting up one of the market’s strongest performances in 100 years. While nothing concrete happened, stocks rallied in anticipation of Congress’s comprehensive stimulus bill that is inching closer to becoming law.

Who could have possibly seen today’s huge rebound coming? Easy, anyone who’s been paying attention. (Or at least reading this blog.) The strong, unidirectional moves are long behind us. This market entered the choppy, basing period a couple of weeks ago, typified by extreme volatility in BOTH directions. While it feels like the market’s done nothing but go down over the last two-and-a-half weeks, that’s hardly been the case. Over this period, we’ve seen up-days of +5%, +9%, +6%, and now today’s +9%. In fact, nearly every day over the last 12 sessions alternated between huge gains and towering losses.

As much as bulls and bears want to believe the next move will be a huge, multi-day rally or collapse, we are most definitely in the choppy phase of this correction and that means a lot of back and forth. One day’s dip is followed by the next day’s pop. These are great swing trading opportunities for the bold and nimble, but it is chewing up anyone coming to the market with a strong bias. Savvy traders are buying these dips and selling these pops, not gloating on social media that the other side is dumb, only to be left looking like the fool 24-hours later while holding a pile of losses.

Chances are good we haven’t seen the lowest lows of this bear market yet, but rather than crash lower, further losses will be nibbling at the edges, like yesterday’s dip, only to see prices bounce back into the consolidation a day or two later. As we transition into the basing phase, almost all of these daily breakdowns/rebounds are false alarms that should be traded against, not jumped on.

Avoid the temptation to fall into the bull or bear argument. No matter what we believe long-term, if we want to trade this chop successfully, we need to be pragmatic. Even if we’re bullish, that means shorting an unsustainable move higher. Or if we’re bearish, buying the next oversold plunge.

There is a ton of money to be made in this chop. But that also means we can lose a lot of money if we go at this the wrong way. Keep your biases in check and you will be miles ahead of everyone else getting ground up by these swings.

As for what comes next? Look for today’s huge rebound to fizzle and retreat back to the lows. Maybe this reversal starts tomorrow at the open. Or maybe we rally into midday before running out of buyers. Either way, be ready to short the next stumble. There is a good chance the next leg lower will follow the stimulus bill’s announcement in a classic buy the rumor, sell the news reversal.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
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Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket

Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 23

Should we be buying or shorting these levels?

Free After-Hours Analysis

The S&P 500 tumbled another 3% Monday and set fresh lows for this selloff. Overnight futures were limit down, holding 5% losses for most of the night after the Congress failed to agree on a bailout package Sunday night. But spirits lifted shortly before Monday’s open after the Fed said they were prepared to buy “unlimited” Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. Unfortunately, further gridlock on Capitol Hill rained on the Fed’s parade and is why stocks ultimately closed lower on Monday.

Higher, lower, or finding a bottom? That’s the question on everyone’s mind. Plenty of bulls are claiming this is a buyable dip while countless bears are screaming this is still the shorting opportunity of a lifetime. Who is right? At this point, both sides are doing nothing but blindly guessing in the dark. But they certainly don’t lack conviction in the accuracy of their blind guesses!

This is far and away the most uncertain time in anyone’s living memory, yet that uncertainty isn’t preventing anyone from telling us what they are convinced will happen next. I wish I had an answer for you, but no amount of fundamental, technical, or historical analysis will give us the answer. This situation is unique and it needs to be treated as such.

But just because this Coronavirus crash is unique doesn’t mean it will end any differently than any of the other “unique” crisis the market navigated. Assuming society doesn’t collapse, this is a buyable dip and is no different than any other crisis in market history. The only question is how low we go before bouncing.

Markets have fallen nearly 35% in a month. Could they fall 45%? Sure. But 6 months from now, how many people will be bragging about selling stocks when they were down 35%? Or is it more likely people will be bragging about buying stocks when they were down 35%?

The time to sell was four weeks ago when these waves of panic first hit the market, not now that the majority of the damage has already occurred. While prices could fall even further over the next few days and weeks, twelve months from now, no one will regret buying stocks at the lowest levels since 2016.

Once you admit you cannot pick the bottom, it simply becomes a choice between buying too early or too late. Either approach works well as long as it is consistent with a well thought out trading plan that includes risk management appropriate for this situation. (ie starting small, only buying sensible entry points, and keeping a valid stop nearby.) Don’t fall for the bull or bear arguments, be a pragmatic opportunist and the profits will come to you.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours

Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket

Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 20

Free Weekly Analysis and Look Ahead

Free Weekly Analysis and Look Ahead

The S&P 500 just finished its worst week since the 2008 Financial Crisis. The Covid-19 epidemic continues to spread uncontained and governments are taking extreme measures to “flatten the curve”. It has yet to be seen if these strategies will work, but one thing is for sure, it’s wreaking havoc on the global economy. Schools are closed. Non-essential businesses are closed. Anyone who can work from home is working from home. Others are less fortunate and find themselves without a paycheck. All while hospitals are bracing for the worst.

As I wrote last week, this situation is without a modern precedent. No one knows how long this epidemic will last. We don’t have any idea what the economic damage will be. And most importantly for markets, don’t have a clue about how long it will take before the world returns to business as usual. Are we talking about weeks? Months? Even years? With so much uncertainty swirling around us, no wonder investors are on edge.

Stocks have fallen 30% from February’s all-time highs only a few weeks ago. That pullback priced in a tremendous amount of bad news. But has it been enough?

If there is one thing we know for certain about markets, it’s that they overreact. What is already too far often goes even further. Have we already passed too far? Can this go even further? No amount of technical or fundamental analysis can answer those questions. This is a crowd psychology problem and the only way to figure out what comes next is to follow the herd.

Luckily for nimble traders like us, these dramatic moves are big, fast, and easy to trade. We can profit handsomely even if we don’t know which direction the market is headed next. Buy the bounce. If that doesn’t work, short the breakdown. Start small. Keep a nearby stop. Take profits early and often. And get ready to go the other direction the next day. One day up, the next day down. Repeat over and over again until we have more profits than we know what to do with.

Will Monday bounce? Probably. Over the last ten trading sessions, we’ve alternated between gains and losses. Odds are good Friday’s tumble will be followed by Monday’s rebound. The best way to trade the bounce is to buy shortly after the open. Put stop under the morning’s lows. And hold on. If prices tumble under our stops, close and consider shorting the weakness. Again with a nearby stop. If the dip proves to be a false alarm and rebound, switch directions again.

While it is frustrating to get hit by the inevitable whipsawed, being nimble and fast means we get in and out quickly and any losses are small. More important is that once that next big directional move takes hold, we are in the market and ready to take it all the way. While bull and bears are busy arguing about whether the next move is higher or lower, I’m over here making money. I’m an opportunist and could care less who is right. All we need to do is wait for that next turning point, grab on, and enjoy the ride.

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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 19

Why we should have seen this selloff coming and how to profit from it going forward

The Coronavirus continues dominating financial headlines as “social distancing” takes a heavy toll on economic activity. What seemed like the worst-case scenario only a few weeks ago is now our reality. While the actual effect of the virus itself has yet to be felt by most people, preventative measures are definitely impacting everyday life.

I will be the first to admit I have a bullish bias and that’s because over the long-term, markets also have a bullish bias. But over the short-term, anything can happen and that’s why it pays to be pragmatic. Back in late February, when this crash first started, I told readers:

Whether the market is right or wrong about the Coronavirus, it doesn’t matter, we trade the market we are given. As it stands, this 3% kneejerk reaction could go either way. We bounce sharply off the lows and never look back as confident owners continue ignoring every bearish headline. Or this massive strawbale shatters the camel’s back and turns formerly confident owners into a herd of panicked sellers.

The next day I wrote

What happens next is where it pays to be pragmatic. Rather than dig in my heels and argue this selloff was unjustified, I recognized the market’s emotional state and knew a great trade was going to explode in one direction or the other. Sometimes these things bounce hard and fast. Other times they keep going. As an opportunist, it made no difference to me which way the market went as long as I was making money.

And the following day I shared an educational post about the best way to trade these volatile markets. This simple approach produced four weeks of outstanding trades.

If we know a big move is coming, all we need to do is jump on the next move that comes along and see where it takes us. Prices bounced this morning. Great, buy the dip, start small, get in there early, keep a stop near your entry, and only add more money after the trade starts working. If we’re wrong, prices slip under our stop, we take a small loss, and we try again next time. Maybe that is another rebound attempt. Maybe stocks tumble under the lows and we flip to shorting the weakness using the same sensible approach. It makes no difference to me what the market does next as long as it does something. If you leave your bullish or bearish biases at the door, you can make money too.

As for what comes next? We should be thankful for this buying opportunity the Coronavirus just gave us. Back during 2018’s late meltdown, I wrote a post about Bad Luck Brian who was unlucky enough to start investing at the dizzying height of the dot-com bubble. But as bad as his timing sounds, consistently buying the biggest market collapses in stock market history proved to be incredibly profitable for Brian.

And lucky for Brian, he kept buying those discounted Nasdaq shares for more than a decade. Accumulating 20 and 30 shares per month started paying off handsomely when the index finally climbed out of its hole. By the time the Nasdaq recovered to the old highs in 2015, Brian had been able to buy so many shares at a discount that his $93,000 of invested principle was worth $204,000! The index was flat, but amazingly Brian was up 120%!

What’s a good trade worth to you?
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 13

Was this the V-bottom?

Free Weekly Analysis and Look Ahead

This has been a week for the record books. The oldest bull market in U.S. history died Thursday following the S&P 500’s worst day in over 30 years. As bad as that sounds, this week would have been even worse if it weren’t for Friday’s spectacular 200-point rebound that erased a big chunk of the midweek losses. In the end, the index “only” took a 10% haircut this week and is now 20% under the all-time highs set just a few weeks ago.

“The bull market is dead, long live the bull market.”

The end of one thing becomes the birth of something else. While bears want us to believe this crash is only just getting started, history is not on their side. This Coronavirus selloff bottomed at 27% this week and only a handful of times over the last 150 years has the market fallen even further.

While prices could absolutely continue making new lows next week, we are definitely a lot closer to the end of this move than the start of it. And even more reassuring, markets love symmetry and dramatic crashes typically capitulate in a V-bottom. If things get even uglier next week, it won’t be long before the market ricochets off the oversold bottom and creates the sharp right-hand recovery side of the Vee. (There’s even a good chance Thursday/Friday was the crash and rebound of the Vee capitulation.)

While I cannot tell you when this will be over, the one thing we know for certain is next week will be extremely volatile. That means big moves in both directions. One day’s up will be followed by the next day’s down. No doubt a lot of traders will continue getting cutup by these whipsaws, nimble traders who move confidently and proactively will continue printing money.

The greatest strength we have as individual traders is our nimbleness. We can go from full long to full short in a few mouse clicks. Use this power responsibly and we don’t need to be victims of the market’s gyrations. The only thing we need to know is the market is going to make big moves. During periods like this, we’re not bulls or bears, we’re opportunists. It makes no difference which direction the market goes as long as it goes somewhere in a spectacular way. Simply jump aboard these moves early and keep a close stop. Buy the first signs of a bounce. If that fizzles and undercuts the lows, switch direction and go short. Then buy the next day’s rebound. Follow that by shorting the next day’s fizzle. When that bounces, jump back in on the long side. In markets that move this fast and hard, all we need to do is be there to catch the next big wave. Who cares which direction it goes. And most importantly, just when we’re feeling really good about our profits, lock them in. If we don’t, they will be gone in a few hours.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 12

A trading plan for this worst of days

Free After-Hours Analysis:

The following is an updated excerpt of what I shared with subscribers today during the trading session. This explains how I feel about this situation and I wanted to share it with my free subscribers too:

The S&P 500 crashed at the open and the bloodbath triggered the second trading halt this week. A tsunami of headlines hit us yesterday between the NCAA basketball tournament closing its doors to the public, the NBA suspending its season, and Trump banning Europeans from entering the U.S. And not to be left out, the NHL, Nascar, Formula 1, and countless other leagues put the brakes on their seasons today too. This officially puts us in full panic mode.

The Fed tried to cheer traders up with promises of a fresh liquidity injection, but the enthusiasm was short-lived and prices quickly retreated back to the lows. Today ended as the single worst trading day since the 1987 crash and it officially killed the longest-lasting bull market in U.S. history.

As bad as this sounds, it is important to keep in mind these selloffs bottom just when everything seems its worst. While the spread of the Coronavirus will continue to get worse before it gets better, we won’t see a perfect storm of successive headlines like this again. In fact, yesterday and today’s gut punches moved the bar so low that no matter what happens going forward, even horrible news will still be less bad than what many people are fearing right now. School closings and the MLB suspending its season are foregone conclusions. The only way for this to get worse is a national militarized lockdown. While that could happen, I don’t think any of our politicians are willing to make that draconian of a call for something that is realistically only marginally worse than the seasonal flu.

The Coronavirus is definitely running out of control, but without a doubt, fear of the virus will prove to be far more economically damaging than anything the actual virus does. While this is terrible for anyone that is seriously affected, for almost everyone else, it will be little more than an inconvenience. Humans are really good at rationalizing away risk. They will panic for a few days or weeks. But after the worst fails to materialize, people will get lazy and be less willing to tolerate the incontinence. They will wear masks for a few weeks, but after no one gets sick, they will stop bothering. Now parents are insisting schools close down. In a few weeks, these same parents will beg schools reopen. After 9/11, everyone claimed nothing would be the same. A few months later, the only thing that changed was airport security and a war half a world away.

There is a good chance this is the market’s darkest day and everything starts getting better from here. I’m buying the dip, but I’m staying as cautious as ever. My positions are small and my stops are nearby. But even if I get stopped out, I’m going to try again tomorrow and the next day. The bottom is close, but in a world where markets move 5 and 10% per day, we definitely need to be careful.

Trading Plan

Most Likely Next Move: The capitulation point is close and this headline tsunami could very well be our darkest hour. There is a good chance pessimism is peaking and going forward we will start seeing a lot more “less bad than feared”.

Trading Plan: Buy the bounce with a stop under the lows. Add to what is working but keep overnight position sizes modest until you have a comfortable profit cushion. If stocks bounce tomorrow, ride that wave higher. If they devolve into another panic, short the weakness. But when shorting, take profits early and often because the biggest up days always come in the worst bear markets.

If I’m Wrong: The public starts dumping their 401k’s and this bloodbath is only getting started. Our stops will get us out and our plan will have us short further weakness. No matter what happens next, we are prepared and will profit from it.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 11

Why the Coronavirus matters when Trade Wars and Brexits didn’t

Free After-Hours Analysis

Anyone following the market over the last few years came to appreciate this market’s Teflon nature. No matter what headlines were thrown at it, it shrugged them off and continued higher. Earnings recessions. Brexits. Trade Wars. Rate Hikes. Nothing slowed this market’s relentless climb to, and then beyond, all-time highs. That is until the Coronavirus came along and now we are in the middle of the biggest and fastest stock market crash since the 2008 Financial Crisis. Why this? Why now? What makes this different?

The simple answer is all of the other events were economically quantifiable. After a brief shock and a few percent corrections, traders were able to quantify the financial impact of 25% tit-for-tat tariffs between the US and China. The Brexit was a little less clear since no country left the EU before, but after a few gyrations, the market quickly realized both sides would work this out and even if they didn’t, both economies could survive the divorce even if it got ugly. Rate hikes? Been there, done that. All of these things were bad for stocks but after a brief bobble, traders got used to them, priced the news in, and moved on.

But the Coronavirus? Nothing like this happened in modern history. There is no telling how far the economic damage could go. Business travel is suspended. Conferences canceled. Festivals canceled. Sporting events canceled, postponed, or held without spectators. Even the Olympics this summer is threatened. Airlines are already reporting a bigger decline in bookings than they saw after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and there are few things more disturbing than the images we saw that day.

We haven’t seen anything like this in our lifetime and that makes it impossible to predict the economic fallout. By nature, markets hate uncertainty more than bad news. It can price in bad news and move on. But the unknown, how do you price that in? You can’t and is why many investors are taking a sell now, ask questions later approach to their portfolios.

And unfortunately, I don’t see the uncertainty clearing up anytime soon. But that isn’t all bad for the market. While the headlines will continue to deteriorate, with every passing day and each successive headline, there are fewer and fewer scared owners left in the market. Once the last of those have sold, supply dries up and prices bounce no matter what is going on in the news. While some people are waiting for a slowdown in the infection rate or a vaccine to be announced, the stock market will rebound from the lows long before then.

When will that bounce happen? The honest answer is I don’t know. And no one else does either. This is an emotional selloff and conventional rules don’t apply. Trendlines, support levels, moving averages, P/E ratios, all of it is totally and completely meaningless to an emotional market. This selloff will end when we run out of scared sellers. Nothing more, nothing less. Are we close, yes, we’re very close. The challenge is in a market that falls 4%, 5%, and 7% in a single day, an imminent bounce might come to our rescue, but prices could be at much lower when it finally happens.

This is a day-trader’s paradise. Everyone else should resist the urge to react to these gyrations. That means either sticking with your long-term positions and buying more of your favorite stocks, or watching this unfold from the safety of the sidelines and only jumping back in after the overnight gaps and intraday swings calm down. As the saying goes, it is better to be a little late than a lot early.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM $AAPL $AMZN

Mar 09

CMU: Trading plan for markets in turmoil

Cracked.Market University

The S&P had one of the worst days since the 2008 Financial Crisis, plunging a staggering 7% from Friday’s close and violating recent lows in the process. While the Coronavirus remains front and center, frayed nerves were shattered when Saudi Ariba launched an aggressive oil price war against Russia, going full nuclear and triggering the biggest one-day oil price crash in nearly 30 years. Global markets were already teetering on edge and this news gave us the biggest kick in the pants imaginable.

How do we trade this? That’s a question everyone wants to know, so let’s get to it.

First, we need to bifurcate our approach into two major strategies because our primary objectives have a huge impact on how we approach this volatility. It all comes down to time-frame. Either we are steady long-term investors or we are nimble swing-traders. There is zero room in between these extremes. Pick one or the other and make a ton of money. Find yourself in the middle and other people will be getting rich at your expense.

Now, there is a smart way to straddle these two extremes, but it most definitely doesn’t come from blending timeframes. Instead, we allocate a portion of our market exposure to each approach. Have some dedicated long-term investments and another portion is exclusively for swing-trading. As long as each piece falls firmly within one of these clearly defined strategies, you will be fine. Anyone mixing the two quickly become a wealth doner (If you know anyone like this, please thank them for allowing us to have such a great month!)

Trading Plan

Long-term:
Let’s start with the long-term approach. This is the classic buy-it-and-forget-it. These people shouldn’t be following the market’s daily movements and if they do, it is only so they know when prices dip and they can add more. Anyone selling long-term investments during this crash is making a huge, huge mistake. Don’t be that guy. Buy-high and sell-low never works.

If your trade started as a long-term investment, keep it that way. Stop following the headlines and watching the market’s daily gyrations. If you really want to do something, pick your favorite investments and add more. Scale up your 401k contributions, don’t decrease them. In nine months when pundits are reflecting back on 2020, the Coronavirus will simply be a footnote and life will be back to normal. If you bought the dip, great. If you sold it, well, someone needed to donate their money so the rest of us can have a great year.

Short-term:
While a lot happened over the last few weeks, the short-term trading plan I’ve been sharing with subscribers hasn’t changed in three weeks. When something is working this well, why mess with it?

First, we are small investors and that means we can get in and out of the market with the greatest of ease. This is far-and-away our largest advantage over the big boys and if we don’t exploit this strength, we should convert everything over to long-term investments and forget about trading this chop.

Second, this is often a counter-trend trading technique, meaning we need to be extremely nimble, buy early, and exit losing trades fast. The only way to survive this stuff is by being earlier and faster than everyone else.

Third, start small and only add to winning trades.

Fourth, buy bounces early and short breakdowns just as quickly. Moving decisively allows us to place a nearby stop under the lows on a bounce or just above support on a short. The closer our stops, the less money we have at risk.

Fifth, be prepared for a lot of head fakes and false alarms. There will be inevitable rebounds that fizzle and violations that rebound. No big deal. As long as we start small, get in early, and have a nearby stop, the losses will be minor and inconsequential compared to the towering profits when we catch the next big move.

And Sixth, trade in such a size that when we are wrong, it stings, but it isn’t crippling. Being long into this morning’s open would have sucked, but if we bought near Friday’s lows and only held a small position over the weekend, it actually wasn’t that big of a deal.

Take all of those strategies together and our trading plan is to buy any and all bounces early, start small, keep a nearby stop, and close/short the violation of support. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. I’ve been buying every bounce for two weeks and I keep making money shorting the market. And I will continue buying every bounce until the market stops giving away money. If I make money buying the dip, great. If I make money shorting the violation, great. It makes no difference to me as long as I’m making money.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours

Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket

Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM

Mar 06

CMU: Why everyone is right about this market but they are still losing money