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By Jani Ziedins | Free CMU
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
By Jani Ziedins | Weekly Analysis
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
By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
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
By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
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
By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
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.
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM $TSLA
By Jani Ziedins | Free CMU
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.
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM
By Jani Ziedins | Weekly Analysis
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.
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Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM
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