- WE'RE JUST RANDOM SPECKS OF DUST IN A TORNADO TO THE MARKETS .......
- CHARTISTS MUST PUT ALL BIAS ASIDE AND LET THE CHARTS DO THE TALKING OR WE'LL SEE ONLY WHAT WE WANT TO SEE
- This blog has a copy of all header posts that I publish anywhere, so that those interested in seeing what my thoughts are on the markets can find them easily.
- I will be answering questions and responding to comments, so feel free to respond to any posts and I will see your comment even if it is not on the most recent post.
- If you're interested in seeing any intraday charts I post, I do that on twitter, and my twitter handle is @shjackcharts.
- The charts in the posts are as large as I can practically make them. if you would like to look at one more closely, click on it, and the link will take you to a larger version at screencast. If you click on that again, you will get a full page version, and can use the resizing function on your browser to enlarge parts of interest further.

Friday 18 February 2011

Surfin' USA

Trading is like surfing in a way. You wait for a promising wave, you pick your entry carefully, and then you ride it as far as you can. It's a process that requires self-discipline, patience and skill, and inexperienced surfers and traders tend to make a lot of mistakes. I was saying to someone yesterday that the bear setups that I write about when they appear are inherently riskier plays in this cyclical bull market, and that they need to be played cautiously and with an awareness of the shorter and longer term pictures. When they play out though they can be very profitable and set up great buying opportunities at the end of the move.

I've been getting some suggestions this week that I shouldn't write about bear setups as they form, because they distract less experienced traders from the longer term long opportunities in this POMO-driven bull market. Perhaps, but I chart what I see, and it would be dishonest to just paint a bullish picture & chant JBTFD every day as though that was genuine technical analysis rather than just a currently safe medium term mantra for trading rookies. I'll chart and blog what I see, and readers can take it or leave it as they wish.

I'll be posting an unusual seven charts today as there are a lot of very nice looking setups this morning. The first chart is NQ, where the strong resistance trendline was broken yesterday morning before a bounce back into the wedge to test 2400 resistance. NQ is trading under the broken trendline now and I'm hoping to see 2400 tested under the broken trendline today as that would likely offer a very nice short entry:
On ES the picture is subtly but importantly different. The support trendline was also broken there yesterday but after the break back up is still acting as support. I'm not expecting that to last long , but we might well see another move up within the shorter term rising wedge I've marked up on the chart:
There's a mixed picture on other instruments / indicators today. Copper is trending and reversing beautifully at the moment and is offering some really nice short term opportunities. It reversed up yesterday and then down overnight. I'm expecting a main channel support test in the 441 area soon, very possibly today and while I'm expecting a bounce there initially, copper may well break down through it afterwards, opening up a lot more downside:
Silver made new highs yesterday and looks like an interesting, if suicidally brave, short opportunity this morning. I'll cover that another day as I'd like to add the longer term picture in there too, where longer term resistance now looks fatally damaged. Short term it has reached a potential resistance trendline though, and gold's failure to make a new high with silver is a possibly important bearish divergence. On the other important indicators today I've been watching EURUSD very carefully to see whether it has bottomed, and posted the falling wedge upper trendline yesterday as my bull/bear line in the sand. That line was an unconfirmed two hit trendline yesterday and the bounce was slightly higher at an alternate, now confirmed, trendline. While that trendline remains unbroken EURUSD is still in bear mode, and I've given the next downside targets on the chart:
AUDUSD had a similar moment of truth yesterday and reversed at resistance. That line remains the bull/bear dividing line and I'm expecting a significant drop unless it reverses to break that trendline:
I haven't charted the Yen much in recent months, but I was asked to look at this the other day and charted it on various timeframes. I was strongly struck by how well the 60min RSI signals important reversals, so I'll be looking at this a lot more often in future. I was also struck by the simply amazing long term short setup on Yen, which looks likely to drop a third in the next few years, and a lot of people have been talking about this and shorting the Yen. It's great to see such an opportunity on an instrument where the fundamentals really stink, but I haven't shorted it yet, and that's because the short term setup looks bullish rather than bearish, so I'm expecting a better entry soon. I'll cover the longer term setup another day but here's the short term USDJPY chart, which I would stress is an INVERTED Yen chart, so the bearish look of the chart is actually a short term bullish chart for Yen:
The last chart of the morning on 30yr Treasury futures, and I have to say that the bearish setup here is at odds with the bearish setup on equities. Treasuries have been in a counter-trend bounce for the last few days, but there's a nice looking bearish wedge on the chart that suggests strongly that they will soon resume the long march downwards. Obviously that could happen after an equities correction here:
Overall I'm still leaning short today, though NQ particularly might see a bounce to test strong resistance at 2400 again. Obviously it's opex Friday today and there could be some strange moves as a result. Big downward moves are fairly rare on opex Fridays and I'd be surprised to see one of those today.

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