March 28 – Bouncing Sideways
Monday saw many areas of the markets doing pretty much what was expected, pulling back, consolidating, and just plain ole bouncing around.
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That means that for Monday night, I dont really have a whole lot of changes to discuss. What I spoke of in the weekend report remains valid, and nothing really changed in the SPX, DJIA, NASDAQ.
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SPX– I expected more of a dip, so if I was watching every tick of the SPX? I’d just watch the 13 sma until things change. Look at October 2015.
USD – The dollar dropped, but that doesn’t mean that it is rolling over and Gold is going to move higher. I’m not watching daily wiggles, I’m trying to be patient and let the markets tell me their real intent. The USD can still move higher. We all know how devious these markets get.
WTIC – In prior reports I have explained my thoughts on OIL. It is going to be tricky because of the inconsistent cycle counts. This applies to UCO, USO, UWTI if you are trading those. Some may want to go back and see the weekend report or last Wednesday & Thursdays reports , where I put 4 OIL charts in there.
Todays move changed nothing. It is a sideways bounce in the middle of a move until we see follow through ( Up or Down). It looks to me like Oil could easily drop to blue support, time will tell.
NATGAS – This may have put in one of the only discernible changes. After crawling under the 50sma for a week, it “MIGHT” be ready to break out & move higher. RSI stayed above the 50% line while price drifted lower. The chart is bullish in appearance. UNG, UGAZ, etc may make a move . My stop would be below today (or that trendline)
CRB – No change, it too bounced sideways on the 20sma. I am expecting a DCL and a move higher. I’d like to see it oversold and on the trend line, but that may not happen.
I want to mention that I was going through a file of charts from 2 weeks ago and found one that I liked but for some reason I didn’t post it. SO I will post the chart then, and one for now ( I looked now and it remains healthy looking). They released earnings, not so great since they deal with commodity mining, but they did offer a quarterly dividend. I used to trade this stock and BOOM in the commodity good ole days. If I remember correctly, it was ticker JOYG back then.
JOY WKLY – 3-17
JOY WKLY Now – Still may not be quite ready, but it looks good. It ran from roughly $8 to $19 and is consolidating those gains around $15. ( On the daily it is above the 50sma, but the 34sma is close by).
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$GOLD had a reversal higher with the USD reversing down today. Some wondered if this is it. If you read other blog posts or trading sites, you may see eager bulls ready to BUY MINERS on these reversals as Gold pops and the Dollar rolls over. I want to be patient.
Timing wise, I think we have weeks to go, and I have mentioned that there will be pops and false rallies, so I will try to point that out . In ‘real time’, they can be very convincing.
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GOLD- seriously, If gold rallied to $1250 in the next 3 days, THAT would make us feel that we are missing the move, but look at $1260 on this chart. A down trend line can form there. H & S ? Time-wise I feel that it is too early for a buy here (I like the strength though).
SILVER – I only post this to show that when reversals happen, even strong looking ones, it does not mean Buyers are back for a new rally. See Blue Arrows.
GDX – The stochastics is getting into the oversold area. We do have a gap overhead. I try to picture in my head that a small bounce could fill that gap, and the Bulls will be buying up in that area. Will smart money be selling? We haven’t even pulled back 38% yet. I still want to be patient.
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Note : So if you’ve decided to start accumulating Miners that you like for a longer term period like RIC, TAHO, SWC, SA, AU, SBGL, etc , or maybe you want a commodity stock like X, AKS, CLF, VALE FCX, ETC – you can buy wherever you feel comfortable. Just know that they might continue to pull back. Most will. I showed charts like this to point out that if commodities are out of their bear markets, they could double or triple longer term. Some already have, right? But there are still individual risks…
For example, in the past I have owned individual stocks that do a secondary offering of common stock to raise some money (google the definition), and price drops for a bit as a result. It isnt a killer, but it can happen after a stock runs higher and if you only own that 1 stock? You may wish you were not going in too heavily too early. Once we bottom, a basket can be accumulated easier and you catch it near lows.
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Can Individual miners do their own thing during accumulation stages? Yes. Some pull back 38%, others 61%, etc. If you are thinking of buying early, I recommend that its not ‘a core position at any cost’. In other words, You must add with the idea in your mind that you aren’t going to ride it down to the point where you are cut in half if it starts dropping more than expected. A loose stop is o.k. to allow for a reasonable pullback, but a stop is still important.
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So that’s todays report. No big change from the weekend, except that NATGAS may be readying for a break higher, and I still expect that the CRB should be close to a dcl. Oil can bottom at any time. If it breaks down sharply, I’d be very concerned. The commodity stocks do look good in their own consolidations. Happy Tuesday .
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~ALEX
Theme pic dedicated to my buddy MATT in Australia 🙂

















It spx chart compared to October is identical. krazy, watching that 13make. I’m still in clf love that chart from yesterday got a stop loss set so let her do her thing. Bwen by Crystal yesterday was a hot recommendation. It up 10% pre mkt as of now. Fed at 1130 might F things up for everyone again. In nugt as well from 52 we shall see
Alex I agree oil could start tanking. Nothing has changed on supply/demand
Vale doing a pull back like the chart suggested
What type of play are we waiting for today, or are we waiting until some things become more clear in the coming week
Speaking only for myself…..nat gas stocks with a stop 1% below yesterday’s lows ……
Long term quality play — investment quality — AR — cheap thrill is CRK. Just me though. Follow at your own risk. 🙂
Hey Jeff,
There are times when I am just better off being patient and wait for a good trade to present itself. I know it can be boring, but you give less money back that way. Between yesterday and today I havent seen anything great really jumping out at me, and so far I’d say that patience has been the best trade so far , looking at the Markets/ Oil / Natgas/ Gold / CRB / ETC. I’m watching some commodities / Miners / etc… but I think the trade in Miners is a ways off after a consolidation period.
For trading shorter term, I own VALE & CLF & RPTP & CGIX right now, but mostly cash. I’m also not constantly in front of the screen today – The TAX MAN calleth.
Thanks for the great charts and insight Alex! If we do get a right shoulder on the miner indexes and days/ weeks with little interest it can help to get the public eye off of gold again just like in early January….I would expect the next wave up to be worth a good return.
Hey Shermo – Yes, Me too, the next return should pay off well.
And today I saw Gold POP up $8 and GDX was only up 9 cents. They are Not going to suck us in 🙂
It kind of looks like the Gold pops will come & go as expected, but Miners are consolidating. I’d like to see them pull back a bit , rather than just go sideways until the 50sma catches upo. I want lower prices to enter 🙂
wow.. been watching SUNE on my radar.. it doesnt do things by half.
Argh….. No wonder the market is craptastic. Janet Yellen is giving a lunch speech today…. Was not on my radar….:(
I didn’t think it would be an event. Oops. Wrong. I mean, who gives out official US Fed policy during a random luncheon talk. I mean, seriously?!
No Maria, No Bill … now THATS a slow day .
Lurking……
LOL – Not much going on in the markets today really.
I’m just here for a lunch break.
HSTM interesting pop.
GME on the 50 sma.
I’ve been watching CENX with only the 50 and 200sma on the chart. I’d like to see it drop to those supports, but it may not.
VALE & CLF no real change
RIG didn’t work out. REN and PACD still treading water. CLF, I’m still up, but going nowhere fast. LABU, SRPT, RPTP finally moving higher. CF, should I just dump the first three and hold cash? They look so over sold, but yes can stay that way.
Well, I dont like the looks of RIG, it looks like it may double bottom. An A-B= C-D move may be complete, but I dont see much support here. At least PACD sits on the 50sma
I got rid of my energy because they just seem to be drifty and got down to my buy areas with OILS count unclear.
Stopped out of LGCY this morning at slightly better than break even.
Bought some CENX on the drop this morning. Low risk entry I think. Would sell on a close below 10 week sma few cents below. Other than that, everything else acting as expected.
She just sucks the air out of the markets …. Now that she spoken..markets will perk up http://www.businessinsider.com/janet-yellen-speech-march-29-2016-3
Trying to have faith that this correction in gold & miners will really happen. But EXK & SA and many others look so strong.
I hear ya…the Miners themselves didnt pull back like Gold did.
I mentioned LABD yesterday morning…. If anyone took that trade…I didn’t because I took an oath against 3x ETFs .. Tempting to reconsider
Tho let me clear, it’s breaking down now… You do not hold these
So far, XBI rejecting lower bollinger band today. Still below all ma’s though. Here’s a thought: so far markets have traded ↑ with and oil and ↓ with oil. What if that relationship is breaking and markets start going ↑ and ↓ with Bio’s?? That could be interesting being that IBB has been basing… we’ll see how that develops. Side note: sold some of my KGC core on the gap higher close to reduce some risk in miners. Still hold EXK, AUY, KGC, and TAHO. Last one being the largest. Btw, haven’t shared this chart of TAHO, but it looks mighty promising.
The FED is speaking a LOT about inflation and it does seem to be popping Miners now.
I am looking at many miners using the 34 sma , and they found support. ( See MUX, that is a nice triangle looking consolidation to the 34 sma). See GDX with the 34 sma, AUY, KGC, SAND, etc.
Many Silver stocks look stronger, less pull back.
Too early to know if anything lasting will come out of it, but using T/A it looks pretty good, like a consolidation and pop higher.
Using cycles, Gold should not be done consolidating.
When I mentioned that GOLD could pull back, but some miners may do their own thing…
GOLD dropped in March from $1287 to $1206
Stocks like AG, HMY, SBGL, DRD, MUX, PAAS, CDE, etc still fairly close to their highs.
Let’s see how the day closes for miners, but move higher to close gap could’ve been expected. So far, some are doing just that. Some others still need more upside to close gap.
Yes, and as usual, I am always interested in seeing if good volume comes in or just panic buying volume (Light) that usually fades in a day or two.
I did add a bit to CLF today, because it just doesnt seem to be selling much. Just dips each morning and closes off the lows.
Here’s something interesting, and maybe getting ahead of myself, but a possible scenario: GDX is showing a possible right shoulder forming, with a top near $21.50, and would be neckline at $19. A completion and break of would have us back near $16.50-17, which is near 50% retrace. Volume has been lower in the right shoulder, which *should* be common in h&s pattern. GDXJ looks to be tagging a broken trendline from below, if u draw it from the lows and use a line chart. Plus the fact that we have a near gap fill.
Yes, thats why I put the H&S & gap in the report. The measured move drops it to support.
I gotta start making a habit of reading your reports 2-3 times at least! I just saw that you had that in the report…. 😐
LOL- I wondered why you said that you may be getting ahead of your self : )
I almst thought it was in the weekend report too, but maybe for Gold. I cant recall if I used that chart or not.
Do it already. Running out of patience here in consolidation land!!!
Tell me about it! I have hedged 3 times already during this run with JDST, and everytime they take off higher! Granted, I have been net long just in case, and it has worked out ok. But it has cost me about $1500 total of upside potential, and that’s as of today’s close! The other 2 times I saw the move higher developing and took the hedge off. This move, I really did think would come to fill that gap, but I’m just not comfortable calling a definitive direction for these darn gold stocks to go ahead and take off the hedge. Let’s see what the rest of the week brings, but I think it’s obvious by now that the big $$ is on the long side in gold stocks, and supporting price on dips. Tell you what, If price dips 20-30% in the next few weeks, I’ll be glad I kept that hedge. Most important is capital protection.
I have noticed in the past though, that when there are open gaps in a chart, price will fill against the direction it wants to move first, and fill then move to the other gap. In this case, gold stocks would have broken down last week, come back today to fill that gap, and now lose steam and come down to fill the gap lower, near the 50 day sma on most. Don’t know if it’ll work like that this time, but just an observation from prior gaps experience. Another thing, KGC, is now diverging negatively even in the weekly chart. Line chart diverging from macd histogram, so AT SOME POINT these things will come back down. From what level, thats the question.
Right, but can I wait for that to happen?? 😛
Agree – there is definitely something going on here! Hope your hedges work and you can hold on. I’m getting my list together for miners to buy BUT we just can’t get the price that I want! Maybe if I go in heavy it will crash so the rest of you guys can buy?!
Something that does look good is X ( And STLD, ZEUS, etc).
X looks like a sidewys consolidation at highs, and the volume looks proper for 1/2 a day
QQQ, SPY kind of pulled back to the 13 sma, and MAYBE just put in a DCL. The 10sma was broken along with the trend line.
look on a 2 month chart and it looks like a sideways consolidation to move out of that rising wedge that I was pointing out.
IWM looks bullish right now.
BKX – JPM, BAC looking ill.
And CLF, VALE, X, ZEUS, STLD, commodities look pretty good, holding up nicely. AKS just reversed higher off of the 20sma , regained the 10sma.
I’m adding small positions to my commodity stocks – still have cash
I need help on BBG My strength lies in spotting entries but exiting at the right time …..). I’m up quite a bit on this …looking toppy? Or should I let it run?
It looks good right now ( use a 20sma) – MACD may be recovering
Ok thanks 🙂 and always using the 1 year time frame (for future reference?)
I just checked it on a 3 month. The only thing that I dont like is how light the volume is.
On a 1 yr, it is fighting resistance from last Nov. It looks like it wants to break through sooner or later. I do not like that light volume.
AS A TRADER – When I own a stock that passes a former high ( the March 18th on BBG) on 1/2 the volume, my rule is that I sell it and watch it , unless I really know & like that stock.
It usually will drop back down, but it still may just be a normal consolidation. As a trader, I sell, as a buy & hold, I just ride it out.
Thanks CF …. Time to fish or cut bait. … I just read their March 2 CC transcript . wow…they’ve protected their cash flow with hedges. 65% of their 2016 oil production is swapped at $80.47 WTI — 2017 production is swapped at
$75.61
Getting into fixed price derivatives … My general impression is that puts them in a strong position…
Don’t look now but the miners have caught some wind in their sails.
volume is not too bad either. Could get interesting if Miners run to new highs with Gold recently selling down
As Steve Chapman use to say’ “surprises happen to the upside in a bull market.” I hope the later is true.
That is true- I hope so too 🙂
What happ to Steve any idea?
He is a reader here, but hasn’t logged in as often recently.
He is busy with other things.
I suspect that after being pressured by subs to constantly come up with trades, he tired very quickly of their complaints when those same trades went SOUTH in May and June of 2015 and chucked it.
Energy Sector heating up
Ahhh, no pun intended?
Bill, I’m seeing energy sell off in the AM and recover in the afternoon. But if one nibbled at the lows each day, you’d have something gone. I’ll post a chart later. I’ve been tell folks for weeks to just buy WPX every time it hits $6 but not sure anyone’s listening.
I don’t remember seeing your post on WPX. I just looked, why, yes its been in quite a channel. Buy at $6 make money.
Yeah, I’ve posted 3 or 4 times in it, two pretty successful trades but not in it right now. If Oil inv comes in bullish, might wish I was! If I posted a little earlier in the day, maybe people would see it 😛
Oh my, CRK on the daily chart breaking out,,, the angle up is a thing of beauty….
I guess the sell off in QTWW is done 🙂
Nice call in BWEN a couple of days ago – by the way
Thanks 🙂 enlighten me. What do you mean by qtww?
Ticker QTWW – Its a clean fuel stock that I used to trade and recently it got killed.
It’s up 200% today
I about choked on my kombuchu when I saw the volume….almost 6 million ha ha
I see that is says trading of this stock is going to be suspended on April 1st – so…..does that mean all the people who bought today are going to be stuck…or ….maybe they will all turn around and try and sell tomorrow? Just curious – I’m sure I don’t understand all the in’s and out’s of when a stock trading is suspended….:)
Idk. Its done nothing for 2 weeks until about 30 min b4 close today. Must be some news, but I haven’t seen it yet myself.
Like I said earlier in the day–CRK was a cheap thrill play :). It did not disappoint. It’s a natty play– think it might squeeze…
Clf that’s all I’m gone say.
That’s the last time I take lunch at the same time Janet Yellen does. I got back to my workstation and SURPRISE! Also forgot to up my limit sell on TNA earlier in the day (darnit). Really annoyed here that we just can’t get miners to drop. Come on and do it so we can buy back in already!! Come on!
VIX closed below 14 today, that’s too low. I had earlier been convinced that we were in a bear market, but anyone who hasn’t revisited that thesis is just living in denial. Maybe energy and commodities power 1 more bull leg?
Look Ma, Twinsies!!
No, seriously, I know some energy had serious pullbacks. But I’m seeing accumulation since the middle of last week. As soon as oil clears up some, this might be a good opportunity – certainly bears watching. API report tonight actually wasn’t horrible, decent EIA rpt might get some rip going.
Refresh!
Cason, I can’t help but notice some downside here. Be careful. refresh
Haha excellent choice of picture dude!!! Hey you’ve also given me an idea of what to eat for dinner tonight! Roo steak it is 😉 eh he he