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Technical Analysis: Will Tesla Shares Drive Higher?
Tesla more than doubled between January and mid-February. It retraced almost half that move last month and is now trying to bounce. Will the move continue? The first pattern on today’s chart is the 50-day moving average, which the electric-car maker tested and held at...
Growth Comeback? Nasdaq Surged Last Week Amid Banking Scares
Stocks face a confusing mix of positives and negatives, but the biggest story could be an unexpected surge in the Nasdaq-100. The technology-heavy index rallied 5.8 percent between Friday, March 10, and Friday March 17. In absolute terms, it was the biggest weekly...
Stocks Try to Hold as Bank Fears Drive Volatility: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Anchored VWAP and Keltner pullback here. Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 tries to hold 50% retracement of the move between October low and February high.Prices try to remain...
Chart of the Day: Tight Consolidation in Semiconductor Equipment Stock
Semiconductors have outperformed lately as investors get excited about demand from artificial intelligence (AI). Today’s chart considers equipment supplier Lam Research . The first pattern is the rising 50-day simple moving average. LRCX has consolidated in a tight...
Rate Fears and Bank Failures Have Sent The Stock Market on a Wild Ride
Stocks are making wild moves as investors pivot from worries about rate hikes to bank failures. The S&P 500 dropped 4.5 percent between Friday, March 3, and Friday, March 10. It was the biggest weekly decline since mid-September. Ninety seven percent of of the...
Semiconductors Defy Rate-Hike Fears: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 tries to stabilize above trendlinesPrices neither overbought nor oversold. Volatility remains historically low.Calm before a bearish storm?Downward...
Stocks Bounce as Investors Focus on Stronger Economic Growth
Stocks are bouncing at potential support as investors focus on stronger global growth. The S&P 500 rose 1.9 percent between Friday, February 24, and Friday, March 3. It was the index's first gain in the last four weeks. Cyclical sectors like materials and...
Cyclicals Take the Lead as China Reopens: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here. New additions: MT Price Channels (workspace)DISTANCE FROM MA (indicator)MA STREAK (indicator) Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 tries to holds 200-day MA and Jan. 25 lowLower highs create potential...
Chart of the Day: Exxon Mobil Has Pulled Back
Exxon Mobil has steadily advanced for more than a year, and its current pullback may interest trend followers. The first pattern on today’s chart is $104.76, XOM’s previous all-time high from 2014. Notice how this level was ... For more,...
Technical Analysis: Will Tesla Shares Drive Higher?
Tesla more than doubled between January and mid-February. It retraced almost half that move last month and is now trying to bounce. Will the move continue? The first pattern on today’s chart is the 50-day moving average, which the electric-car maker tested and held at...
Growth Comeback? Nasdaq Surged Last Week Amid Banking Scares
Stocks face a confusing mix of positives and negatives, but the biggest story could be an unexpected surge in the Nasdaq-100. The technology-heavy index rallied 5.8 percent between Friday, March 10, and Friday March 17. In absolute terms, it was the biggest weekly...
Stocks Try to Hold as Bank Fears Drive Volatility: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Anchored VWAP and Keltner pullback here. Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 tries to hold 50% retracement of the move between October low and February high.Prices try to remain...
Chart of the Day: Tight Consolidation in Semiconductor Equipment Stock
Semiconductors have outperformed lately as investors get excited about demand from artificial intelligence (AI). Today’s chart considers equipment supplier Lam Research . The first pattern is the rising 50-day simple moving average. LRCX has consolidated in a tight...
Rate Fears and Bank Failures Have Sent The Stock Market on a Wild Ride
Stocks are making wild moves as investors pivot from worries about rate hikes to bank failures. The S&P 500 dropped 4.5 percent between Friday, March 3, and Friday, March 10. It was the biggest weekly decline since mid-September. Ninety seven percent of of the...
Semiconductors Defy Rate-Hike Fears: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 tries to stabilize above trendlinesPrices neither overbought nor oversold. Volatility remains historically low.Calm before a bearish storm?Downward...
Stocks Bounce as Investors Focus on Stronger Economic Growth
Stocks are bouncing at potential support as investors focus on stronger global growth. The S&P 500 rose 1.9 percent between Friday, February 24, and Friday, March 3. It was the index's first gain in the last four weeks. Cyclical sectors like materials and...
Cyclicals Take the Lead as China Reopens: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here. New additions: MT Price Channels (workspace)DISTANCE FROM MA (indicator)MA STREAK (indicator) Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 tries to holds 200-day MA and Jan. 25 lowLower highs create potential...
Chart of the Day: Exxon Mobil Has Pulled Back
Exxon Mobil has steadily advanced for more than a year, and its current pullback may interest trend followers. The first pattern on today’s chart is $104.76, XOM’s previous all-time high from 2014. Notice how this level was ... For more,...
Chart of the Day: Does Tesla Need to Recharge its Batteries?
Tesla rallied more than 50 percent from its lows of the year through earlier this week. But now it may be running out of juice. The main pattern on today's chart is the price area around $939. It was the opening price on May 5 before TSLA knifed under its 200-day...
Health Care Leads New Highs as the Stock Market Recovers
Something new happened in the stock market yesterday following a month of steady gains: some names are breaking out. Twenty three members of the S&P 500 made new 52-week highs on Monday. That was the most since April 21, according to TradeStation data. Six of...
Has Inflation Passed Away? Stocks Keep Climbing as Price Gains Slow
Stocks just had their longest winning streak of the year as inflation cooled and investors plowed cash back into the market. The S&P 500 rose 3.3 percent between Friday, August 5, and Friday, August 12. It was the index's fourth straight weekly gain, its longest...
Technical Analysis: Netflix Shares Are Inching Toward a Big Price Gap
Does anyone remember Netflix? After losing three-quarters of its value between November and May, the streaming-video stock may be trying to claw its way back. The first pattern on today’s chart is the bearish price gap on April 20 after the business unexpectedly lost...
Videogame Slowdown Is the Latest Negative to Hit Semiconductor Stocks
Nvidia fell sharply after cutting guidance yesterday, the latest bearish headline facing the semiconductor industry. "Our gaming product sell-through projections declined significantly," CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement preannouncing weak results for the fiscal...
Stocks Keep Advancing as Economic, Inflation Hopes Draw Investors Back to the Market
Stocks advanced again last week as inflation-wary investors keep inching back into the market. The S&P 500 rose 0.36 percent between Friday, July 29, and Friday, August 5. It was the third straight weekly advance, returning the index to its highest level in two...
Technical Analysis: Exxon Mobil Could Be Stalling
Energy stocks have dominated the market this year, but now the biggest of the bunch is showing signs of weakness: Exxon Mobil. The first pattern on today’s chart is the jump following strong quarterly results on July 29. While that may have been impressive, it soon...
Where’s the Fear? VIX Keeps Sliding as Big Events Fail to Lift Volatility
Cboe's "fear index" hasn't been showing a lot of panic lately. The Volatility Index ($VIX.X) declined steadily between mid-June and late July. That six-week slide was the longest negative streak since late 2019, according to TradeStation data. It's up slightly this...
Stocks Leapt Higher in July, But Will the Rally Continue this Month?
Stocks just finished their best month in over a year. Can they keep running in August? The S&P 500 climbed 4.3 percent in the week between Friday, July 22, and Friday, July 29. That helped lift the index 9.1 percent in July, giving the index its biggest monthly...
Bearish Leverage at Work In Energy Space: Options Recap
Give me leverage, or give me death. That was the message from a big options trade yesterday. Transocean (RIG) has plenty of leverage on its own. Over $9 billion of debt and $2.3 billion of cash plants it firmly in the junkyard of bond ratings. ("B3" at Moody's.) As an...
Can This Social Media Stock Double in the Next Year?
A social-media stalwart got hammered yesterday, and someone positioned for a major rebound. Twitter (TWTR) fell almost 9 percent about halfway through the morning. As it clawed its way back to cut those losses, a trader amassed about 80,000 January 2020 70 calls for...
Is the Nightmare Over? Options Trader Sees Huge Rebound
October was a painful month, but now a big options trader is looking for the entire selloff to reverse. Here's a breakdown of the massive call volume detected yesterday morning in the market-tracking SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): A block of 75,000 December 288 calls was...
Options Trader Sees No Happy New Year for Ailing Blue Chip
Someone seems to think this year's worst-performing S&P 500 member won't have a happy New Year. Here's a breakdown of a large options trade in General Electric (GE): A block of 12,500 December 8 puts was sold for $0.79 and an equal number of December 7s was bought...
Options Trader Braves Volatility in Media Giant
Damn the volatility -- full speed ahead. That seemed to be the message from one big options trader in Comcast (CMCSA) yesterday: A block of 5,669 23-November 35 puts was bought in the middle of the afternoon for just $0.02. Volume was below open interest, which...
Brazil Bull Looks for Carnival Rally: Options Recap
Someone's looking for a Carnival rally in Brazil's top bank, with the help of an unusual options strategy. Shortly after lunch on Friday, a trader sold 10,180 June 17 puts in Itau Unibanco (ITUB) for $3.58. At the same second, he or she bought exactly the same number...
Bears Are Digging for Downside in This Space
Bears are digging for downside in gold miners, one of the worst-performing major industry groups this year. More than 23,000 December 11 puts were bought yesterday in Barrick Gold (ABX). The first blocks changed hands for $0.10 but premiums rose to $0.12 as the bids...
Support and Resistance at Play on Some Key Charts
Support and resistance may be at play on some key charts. In case you don't know, support and resistance are important price levels where buyers and sellers tend to be active. Traders often use them to decide when to enter or exit positions. One technique is to buy a...
Bulls Clean Up with Consumer Giant: Options Recap
Someone's cleaning up as consumer staples defy the market selloff. Just look at Procter & Gamble (PG), whose brands include Tide laundry detergent, Bounty paper towels and Dawn dish-washing liquid. It's one of the best-performing members of the Dow Jones...
The Subprime Crash Started a Decade Ago
October 2008, a month that's lived in infamy for many investors, is now a decade in the rear-view mirror. A decade ago today, the S&P 500 slipped under 1100. It was the lowest close in almost four years and kicked off an historic slide that shook confidence in the...
Suddenly Another Global Name Is Moving
Attention has focused heavily on China, Italy and NAFTA. But suddenly today another part of the world is in play. The iShares Brazil ETF (EWZ) rallied 6 percent today and has gained 8 percent in the last week. That places it well ahead of the S&P 500 and other...
Stocks Just Had Their Best Quarter Since 2013
Stocks dipped slightly last week, but still had their best quarter in almost five years. The S&P 500 slid 0.5 percent between Friday, September 21, and Friday, September 28. It was only the third negative week in the last 13. The index's 7.2 percent gain since the...
Cannabis Craze Drives Activity: September at TradeStation
The cannabis craze swept markets in September, with TradeStation clients riding the wave. Canadian marijuana firm Tilray (TLRY) was the third-busiest stock on our platforms this month, catapulting from No. 24 in August. Related companies Canopy Growth (CGC) and Cronos...
Bears Cry Uncle as FOMO Takes Hold
Stocks kept climbing last week as fears of a trade war morphed into fear of missing out. The S&P 500 rose 0.85 percent between Friday, September 14, and Friday, September 21. It was the tenth gain in the last 12 weeks, and keeps the index on pace for its sixth...
Why Stocks Move: Macro Trends
This post is part of a series about the catalysts for stock movements. It’s based on a series of talks at TradeStation’s Master Class learning sessions. On Wednesday, we examined the process of investor rotation. That's when stocks move based on shifts...
Your Favorite Sector’s Getting Reshuffled
Everyone loves tech. Did you know the sector's about to get reshuffled? Over the years, "technology" has become an increasingly ambiguous term. What do semiconductors have in common with phone companies? Why should routers and photocopiers get lumped alongside social...
Small Caps Suffer as Dow Roars to Life
Shifts in sentiment seem to be hurting small-cap stocks, one of the market's strongest areas this year. The Russell 2000 small cap ETF (IWM) is the only major index with a negative return in the last month. That marks a big change versus its performance over the...
Here Comes the Dow…
The world's most famous stock benchmark has been caged up all year. Is it ready for a breakout? The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) is the best-performing major index in the last month, even though it's lagged on a year-to-date basis. (See the RadarScreen®...