Archive for the technical analysis Category

Market Turning Points | Andre Gratian | 2011-10-09

Posted in education, technical analysis on 2011-10-09 by Strategesis

From Safehaven.com:

Here is what I wrote in my last newsletter: “The SPX made a double-top at 1220 that created a pattern on the Point & Figure chart from which we can estimate the extent of the decline by taking a count across the 1195 line. We come up with two well-defined targets: One to 1080, and the other to 1040. These are closely correlated by Fibonacci projections. With the 3-yr cycle low about a week away, we could not ask for better conditions to predict the intermediate low.”

The SPX made its low on Tuesday 10/4 at 1074.77, and has not looked back since! It closed out the week at 1155.46 after reaching a high of 1171 on Friday.

On Thursday, I sent the following update to subscribers:

From: Andre Gratian Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 9:07 AM Subject: Market update

(I will let the two quotes above speak for themselves about the quality of the information that is dispensed to subscribers.)

What now? It looks as if, after the SPX reached its projection on Friday, the indices are beginning to form a short-term top. As of the close there was still no sell signal but plenty of warning in the indicators, as we will see when we look at the charts.

The action of the market last week confirms the view that we have started a counter-trend rally in the bear market that started in May for the SPX, and July for the QQQ. I don’t have a specific target for the top of this move, but 1215 (a 50% retracement) and perhaps 1248 (.618 retracement) are good bets. I will try to be more precise after the Point & Figure pattern has progressed enough to warrant a projection.

Let’s look at charts!
Continued

Market Turning Points | Andre Gratian | 2011-10-01

Posted in education, technical analysis on 2011-10-02 by Strategesis

From Safehaven.com:

The 3-yr cycle is ideally scheduled to make its low next week and it has brought unrelenting pressure on the market over the past few days. This is why rallies have failed to hold, and why selling is intensifying. We are getting closer and closer to the day of reckoning!

Here is what I wrote in my last newsletter: “The SPX made a double-top at 1220 that created a pattern on the Point & Figure chart from which we can estimate the extent of the decline by taking a count across the 1195 line. We come up with two well-defined targets: One to 1080, and the other to 1040. These are closely correlated by Fibonacci projections. With the 3-yr cycle low about a week away, we could not ask for better conditions to predict the intermediate low.”

In our dualistic world, there are two equal and opposite sides to every event: one positive, and one negative. In Asian philosophy, this is known as the yin-yang principle. The bad news about the current market condition is that if everything happens as it “should”, the SPX will experience another 80 to 100-point plunge into next week. The good news is that afterwards, it should start another intermediate rally which is likely to last into 2012.

Do not forget, however, that what has transpired in the market since May is most likely only a rehearsal for the next market which “should” take place over the next 3 years! Right now, we are only dealing with a 3-yr cycle. In (October ?) 2014, we will witness the bottoming of the 120-year cycle, a phenomenon that no living human has ever experienced. At this time, it is too early to predict exactly when this grand finale will start, and logic tells us that it will not be 40 times as bad as the 300-point decline from 1370 into next week’s suggested low of about 1060, but it should be bad enough. Current estimates are for the SPX to bottom between 700 and 800, but we will have plenty of time to refine this projection.

There is always the possibility that the market will fool us and that the SPX will hold above 1101. If next week fails to bring the significant weakness that is contemplated, bears be careful!

Continued

The Stock Market Smells Deflation

Posted in education, technical analysis, time cycles on 2011-10-02 by Strategesis

From Safehaven.com:

In previous commentaries we’ve talked about how the 6-year cycle is scheduled to peak around Oct. 1. That now appears to be all but certain following the last few trading sessions. Although the cycle has a 1-2 week standard deviation (plus or minus), it appears that it peaked on schedule last week and that the stock market has lost the last remaining cyclical support it had throughout most of September.

Continued

Trouble ahead, trouble behind…

Posted in technical analysis, USD on 2011-10-01 by Strategesis

US Dollar Index | Monthly Bars


(Click on chart for larger view)

The chart speaks for itself, if you know how to read it: Significant upswing in the US Dollar index has probably started, based on a) the break of the downward trend channel line, b) the upsurge in momentum as measured by my proprietary technical indicators, and c) the oversold condition of the market.

However, the overall trend in the USD is still down. Also, technical analysis only provides the relative odds, and does not forecast the future with certainty. Nothing can do that. So believe what you see, and take to heart the fundamental principle of market analysis: Trends can and do reverse, but at any given moment, a trend is far more likely to continue than to reverse.

That being said, the history over the past decade or so is that whenever the USD rises on the scale of monthly price bars (by more than the usual meaningless fluctuations,) world markets and economies fall.

Prediction or cause? Information theory may hold the key

Posted in scientific research, technical analysis on 2011-10-01 by Strategesis

From PhysOrg.com:

“A perplexing philosophical issue in science is the question of anticipation, or prediction, versus causality,” Shawn Pethel tells PhysOrg.com. “Can you tell the difference between something predicting an event and something actually causing an event?”

Continued

Market Turning Points | Andre Gratian | 2011-09-25

Posted in education, technical analysis on 2011-09-25 by Strategesis

From Safehaven.com:

In my newsletter of September 11, I mentioned that the market was just about ready to fall off a cliff. I am not sure if this was the proper analogy but, after a 10-day reprieve, and using the Fed report of September 11 as an excuse, prices broke sharply with some indices already trading at new intermediate lows. I believe that the real reason behind this move is the bottoming phase of the 3-yr cycle and, since its low is not due until the first week in October, we are not likely to see the completion of the current intermediate decline before that date.

The SPX made a double-top at 1220 that created a pattern on the Point & figure chart from which we can estimate the extent of the decline by taking a count across the 1195 line. We come up with two well-defined targets: One to 1080, and the other to 1040. These are in close correlation with Fibonacci projections. With the 3-yr cycle low about a week away, we could not ask for better conditions to predict the intermediate low, both in price and time.

The SPX, along with a few other indices, has not yet broken below the August low, but it’s surely only a matter of time before it does. Some averages usually lead the rest and they can be helpful in forecasting reversals. The Russell 2000 has that reputation and, in retrospect, it did give a small warning when the SPX made a double-top at 1220 and it did not. On Thursday, it broke its low of 8/09 by a small margin while the SPX remained well above. This is probably another indication that new lows are ahead, especially with about another week to go into the cycle low. In any case, I started searching for a leading index that has better predictability than the Russell, and I believe that I have found one that exceeds it, not only in predictability, but excels in consistency as well. Its current technical condition definitely suggests that new lows are still ahead.

At Friday’s close, this lead indicator was essentially near-term neutral, probably because the market will be moved by what comes out of the G-20 meeting this week-end. I am still trying to find the best way to analyze it and on what time frame. For instance, is the warning of a reversal clearer on a daily chart, an hourly chart, or even on a 5-m chart? And is it better evaluated strictly on a divergence basis, or by using Fibonacci projections and retracements? After I have had a chance to evaluate this further, I am sure that I will have gained another very powerful forecasting tool.

Last week, I showed a chart of the Dow Jones Composite. After one more week of trading, it looks essentially the same and has remained above its August 9 low. If the SPX should correct to 1040, the current price ratio between the two indices would put the Composite at about 3400, well above its July 2010 low, and still well within the confines of its up channel. In other words, still in an uptrend, technically, but with the very long cycles bearing down into 2014, it’s probably only a matter of time before a confirmed reversal occurs.

Continued

Technical Damage

Posted in technical analysis on 2011-09-22 by Strategesis

Here are the charts of the major US stock indexes, using daily price bars. They are presented in order from strongest to weakest. If you only considered the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 and the Dow, you’d be much more confident that support at the lows of 9 August might hold. However, the charts of the Russell 2000 and the NYSE Composite Index would strongly argue that support at the early August lows is more likely to fail than to hold—at least eventually, even if it holds temporarily.

Also strongly arguing that support will eventually fail are the Elliott Wave structure, the technical indicators at higher time frames, the break down of key trendlines and the high momentum of the downmove.

Of course, technical analysis can only provide relative probabilities, not certainties. The market is always right. Believe what you see.

NDX (Nasdaq-100 Index) | Daily Bars

Click on chart for larger view

SPX (S&P 500 Index) | Daily Bars

Click on chart for larger view

TMW (Wilshire 5000 / Total Market Index) | Daily Bars

Click on chart for larger view

DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) | Daily Bars

Click on chart for larger view

RUT (Russel 2000 Index) | Daily Bars

Click on chart for larger view

NYA (NYSE Composite Index) | Daily Bars

Click on chart for larger view

Market Turning Points | Andre Gratian | 2011-09-18

Posted in education, technical analysis on 2011-09-19 by Strategesis

From Safehaven.com:

After making a new high at 1370, the SPX lost its upward momentum and subsequently broke the important 1260 support level. This caused many market analysts to assume that the stock market had started a new bear market decline. I had pointed out previously that, in order to confirm a bear market trend, the index would have to trade below its July 2010 low of 1011. It does not look as if this is going to happen anytime soon. Now, my question is becoming: can the SPX even trade below its August 2011 low of 1101 by the time that the 3-yr cycle makes its low in early October?

A little over two weeks ago, a decline started from 1230 which looked as if it would continue until October and make a new low in the process. With the positive action of the past week, this scenario has come under serious scrutiny. Although a decline should eventually materialize into (about) the second week in October, It is no longer clear that the bottoming cycle will create enough weakness to challenge the 1101 level. In fact, the market is showing enough technical strength to suggest that, after a near-term correction, it might even make a new high before succumbing to the 3-yr cycle downward pressure. I will show you why when we analyze the SPX daily chart.

By Friday’s close, the hourly momentum indicators were overbought and the A/D was showing negative divergence in both indices. However, neither index had given a short-term sell signal. The Point & Figure chart looked as if it might be making a distribution top, but this will only be confirmed if prices drop below 1205. If we have a good opening on Monday, SPX could even run up to 1222 – 1228 before beginning a short-term correction.

With these parameters established, let’s start to look at some charts.

Continued

DJIA E-Mini Futures | 480-minute bars

Posted in technical analysis on 2011-09-16 by Strategesis

Gold Futures — 120-minute bars [Updated to add Elliott Wave Labels]

Posted in education, elliott wave, technical analysis on 2011-09-15 by Strategesis


(Click on image for larger view)

Gold futures (trading symbol = GC) | 120-minute bars

[Updated with Elliott Wave labels, and price action since the original post yesterday. Fourth wave of ending diagonal now in progress. A fifth wave down to a new low is expected over the next week or so. However, if GC trades above 1846 before trading below Friday morning’s low, then the most probable Elliott Wave interpretation shifts to one where the whole pattern is either a Double Three or Contracting Triangle whose third (but not final) wave (a downward move) ended on Friday morning at 1767. Double Threes and contracting triangles move net sideways, so Friday morning’s low could well be the lowest low of the pattern, if it’s not a flat]

Probable Elliott Wave “flat” pattern in progress since 21 August 2011. A “flat” is composed of three subwaves, where the first and third subwaves move in the same direction as each other, but where the middle wave moves in the opposite direction. All three waves (labelled A, B and C) should ideally have roughly the same price extent. Wave A (the first wave) can be any corrective Elliott wave. Wave B (the second wave) can be any corrective Elliott Wave other than a triangle pattern. Wave C (the final wave) must be either an impulse wave or else an ending diagonal wave. Wave C of the flat pattern in gold started on 6 September, and cannot be anything other than an ending diagonal pattern. The ideal low would be around $1700, although it can fall short or extend.

One key distinction between one Elliott Wave and another is whether it moves in the same direction as the trend, or moves counter trend–where “trend” refers to the direction of movement of the larger Elliott Wave that contains the wave that is the focus of the discussion. Elliott waves are fractal, in that they have an infinite hierarchical structure–waves within waves within waves.

Waves that move in the direction of the “larger trend” are referred to as ‘actionary’ waves. Waves that move opposite to the direction of the wave that contains them are called ‘reactionary’ waves. Wave A and wave C of a flat pattern are both actionary waves, but the middle B wave is a reactionary wave.

The other key distinction between Elliott Waves is based on the internal structure of the wave:

A ‘motive’ wave usually has five subwaves, but may have any number in the sequence 5, 9, 13.. (adding 4 each time.) A motive wave does not move sideways. It definitely trends either up or down.

A ‘corrective’ wave usually has 3 subwaves, but may have any number in the sequence 3, 7, 11.. (adding 4 each time.) A triangle must have at least 5 subwaves, but may have 9, 13, 17, etc. Corrective waves may move either sideways, or may move sharply up or down.

There’s a lot more to it, but that’s the general framework. All that remains is the detailed ontology of wave forms, and the structural rules that distinguish one from another. I will be publishing a complete description soon.