Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

New Shorts Waiting in the Wings

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I am ready to short the following stocks with the following stops. I am going to wait, however, since I have learned to fear The Afternoon Ramp-Up.

ACF………………20.16

ADCT………………7.02

AGN………………61.40

AMG………………73.45

AMKR………………6.65

ANN………………14.39

BG………………59.51

BGC………………34.30

BIO………………100.01

BOKF………………44.76

CAM………………42.14

CBT………………24.68

CEG………………32.88

COH………………37.98

CSX………………49.70

CTV………………29.96

DIOD………………17.97

DOW………………28.89

FLEX………………7.75

FLS………………108.35

GIL………………19.93

GLNG………………13.27

GTI………………15.14

HANS………………35.38

JPM………………46.45

KEG………………8.46

LHO………………21.46

MET………………36.05

MIDD………………48.39

NTES………………44.96

OMX………………12.61

PAY………………15.31

PGF………………15.98

RDC………………27.05

SFG………………38.81

SNX………………30.83

SPLS………………22.69

STZ………………17.01

VCP………………15.90

WAT………………61.31

XEC………………47.01

XL………………18.32

YSI………………6.78

A Sloper Speaks

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An email I received; reprinted anonymously with the writer's kind permission:

I have endurance, and am analytical in spades.  I have the same feeling as you when you described being somewhat discouraged with your results for the last little while.

I am a little late with my resignation to the facts (ie since march of this year, there have been a tonne of rabbits pulled out of the proverbial hat)

I plan to start nibbling away with a small part of my portfolio, keeping the rest in cash.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but rather a stark realist.  If you're looking for an explanation for what has been happening with the markets since march, I'm positive that it is simply the US Federal government "reflating" stuff.   Of course with the help of Goldman Sachs, and other executors.

I am resigned to trading ranges, for the leftover crumbs that the puppeteers are dropping along the way—-and hope that some time in the near future that the price charts will take on the shape of natural commerce rather than this violent "pump and suck" environment.

Does This Chart Make My Butt Look Big? (by Brian Johnson)

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Brian Johnson here again with another video encompassing three different things I thought you guys might enjoy. A little deeper look at the bigger picture has had me bearish for a few days now and, while the bulls certainly have something to snort about, I'd like to throw my bear case (at least for the short term) into the ring. Being a bear or a bull doesn't make you money…..being a trader does. 

Snap Out Of It!

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I really twisted myself into an emotional knot yesterday. I kept asking myself: "What's wrong with you? Why are you being so feeble?"

The stone-cold fact of the matter is this: I look at a lot of charts, and maybe I'm just too blinkered to see them, but I have found virtually no compelling bullish setups, whereas the bearish setups seem like manna from heaven. In my experience, the kinds of items I am short are just the kind that tumble swiftly with any market weakness.

The problem is that for the past eight days, there hasn't been any lasting weakness.

But I am not "running scared." At the moment, I have 43.79% of my cash buying power deployed into positions, 100% of them short, with one position – XLU – being, the largest non-leveraged position I've ever had in my life.

Obviously I would hope to look back on this era at market history and pat myself on the back for being stalwart. Of course, I could also look back at this time as simply being right in the middle of an inexorable grind to 50,000 on the Dow. (Kidding, kidding……..) 

As I'm typing this, two hours before the opening bell, it at least seems that the /ES and EUR are pointing in a good direction. But what I certainly know from recent experience is that these – – errr – – "red shoots" can vanish swiftly.