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.

250 to 5

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I currently have 207 short positions. I went through all my charts today, and I also did some new searches for other opportunities. Having done that, I found a couple dozen more stocks that I like on the short side.

How many stocks did I like for potential long positions? Just five. I promise you, I am not going out of my way to shun long positions. But there were only five patterns that I thought merited consideration for purchase. They are

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It's been days since a guest has put up a post, so it's just been little old me lately. I hope you're having a relaxing weekend. Remember, Sunday is Arch Crawford Day (!) Let's see if the magical mystical alignment creates some real downside, or if all this astronomy is just a bunch of rings around Uranus.

Deflation Upon Us

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I enjoyed my "Spotlight Session" with Tom Sosnoff yesterday afternoon. Tom spoke a lot about his fondness for bond futures these days, and I'd never really look at these charts. I was intrigued by his favorite (finally! a market exists with a clear trend!)

0731-tz

The biggest question before us, I believe, is whether inflation or deflation is going to be the course of the next few years. A lot of folks – precious metals fans in particularly, obviously – have signed up on the inflation side of the ledger.

To my way of thinking, so many indexes out there are screaming "deflation" that it's difficult to ignore. The above chart, at the very least, suggests inflation is nowhere on the horizon. Have you seen interest rates? I never thought I'd touch my 4.875% mortgage, since it was so good, but I'm going through all the paperwork right now to refinance at 3.75% – amazing! This is not an inflationary environment.

I would also note that the gold bugs index is hinting at some action very similar to what we saw in that glorious summer of 2008. Take note of the tinted areas and their relationship to each other.

0731-hui

I'm going to check out the new comments section now and see if anyone is having trouble. Have a good weekend!  

Be Gentle with Me

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I have been writing this blog for over five years, and although I didn't plan for it to work out this way, the simple truth is that the comments section has become the heart and soul of this community. My little missives might help get conversation going, but Slopers have created their own momentum, and I want to foster and promote that as much as possible.

Having said that, I am pleased (and a little nervous) to be introducing a new comment system of my own design. Why am I doing this? There are many reasons, and over the course of time, those will become more clear. Suffice it to say that I want to do everything I can to keep the comments section lively.

Now I know there are some "costs" to doing this. Requiring people to take a few moments to set up their name and avatar is the least of my worries. I recognize there are some features that people are going to miss right away, although most of the basic features are certainly intact. Please be patient with me as I add these back; in the end, you are going to have a much, much better comments system than before.

For those not as acquainted with the culture of the comments section, please read this overview. I choose the weekend to launch this system so we'd have a little time to address any serious issues. I thank you in advance for any patience that may be required, and you have my pledge that it's going to be worth it.

Short Quintet

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Anyone feeling seasick from today's action? I sure do! Talk about a directionless market!

As of this particularly moment, the IWM is up 0.22%, the SPY is down 0.13%, and my portfolio is up 0.06% – – hardly a riveting performance, but if I can end the day with a profit, fine, I'll take it. My P/L has been swinging above and below the zero-line all day long.

Oh, incidentally, I'll be doing the Spotlight Session today on thinkorswim after the close.

Having gone through all the charts (which I'm getting really fast at……..) I found over 40 new positions to take on. Here are five new shorts I've entered that I liked particularly.

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