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.
The Armstrong Line is Breached
While watching the incredible exploits of Felix Baumgartner as he successfully broke the record for the highest free fall jump, I learned something, and that was there is a line of altitude once breached requires a human to where a pressure suit, and obviously oxygen, in order to stay alive. That is the Armstrong line.
This week the market powered metaphorically through that line, and like the human body, it will require extraordinary measures to maintain, and or rise from these levels.
My momentum based buy signal is overbought, showing a pretty large divergence on the daily, from the September peak, to this new high. There is not the same intensity. On the hourly, which I trade, I am getting chopped now on my signal line. This is a red flag for me.
My signal chops on consolidation and reversals. This looks like the latter. Eighty percent of the components of the S & P 500 are buys on my signals, and twenty percent of those are considered blowing off on my indicator. I am not screaming bear market here though, as I am convinced sometime this spring we will reach the Von Karmen line (Google it), and reach for those new highs.
I think the volatility play is over for now, the February to March expiry is not nearly as steep as January to February curve, and the last time we had a fall so steep in volatility, it rose 55% over the next two weeks (hat tip to Zero Hedge). I have been riding XIV, and now long VXX. Retracing some of the Vol calmness will pressure the broad markets.
I think gold, silver and the miners are ready. The cycle guys are saying we are swinging to participate in a multi month move, and I have/had buys on both metals. Miner ETF's are still chopping, but some individual stocks are buys. I am in NAK, AG, and NAK. Miners have totally decoupled from stocks, and am looking for some regression to the mean.
As an aside, I am doing a paid webinar on day trading XIV, a trade that I do a lot, and have had some very good success. If interested email me to get the details. The class will probably pay for itself on your first trading day.
Enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Bob
www.arum-geld-gold.blogspot.com support@realtimetradingsignals.com (e-mail)
The Bear Case (by TnRevolution)
Happy MLK weekend! Before I begin to dissect the current state of the bear case, please allow me a moment to celebrate and honor a great man.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Throughout my life I have marvelled at examples of the differences between how the world operates versus how genuine men and women of God operate. Take for instance the difference between how our current government/military operate versus how MLK led the civil rights movement in the 1960's. The U.S. military enforced violent change in Afghanistan, but it will not last. The world's method of change, through force, although realizing some short term changes, does not last. In contrast, MLK and other civil rights advocates during the 1960's endured violence, hatred, discrimination, and untold horrors….however their response was the key to long lasting change.
