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.

Overhyped

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There have been a number of stocks that tied themselves to the crypto comet in order to boost their own sagging stock prices. There’s Kodak (KODK), Long Island Iced Tea (LTEA) and, shown below, Overstock (OSTK).

Yesterday I shorted a small position of OSTK, partly because of its history of having a crazy-huge breakout and them falling, and partly out of my own experience with the actual company. My family buys stuff online pretty much constantly (our annual Amazon purchases have been in the five figures for years now). But the ONE time I bought something from Overstock was just a nightmare, and I was amazed the company was even in business (plus their CEO has some weird hangup about short sellers). So – – feh! – – I’m short.

slopechart_OSTK

My Friend Dahmer

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For some reason, I stumbled upon the name Derf Backderf a few days ago, and I decided to explore his work a bit. He’s written some graphic novels including, most famously, one called My Friend Dahmer (since he was literally a friend of his during middle school and high school).

I found the book online, and I read the whole thing cover to cover in one sitting. It was amazing to read. I also discovered that last year a movie was made of it. It’s hard to think of a serial killer as a sympathetic figure, but having going through My Friend Dahmer, I can actually take some pity on the man and how he got to where he got. Here’s the trailer:

EUR/USD Currency Battle

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The following monthly chart of EUR/USD shows that the Euro has risen to a resistance level (1.2500) at the upper edge of a downtrending channel that began during the 2007/08 financial crisis.

Its next resistance sits at 1.3055, a major Fibonacci resistance level taken from the 2000 lows to the peak prior to to the financial crisis. Fibonacci support sits below at 1.2134.

Momentum is in uptrend on this timeframe and still rising, but has yet to match the all-time high set in March of 2011.

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Introducing the New Normal

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I wanted to use one stock – — Marriott – – to illustrate how the market has gone utterly and totally into la-la land. In the circle area, you see a normal market. It has ups and downs. It has volatility. It is dynamic and provides opportunities in both directions.

For the past year, however, a lot of stocks look like the straight red line I’ve drawn. This is, once again, a STRAIGHT line, and the bars fit so rigidly underneath it you can barely even see them. I have been looking at charts for many decades, people, and I swear to God, I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life.

mar