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.

Utility Break

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It was a real pleasure to see the Tastytrade folks in San Francisco yesterday. I roamed the exhibit hall (which took upwards of 7 minutes), listened to Tom Sosnoff’s keynote presentation, then went out to Tosca Cafe for dinner with the group for some good food, drink, and loud conversation. Working by myself as I do 99.9% of the time, it’s a nice change of pace to see some fellow human beings.

I must say, my gratitude for now having to do trade shows anymore is amplified every time I attend one. These things used to be SO exciting. “Trader” type trade shows (Trader’s Expo, Money Show, and so forth) were like COMDEX in the old days – – tons of new, exciting products and an exhibit hall jam-packed with attendees. These days, even with equities as historic highs, these shows are a complete bore. Like I said, it took me 7 minutes to see the entire thing. Meh!

Anyway, with Jerome Powell up at Jackson Hole assuring everyone that things are awesome, equities are having another record-high day. One area of weakness that’s very important to me is the Dow Utilities, which is still painting out what I think is going to be a very important 4th top over the past decade. It’s a beauty, and if it finishes, look at below. (more…)

Money Show

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I’m on my way to the San Francisco Money Show right now, where I hope to spend a little time with my Tastytrade colleagues (which only happens about once a year). I’m bouncing along a train right now trying to hack together something resembling a post, so I’ll share a few thoughts on some ETF charts I find more interesting than the others.

First up is the commodity ETF symbol DBC, which is forming a beautiful top; it looks like the pattern is about 90% done. Here’s hoping for a break beneath that horizontal.

slopechart DBC (more…)

Hey, Mo!

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Once again, my Sloper buddy Mo sent me a list of fascinating tidbits, just to break up the charting monotony:

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING?

1 A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

2 A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

3 A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

4 A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

5 A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

6 A “jiffy” is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

7 A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes. (more…)

It’s Quite a Dust-Up

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The way I phrased it last week, I am long-term bearish on precious metals (in spite of their being in a 7 year bear market) and short-term bullish. Well, the “bullish” worked out, because gold, silver, and more specifically the miners, all had nice bounces. Those few days of reprieve, however, seem to have shot their wad, as precious metals have resumed what they have spent the past seven years doing, which is sucking out loud. One way to view this is via the triple-bearish-on-miners fund below, which has a critical breakout above its descending trendline (red oval) and a more recent gap-up (green oval). Let me put it this way – – the chart is bullish, and if this were just a normal common stock, I think any technician would draw the same conclusion.

dustup

Eight Ball

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Today was a bit strange for me at the opening bell, because of three circumstances that normally shouldn’t be side-by-side (1) I was totally short (2) the market was roaring higher (3) I was showing a healthy profit. Indeed, as I’m typing this very words, the NQ is green, the ES is green, indexes are at highs never before seen in the history of mankind, and yet I’m showing a good profit. Perhaps this is what is giving me the confidence to pile on eight more shorts, which I just did, and they are as follows:

slopechart BAX (more…)