One look at the chart from December 26th to present tells the story. Up, up, up, day after day. In all these months, there were two – – count ’em, two – – decent down days. Besides that, it’s been a ceaseless bullgasm.
Simultaneously, volatility has been getting strangled to death. We have lost literally two-thirds of volatility, collapsing from 36 to 12. Pathetic. Just pathetic.
My job satisfaction bears a remarkable resemblance to the VIX chart. When volatility is high, then life is good across the board. Subscriptions are pouring in. My products are getting used. My trades are all clicking. And there’s barely enough hours in the day to get all the fantastic stuff done which I love doing so much. It’s heaven.
It ain’t heaven now. It sucks donkey. Although I probably shouldn’t even type this, I’ll do so anyway: during times like these, I struggle to come up with ANY posts. I mean, how much can you say about a market that goes up 1/2 a percent every day, without fail, based on a morning tweet assuring everyone that trade talks are going well? Honest to God, how in the hell can someone make a career out of analyzing THAT?
The only sensible thing I’ve done is focus more on developing directionally-agnostic tools here on Slope. SlopeRules doesn’t need a bear market. SlopeCharts doesn’t care if things are up or down. They simply exist to serve you, Jerome Powell be damned.
Having said all that, let me say a few words about this stinking, godawful market.
The Dow Industrials is basically one strong day away from lifetime highs. We have already pushed above the inverted H&S pattern (green tint), and the yellow tint represents the minuscule zone of overhead supply standing in between present price levels and lifetime highs. It seems inevitable.
The precise same thing can be said of the NASDAQ. Price levels never before witnessed in human history will probably be in front of us next week.
The small caps have been lagging, however. They aren’t bearish. I’m not saying that. God forbid I should say such a thing. They simply aren’t anywhere near breaking to lifetime highs.
One of the very few charts that is still configured bearishly is the broker/dealer index, shown below. The lower highs are still in place, and the CCI looks ready to turn.
In any case, yeah, I’m hating this market. My work for Slope continues unabated, however. Indeed, I’m able to focus more on Slope, since God knows the market isn’t an enticing distraction anymore. So do my self-esteem a bit of good and be sure to use all the goodies on the site! I could use a lift.
