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 Life of the Mindless

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In the before-time, we would go to social gatherings. Given the construct of our lives, these would invariably be get-togethers with other parents of the same crazy-expensive private school our children attended, and as such, the other adults there would tend to be very smart, or very rich, and usually both. We were the economic diversity.

For most people, including myself, these were not opportunities to bolster one’s self-esteem. On the contrary, most of the people there were anywhere from ten to a hundred times wealthier than me, and they would be more intelligent, more successful, and more accomplished.

To be honest, I found satisfaction in that. I don’t want to be the smartest guy in the room. On the contrary, I’d rather be almost the dumbest (but not the absolute bottom, if you don’t mind). It reassures me there’s plenty more room for growth. I’d rather be surrounded by my betters.

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Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

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Writing for me is kind of like a dam bursting.  The lake fills up, fills up, and then all at once there is an earthquake in me that causes the dam to break and all the water comes rushing out.  Of late, I have been getting requests to write more from all sides of my life.  I will say that due to some positive life changes coming down the pike, I will be having much more free time beginning next year.  I have many thoughts at the moment on how to use that time, but would be interested in your feedback.  At the moment I am considering either a weekly Youtube broadcast to discuss my trading and methodology, or a weekly hour long meeting for traders to gather together live on a platform such as Discord.  If you have any interest in either of those, I would be interested to hear your comments below.

Alright, on to the main course.  Today I am going to be examining my three areas of specialty:  SPX, oil, and gold.  I believe each have the potential to be at key turning points.  Let’s take a look as to why, and what we can expect going forward from each.

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Woven Like a Noose

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I don’t think a single person here needs any more evidence that the Fed is totally, completely, and utterly in control of equity markets. All the same, I wanted to show you a couple of dual SlopeCharts to help drive this point home.

This first one shows the total Fed assets (a figure which used to linger in the lower hundreds of billions and was used to tweak things now and then, but now has grown into a laughable nearly $9 trillion slush fund). You can see how the financial crisis in 2008 was met with an enormous heroin-shot of asset purchases, which at the time took months to take effect.

slopechart FR WALCLSPY
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