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.

It’s A Kind Of Magic

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One of the things I enjoy most about being a technical analyst is that sometimes we can make calls that almost look like magic as they deliver, though in truth they’re obviously just a combination of math, historical analysis and good pattern recognition. I also love an uncertain market, as while anyone can look like a genius in a strongly trending market, it takes real skill to trace the likely paths ahead in uncertain markets. Whatever else Trump has done or may yet do this year, he’s at least been delivering a an interesting year for me, and I thank him for that. 🙂

Anyway, the story of this rally so far ……..

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Oil and Gas ETF

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In recent days, one particular point of frustration for me has been XOP, the oil and gas producers fund, which lurched higher on a daily basis for weeks. I am confident, however, that this rally has ceased, and I am amping up my bearish position on XOP as well as the individual stock COP.

Take a look at the relationship between the price of XOP and its trio of exponential moving averages (50/100/200). I’d say the risk/reward on a bearish trade is appealing right here.

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Sweeping Weakness

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One item I hadn’t glanced at in weeks is $SPX200MA, the measurement of what percentage of stocks are above their 200-day moving average. It’s quite a sight to see just how steady the overall breakdown has been, particularly since the mega-bounce lately is doing nothing more than clamoring back to the former support level. A U-turn should be forthcoming as the percentage of stocks continues to make new lows.

Halfway Through The Rally Window

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A week ago I wrote a post looking at the case for a rally on US equity indices in the 12 trading day window into April 2nd, the planned day for US tariffs to be extended to most US trade partners. That rally has delivered so far but hasn’t been as strong as I hoped, and I want to look today at the rally patterns that have been forming, and what I’m expecting to see over the rest of the rally window.

In my The Bigger Picture video yesterday I was looking at these rally patterns and saying that the initial bottoming pattern target might not all be reached as US indices appeared to be forming bear flags. I was saying that the next obvious move would be another leg up into new rally highs across the board, but that the rally might fail soon after, possibly on Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

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A Case For A Decent Rally Here

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Editor's Note: I offer this post from our friend SHJ in the interest of being fair and balanced. I, of course, would hate to see any rally, decent or otherwise!

Every so often something rare happens on equity indices, and I get to run the numbers to see what to expect when that happens, which is something I always enjoy doing. Last week there were touches and punches below the weekly 3sd lower band on the US equity indices, so I’ve been looking back to see what has happened in the past when this happened.

On the bigger picture the topping patterns on the US equity indices that I was looking at in my post on Wednesday 19th Feb have all broken down and none have yet made target, though SPX and QQQ are getting close. I’m expecting to the US indices go lower, but there is a decent case for a rally during the next couple of weeks before we reach Trump’s key date on April 2nd when he has said that his full threatened tariffs on the rest of the US trading partners are going on.

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