I’ve asked veteran camouflageurs who frequent the chat room to guide less-experienced traders if an exceptional opportunity to short the E-Mini S&P should occur when I’m not around. If our entry trigger gets hit while I’m conducting the weekly tutorial session online between 11 a.m. and noon EST, I’ll make sure the information is disseminated in the chat room at that time.
COMMENTARY for Wednesday
TODAY'S ACTION for Wednesday
Rick's Picks for Wednesday
I’ve alluded to a key target in today’s commentary, and although merely talking about it has made it one of those high-profile numbers that are probably jinxed from the start, the Hidden Pivot itself is real enough and should provide sufficient stopping power to allow us to get short without risking too much.
Putting aside the promotional hubris of today’s commentary, which the public can access, subscribers should be aware that if the futures reach the 1353.00 target, they’ll be in new recovery territory, trading above April’s important 1344.50 peak. That implies that they will have created a fresh bullish impulse leg on the daily chart, an eventuality that will shorten the odds of our hitting a four-bagger on a bear trade. Still, our goal will be to get aboard without stress, and to simply go with the trade as far as it will take us. My hunch is that the 1353.00 pivot will be hit overnight Tuesday or Wednesday morning, so I’m depending on the legion of experienced camouflageurs who frequent the chat room to guide rookies if things pan out as we might wish them to. _____ UPDATE (February 9, 11:22 a.m. EST): The futures spiked to 1352.75 about 50 minutes before the opening bell. Some subscribers evidently got short, and said so in the chat room. However, strictly speaking, it was not possible to do so via camouflage until about 90 minutes later, so I won’t record the trade officially. Unofficially, though, and for your further guidance, with the futures currently trading around 1346.00, I’d suggest covering three-quarters of the original position for a profit, tying the remaining 25% of it to a stop-loss at 1349.75. This is not a trade on which we should be swinging for the fences, since the markets are waiting opportunistically for news on Greece – any news at all will suffice — that will conduce yet another short-squeeze and running of the bears. Concerning the Fat Lady’s aria, keep in mind that there is still an outstanding target at 13085 in the Dow Industrials. _______ FURTHER UPDATE 11:36 a.m. EST): The 15-minute chart is currently bearish, working on an ABC correction (A=1350.25 at 9:45 a.m. EST) that projects to 1337.50. This implies a possible ‘camo’ buying opportunity on any minor abc rally at the 1342.00 midpoint associated with the target. That last number is also my minimum downside objective for the very near-term. ______ AND FINALLY… (1:34 p.m. EST): As I noted a short while ago in the chat room, the fact that the futures were unable to correct down to the 1342.00 midpoint augurs new highs, probably today.
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April Gold did not adequately correct the hourly chart to set up an instant push above last Friday’s 1765.90 peak, but the 30-minute bars will at least get the futures to the 1760.20 ‘D’ target of the lesser pattern shown (see inset). If it gives way easily, bulls should have little trouble taking out the higher peak soon thereafter. (Click here to learn more about the Hidden Pivot Method we used to forecast and trade futures and stocks.)
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Based on a 155.30 rally target disseminated here on May 6, we bought four June 152 puts yesterday for 1.00 with DIA topping at 155.14. Since I advised closing out two of them for 1.14 intraday, we are left with a profit-adjusted position of two puts whose cost basis has been reduced to 0.86. Now, offer an additional put on the opening and hold the remaining put as a lottery ticket. ______ UPDATE (12:25 p.m. EDT): The puts opened for 2.30, so the sale of one more would leave you with a single put whose costs basis, adjusted for gain so far, is a 1.44 CREDIT. Thus, a profit of $144 is the worst this trade can do no matter what happens to DIA. For now, do nothing futher.
The climax of yesterday’s bullish stampede exceeded an in-our-wildest-dreams target by 56 cents (see inset), but when the dust had settled, short positions initiated by subscribers near an 89.43 Hidden Pivot were well in-the-black. For tracking purposes I’ll use 24 May 87.50 weekly puts that two subscribers reported buying for 0.11 in the chat room. They had tripled in price by the close, and so half should have been exited at some point along the way. However, since I made no explicit suggestion that you do so, I’ll assume none were sold and recommend that you close out half at-the-market on the opening. Of the 12 that would remain, offer six for 0.50 and hold the rest for a potential home run on Friday, when the puts are due to expire. The 0.50 offer to close should be entered before Thursday’s opening, since traders could conceivably exit a total of 18 puts at that price or higher on a gap-down at the bell. ________ UPDATE (12:18 p.m. EDT): The puts opened at 0.50, so you would have reaped $900 on the sale of 18. Since their total cost was $264, there is a theoretical profit of $636 so far. You can sell the rest at will either today or tomorrow. Their cost basis is now zero, so whatever you receive for them would be added as profit to the $636.
Yesterday’s trade in this vehicle had not been offered as a tout, but a timely question in the chat room helped us identify an opportunity to pick up some cheap call options intraday. Here is what I wrote in the chat room: “The Auggie 160 market is 0.22/0/26, so 0.24 is the right price with GLD at 132.88. So, if GLD falls to our 131.83 target, the Auggie 160s should sell for about a nickel less (they have a delta value of about 0.04). So let’s bid 0.21 (an extra penny for good measure) for 28 of them., stop 0.18. We’ll worry about what to spread against them later.” Although the intraday low at 130.95 exceeded our target, the result was that subscribers were able to buy August 160 calls for 0.21, a penny off the intraday low.
This position is highly speculative, since there are two very bearish targets outstanding, but it has the potential to pay off at about 60-to-1. With a three-cent stop-loss on the calls, we’ve limited our theoretical risk to about $84. However, I’m now going to suggest giving the position a little more room by lowering the stop to 0.16. At the same time, and on a one-order-cancels-the-other (OCO) basis, I’ll suggest offering 28 August 163 calls short for 0.30 against those we hold. If the order fills we’ll own a virtually riskless position that can make us as much as $8400 if Gold rallies strongly between now and late August.
Wall Street did not exactly take Apple out to the woodshed following yesterday’s revelation that the firm has paid little or no taxes on foreign income of $75 billion. The stock flinched, down $2.73 on the day, but investors seem to recognize that revising 275,000 pages of tax code to force Apple to pay its fair share will require many years of wrangling on Capitol Hill. And who’s to say that the effort would not leave other loopholes just as easily exploited by the Sunnyvale behemoth’s clever lawyers and accountants?
Technically speaking, however, the news seems to have sapped some of Apple’s vital juices, since the stock failed for the second consecutive day to decisively exceed a small but nevertheless significant ‘external’ peak at 445.36 (see inset). That feat, trivial though it may seem, will remain crucial to the short-term picture. If and when it is achieved, expect the stock to rise to a minimum 449.9o, a Hidden Pivot target. If the pivot is easily surpassed, look for the bullish momentum to continue till week’s end, at least. Camo traders should position from the long side, using the 15-minute chart for leverage.
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Yesterday’s rebound in this vehicle was strong, although not quite as compelling as the one in Comex Gold futures. Moreover, the intraday low exceeded the midpoint support of the pattern shown by a decisive 52 cents, shortening the odds that its ‘D’ sibling at 22.25 will eventually be reached. We’ll give bulls the benefit of the doubt nonetheless, since mining shares are unlikely to languish if they catch their first whiff of strength in bullion in many months. From a Hidden Pivot perspective, this vehicle needs to keep running without taking a breath until 29.83 (a 5/14 peak) has been exceeded. Camouflageurs should look for entry opportunities on the 15-minute chart, since there are some choice ‘externals’ to be found therein. ______ UPDATE (May 23, 12:33 a.m. EDT): The breath that GDX could not afford to take has in fact been taken, casting at least mild doubt on a bullish outcome. Worse than drawing a breath, actually, GDX sucker-punched bulls on the opening bar.
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Tesla got short-squeezed to within 28 cents of the 86.72 target I’d proffered early Monday morning, but a second-wind rally to 88.00 suggests it’s got eyes for 104.44, the ‘D’ target associated with the first number. It can serve as a minimum upside objective for now, implying that all trades between here and there be positioned from the long side. We’ll plan on buying weekly puts if and when the target is reached, provided it happens before Wednesday of the given week. Please note as well that a lesser Hidden Pivot at 94.19 (see inset) has the potential to stop the rally cold and can therefore be used for spec camouflage shorts.
All signs point higher at the moment, but even Google will have to top somewhere. My best-bet for a short-able apex is 929.78, the Hidden Pivot target of a well-defined ABCD on the monthly chart (see inset). You can try shorting with camouflage at that number, or at the D target (in purple) of the lesser pattern, but until then all trades should incorporate a bullish bias. ______ UPDATE (May 23, 12:40 a.m. EDT): Yesterday’s selloff did not create an impulse leg on the hourly chart, but it is not exactly a sign of good health that the decline has begun without GOOG’s having quite achieved our 929.78 target. A further drop today exceeding 883.96 to the downside would add to the evidence that the recent top will be an important one.
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This Just In... for Wednesday
Romance your sweetie on Valentine’s Day with the songs of Sinatra. One of my oldest friends, Rick Apt, runs the best Old Blue Eyes memorabilia-and-music site on the web. For an earful — and some terrific February 14th specials — click here.
Hidden Pivot Webinar & Tutorials
The next Hidden Pivot Webinar will be held this June 5th - 6th. This two-day event is designed to teach you the risk-averse trading strategies Rick has taken to his seminars around the world. Once you have learned his proprietary secrets, you will approach trading and investing with enough confidence to make your own decisions without having to rely on the advice of others. For more information, or to register, click here.
Led by Banks, Stocks Are Inches from Key Targets
by Rick Ackerman on February 8, 2012 2:19 am GMT · 3 comments
The stock market hasn’t been much fun to trade in a while, but that could change today as the broad averages approach some potentially important rally targets of ours. Want to know exactly where these targets lie but don’t subscribe? Click here for a free trial subscription that will give you access to our proprietary numbers. One of them foresaw a 600-point rally in the Dow that is nearly complete. The other is a bullish target for the E-Mini S&Ps that smacked us in the eye yesterday with its clarity. There are also two bank stocks whose deft handlers appear to be setting up suckers for the kill. These financial biggies are household names, but because they are in the thick of Europe’s bailout hoax, they are destined to go down with the ship. Under the circumstances, the hysterical, short-squeeze rallies that have driven their shares steeply higher may be ready to seven-out. » Read the full article