Tuesday, July 22, 2014

The stock's stall two weeks ago near a 1268.66 midpoint resistance shown suggests it could get to 1354.32 on a breakout.  Although we cannot predict with confidence if or when this will happen because PCLN has been meandering sideways for the last five weeks, as a riskless play I'll suggest buying the August 16 1340-1350-1360 call butterfly spread for 'even' 32 times. This means you would short two 1350 calls, buy one 1340 call and one 1360 call for no debit or credit.  In practice the easiest way to do this will be to buy the 1340/1350 call spread 1:1 at targeted swing lows, and to sell the 1350/1360 call spread 1:1 at targeted highs. If you do either and then get a move your way of as little as perhaps $2.50, legging into the 'fly for free (or even a small credit) would be relatively easy. The maximum profit on this position would be 32 x $1000 = $32,000, although in practice we'd be doing well to come away with half that much if the stock were to rally to 1350 by August 16. ______ UPDATE (7:50 p.m.): Another way to leg into the spread would be to sell the 1240/1250 ratio 1:2 when PCLN is making a short-term top, then to buy a 1260 later, at a swing low.

The futures looked like they could go either way as Monday's session drew to a close. However, the stall within 0.70 of the 1318.30 midpoint resistance I'd flagged implies that a decisive move past it would reach its D-target sibling at 1331.60. Alternatively, my worst-case target for the near term would be the 1278.20 Hidden Pivot support in the lower-right quadrant of the chart -- or possibly even 1271.70 if any lower.  The accuracy of this target would be affirmed by a bounce, possibly tradable, from within two or three ticks of the 1302.00 midpoint support. ________ UPDATE (9:57 a.m. EDT):  Gold has bounced $14 this morning from a low just two ticks (0.20) from the 1302.00 midpoint pivot flagged above. Now, if the futures breach the support, we'll know EXACTLY where they are headed. _______ UPDATE (July 23, 12:01 a.m.): Someone in the chat room said that because everyone seems to be bearish on gold right now, perhaps we should take the other side of the bet.  I'm a bit bearish myself, and thus this response: "Rather than take chances and let gold disappoint us for the zillionth time, we should simply stipulate that the August contract close above 1318.90 before we get excited. That's the midpoint resistance, on the 180-minute chart, of a=1292.60 on 7/15; b= 1325.90 on 7/27; and c=13-02.20 on 7/22. At that point, I'd lay even odds of a move to at least 1335.50; above 1337.00, the futures would be a good bet to hit 1381.40.  Whatever happens, bulls will have to prove their case. _______ UPDATE (July 24, 1:20 a.m.):  Sellers paused for a relatively blissful nine hours yesterday just inches above the 1302.00 'hidden' support I'd flagged, presumably to sniff the flowers before going back on the attack.