I wish I could bring you better news, since, for the last three years, this once-popular gold vehicle has been beaten worse than a harp seal during mating season. The chart (see inset) suggests it is hanging on for dear life at a 36.56 midpoint support that has been breached, although not yet decisively. It is tied to a ‘D’ target at 18.56, implying the stock’s price could be cut in half yet again before this bear market has run its course. If you’d like to offer up a prayer, ask that the stock turn up from here, surpassing 37.38 without taking a breather. That would be enough to turn the daily chart speculatively bullish. _______ UPDATE (December 4 at 12:39 a.m. EST): The 28.47 target looks compelling enough to be bought aggressively. If and when the stock gets within a dime of that Hidden Pivot, which it will, buy twelve December 13 (weekly) calls, 30-strike, no stop. Pennies count here, so work hard at getting a good price. Your edge lies in knowing precisely where the stock is likely to turn. _______ UPDATE (December 9, 12:05 a.m.): The target still looks buy-able, but I’ll suggest shifting to the December 21 (monthly) 30-strike calls. With the stock trading near 28.47 today, a price of about 0.45 for the calls would be excellent. Please let me know in the chat room if you fill the order, since I’ll likely recommend a stop-loss 0.15 below the average price reported. Note as well that GDXJ is likely to continue falling to 26.79 if the stop is hit. (60-min, A=32.87 on 11/29). _______ UPDATE (December 12 at 10:04 a.m. EST): The stock has aborted the rally and relapsed to within inches of the 28.47 target. The target is still valid in theory, but I wouldn’t lean too heavily on it at this point, since a breach of the recent bear-market low at 28.87 is apt to be more than merely marginal. Obviously, buying December 21 calls is a non-starter now. If you want to speculate on a bottom nonetheless, I’d suggest doing so via a 28.52 bid, stop, 28.39. _______ UPDATE (December 16, 12:01 a.m.): With the modest rally that occurred as last week ended, the desirability of our bottom-fishing gambit faded. Do nothing further for now.
