The usual mountebanks, hustlers, arse bandits and wild-eyed financiers have goosed the futures 20 points in after-hours trading on news that Greece had submitted a “reform proposal”.  We all knew this was coming, but its timing has narrowed the window of opportunity for betting against a successful outcome, as well we should. We would have preferred that the rally had come a few days after today’s fleeting melt-up, which was based on the equally stupid and desperate assumption that China’s plunge protection team has things under control. Alas, the time to act is now, whether you were prepared to do so or not.

Like nearly every short-covering rally we’ve seen during the last month, this one seems destined to peak around 4 a.m. EDT, when index futures are most easily manipulated on thin volume. If it has been your goal to get short in timely fashion, I have no particularly juicy targets to offer. The market’s recent gyrations, wild as they’ve been, have produced a string of ‘inside days’ that do not lend themselves to bullseye predictions. Strictly speaking, however, the pattern shown (see inset) projects to 2078.75, a Hidden Pivot resistance that’s as good as any I can offer for purposes of getting short. A rally touching that number would imply a bullish breakout above some recent peaks, and although I’m inclined to think it would be a trap, that wouldn’t preclude using the ‘camouflage technique’ to find a low-risk entry spot. You could do so by zooming down to perhaps the one- or three-minute bar chart, shorting the first downtrending abc pattern that occurs after the breakout. If this happens when I or some other Pivoteer is in the chat room, please don’t hesitate to ask for guidance. Good luck!