Rick Ackerman

We've been using an 1181.56 rally target that comes from a 240-minute chart. This Hidden Pivot has been a rock-solid bet to be achieved since October 27, when the stock took a manic leap on earnings news. I'll be looking for a tradable pullback when AMZN gets there, which it almost surely will, but we'll want to keep a higher target in mind for the next major upthrust.  The 1304.96 benchmark shown should suffice -- not only as a potentially important price objective for the bull market, but as a trade-entry tool leveraging levels x, p and p2 to get long with risk tightly controlled.  A 'mechanical' buy signal has already been tripped at p=1118.36 (the red/orange line), but it is not of the highest quality, so we'll let it pass.  If a less risky set-up takes shape, I (or perhaps another Pivoteer) will signal it in the chat room, so stay tuned.________ UPDATE (Nov 24, 9:46 a.m. ET): AMZN's obligatory crazed leap today has brought it to within less than $1 of the 1181.56 target proffered above as a 'rock-solid' bet. The stock will be needing a rest here, and covered writes are suggested for anyone who has carried a long position. As always, though, we'll let the stock tell us whether it is spent. If it pushes easily past this morning's top, it would shorten the odds that the expected next big move, to exactly 1304.96, is under way.

Although the trajectory of Boeing's rise has been even steeper than that of the FANG stocks, it is still possible to project a possible top at exactly 320.54 using the pattern shown. It is as gnarly as any I have ever presented here, mainly because it uses an extremely elongated A-B segment coupled with a tiny B-C correction that would seem, at least visually, to hold little or no significance for the overall pattern. However, that choice of coordinates has, as you can see, produced a pullback precisely from the p midpoint, 247.15, nominally confirming the pattern. Also, even though my choice is a visual stretch, there is no rule that explicitly argues against it. For that matter, the short k-A segment bears a sibling resemblance to B-C -- a point that I used to make in the original, six-hour version of the Hidden Pivot course.  The foregoing implies that HP levels x, p and p2 can all be used to generate 'mechanical' buy signals for the presumptive last leg of Boeing's spectacular bull market. If you care, stay tuned to the chat room for timely guidance._______ UPDATE (Nov 21, 6:05 p.m. EST): I am revising my target downward to 301.96 because of the precise interplay between buyers and the 266.45 midpoint Hidden Pivot shown here. The head-butting at p=266.45 implies that if and when this benchmark is exceeded, BA will head for a minimum 301.96, whence we should expect a tradable pullback. _______ UPDATE (Dec 12, 7:39 p.m.): Time to start getting your minds right for buying puts if and when BA hits 301.96.  I've got my eye on the 29 December 295 puts for around 1.80, but a lot could happen between now and then. Follow them casually for now anyway so that you can develop a feel

Hard as it is to believe, VXX took a crucial step Tuesday toward a longstanding target at 26.32 that until recently had seemed as remote and inaccessible as a seashell lying at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. The relentless downtrend has been driven by an equally relentless bull market in stocks. The fact that the broad averages have not corrected significantly in years has sucked the marrow from VXX, causing the volatility trading-vehicle to implode over months and years, like a collapsing dwarf star. Based on today's plunge beneath the pink line, a 'secondary Hidden Pivot support,' odds that the 26.32 target will be achieved are now no worse than an even-money bet. If so, it would imply that the S&Ps, and presumably other stock indexes, are bound much higher over the next 6-10 weeks. Since we only trade this vehicle from the long side, we'll need to wait for it to achieve the target before we consider buying call options. For now, let it suffice to ponder the awesomeness of a bull market that has stretched certain technical indicators and cyclical benchmarks into another galaxy.

Taken together, my latest updates for VXX, AMZN and AAPL imply that the bull market is likely to achieve significantly higher prices over the next 6-10 weeks. VXX has broken down and seems bound for depths that would have been almost unimaginable a year ago. If this volatility-tracking trading vehicle reaches the 26.32 target we've been using more than a month, it suggests a correspondingly enormous rally -- with no significant corrections -- in the broad averages.  My new rally targets for AAPL and AMZN are ambitious, but not quite fantastic. Check them out if you want to see what is possible as 2017 draws to an end.  (Note: Updates for Wednesday were prepared during market hours rather than after the close as is customary, since I'll be traveling to Colorado later today to reunite with my sons for Thanksgiving.)

AAPL has exceeded all long-term ABCD targets, so I've zoomed in on the most recent phase of its bull market, going back almost exactly one year, to come up with a price objective at 194.77 that should prove useful to us.  The easy move past the 168.49 midpoint Hidden Pivot earlier this month suggests the target has a high probability of being achieved. Also, last week's pullback precisely to the pivot suggests the pattern itself is a good one and that, moreover, if and when 194.77 is reached, there will be a tradable pullback from it -- or perhaps even a bull-market top. For now, a pullback to the red or green lines that meets our simple criteria for a 'mechanical' trade is what we should be looking for. I will signal it in the chat room, presumably to initiate a trade using call options rather than stock, so that more subscribers can participate. _______ UPDATE (Nov 29, 11:05 p.m.): A pullback to x=155.34 (click on chart inset) seems unlikely, buy it would present a golden opportunity to bottom-fish the stock with a mechanical bid, stop 142.19. Plan accordingly. _______ UPDATE (Dec 6, 9:16 p.m.): AAPL was on its way to the 164.91 target of the pattern shown Wednesday, but the arse bandits who manipulate the stock for a living took it down so hard on the opening bar that sellers were depleted before the day was 15 minutes old. Let's see whether they can accomplish on Thursday what they'd set out to do originally.  _______ UPDATE (Dec 8, 12:33 p.m.): The stock has made zero headway in five weeks. The 194.77 bull-market target remains theoretically viable, but you should set the snooze alarm for 183.20, since that's what it would take to waken bulls from their slumber. ______ UPDATE

Seasonality will be on the side of bulls this week, although what little buying materialized on Monday was relatively subdued. Killer stocks including AMZN, BA, FB, NFLX, GOOG and MSFT have been in holding patterns for more than two weeks, perhaps waiting for volume to dry up completely on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, before they make their move. That would imply a thrust to new all-time highs for the broad averages -- a show of hubris that may provide us with a good opportunity to get short. If so, stay tuned to the chat room for timely guidance, since there will be no tout updates on Friday and coverage Wednesday will be limited.

Bitcoin has given dramatic new meaning to the word "swoon."  Talk about crazy! The cryptocurrency has trampolined higher after falling 29% a little more than a week ago from the last rally top.  NYXBT now looks like a cinch to achieve the 8338 target given here last week -- somewhat more quickly than I'd imagined. But if it trades more than $20 above that price intraday or closes above it, look for the rally to continue to at least 8620. That's a Hidden Pivot resistance, and it is sufficiently clear and compelling that we should expect it to show precise stopping power. But just in case, I'll leave room for a burst above it -- to 8779.  The highest target I am able to project using the daily chart is 10563. That target will be precisely confirmed if NYXBT stalls precisely at an 8568 'Hidden Pivot midpoint' with which it is associated. In sequence, then, there are five 'hidden' resistance points to which we want to pay very close attention: 8338; 8568, 8620, 8779 and 10563.  The best and simplest way to make hay with them is to apply this key rule of the Hidden Pivot Method: An easy move through a Hidden Pivot resistance is usually telegraphing a continuation of the trend to the next.

The latest E-Mini S&P tout (see below) sounds a cautionary note, since the December contract has been laboring without success for a month to make headway. If bulls significantly alter the picture in the coming weeks, it wouldn't be the first time they have emerged from a coma to punch through supply and send the broad averages rocketing to new all-time highs.  But with sensational Q3 earnings already discounted, investors will be increasingly dependent on the "global economic boom" narrative to maintain their spirits. The supposed boom is not nearly so robust as the Wall Street Journal et al. would have us believe, although there is probably something to it (enough, for sure, to send Boeing shares into a vertical parabola).  But the boom-times story is still fragile and somewhat lacking in credibility. That means investors are going to wince at any headline or news development that casts doubt on Wall Street's -- and the Fed's -- lollipops-and-roses scenario. Under the circumstances, bulls and bears alike should expect a very bumpy ride between now and 2018.

December Gold did something on Friday that it hasn't done in a long while, exceeding two Hidden Pivot targets on the hourly chart without correcting.  One was minor, the other middling, but the implication is that the uptrend is a good bet to continue into next week. Moreover, the exhaustion of targets on the hourly chart will require us to shift to a bullish pattern of larger degree. It is shown in the chart (click on inset), with a 1315.50 midpoint pivot that can be used as a minimum upside projection for the near term. As always, an easy and decisive move past this key threshold would put the 'D' target -- in this case, 1368.10 -- solidly in play. _______ UPDATE (Nov 20, 12:33 p.m.): Today's gratuitously nasty drubbing has changed nothing in the analysis above.  If the weakness continues, however, touching 1269.80, that would turn the short-term picture mildly bearish._______ UPDATE (Nov 21, noon EST): Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. _______ UPDATE (Nov 28, 11:16 p.m.): Use 1307.20 for a target on the Feb 2018 contract (20-minute, A=1275.20 on 11/14), since that is where it's going. As always, a small overshoot -- in this case as little as four ticks -- would imply bulls have seized the advantage.