Rick Ackerman

If the Cubes fall to the 135.86 Hidden Pivot support shown, it would be the first time in a very long while that a corrective pattern in this vehicle reached its 'd' target. Although that isn't necessarily bearish, it does suggest that the manic buying that has driven the broad averages higher in recent months may be losing steam. Another possible scenario in the days ahead would be for the decline to breach the target decisively, meaning by at least 2-3 points  --or, heaven forbid, close for two consecutive days beneath it. Meanwhile, based on reports in the chat room, subscribers still hold some put options purchased Monday for as little as 0.45. Since they traded as high as 3.10 on Tuesday, you should be out of most of them by now. I'd advised saving one or two until Friday, when they will expire, and am still suggesting that you stick with that plan. _______ UPDATE (Jun 28, 9:04 p.m. EDT): A moderate rally pushed the Cubes out of the danger zone, leaving them in position for a shot at the 145.50 rally target shown. A close above the red line, a midpoint Hidden Pivot resistance at 141.49, would make a run-up to that number on Friday or Monday likely. _______ UPDATE (Jun 29, 10:03 p.m.): The Cubes surprised-- me, at least -- by heading sharply lower, leaving a still-valid correction target at 135.86 unfulfilled (click here for chart). The subsequent bounce -- still in progress -- would need to exceed 140.22 to leave bulls in a commanding position ahead of the holiday weekend.

For once in a rare change, subscribers actually made money on the short side of QQQ Monday morning, doubling or even tripling their stake in just a couple of hours. However, even though QQQ plummeted after trapping bulls on a gap-up opening that we had come prepared to fade, my gut feeling is that buyers are not yet finished and that we'll see new record highs by week's end or early next. I explain why in the QQQ tout below, so check it out if you trade or care about this vehicle. The tout contains actionable advice based on a specific and precise Hidden Pivot support where a further correction from these levels could reverse sharply.

AMZN should be good for a run-up to as high as 1083 if it can push decisively above the recent record peak at 1017. For the moment, however, bulls can't seem to get out of their own way. If the stock takes the path of least resistance and heads moderately lower over the next day or two, I'll suggest bottom-fishing at the red line, a midpoint Hidden Pivot that lies at 977.11.  This pattern is subtle enough that you can probably get away with a stop-loss as tight as 976.89.  If the order fills and survives until the closing bell, you'll be shooting for a minimum 1022.49, but possibly as high as 1055 or even 1083 before the stock runs into the kind of resistance that could end the long bull market._______ UPDATE (Jun 27, 3:23 p.m. EDT): I'd like to think I can nail tradeable swings in any stock within a dime, but this particular stock, especially now that it's a $1000 number, may require a little more leeway. It rallied $7 today off a so-far low at 976.10 -- a bounce that was certainly tradeable.  But a simple limit bid using my 977.11 pivot and a stop-loss as tight as the one I'd advised -- 22 cents! -- would not have worked. In this case, the back-to-the-drawing-board solution would imply a 'camouflage' entry on the one-minute chart. There, we'd have looked for an uptrending abc pattern with perhaps $1.00 of entry risk per share once 977.11 was touched on the way down. Here's a pattern that meets these criteria for all of you hard-core Pivoteers:  a=  977.36 (2:22 p.m. EDT); b= 980.99 (6/27); and c= 979.74.

Because numerous subscribers reported buying June 30 141 put options on the opening Monday, I've established a tracking position consisting of two puts with a cost basis reduced by profit-taking to, effectively, zero. Any subscriber who did the trade at least doubled his or her stake within an hour, although it would have been possible to triple it based on the puts' intraday range of 0.44-1.34. The trade didn't come off exactly as planned, since QQQ opened on a gap above a Hidden Pivot resistance that I'd expected to show some stopping power. Even so, the order was designed for beginners and easily executed off the 0.60 limit bid I'd advised. Ironically, it was more likely to have been filled if one was not paying particularly close attention to QQQ's price fluctuations on the opening.  A trader asked in the chat room what he should do with the puts now, and my reply bears repeating:  'When I've gotten subscribers into an option 'doubler,' I often leave it to their discretion to manage the order after taking profits on half the position. They should be relaxed enough at that point to do so successfully, and that is the experience I want them to have.' As indeed it is. You can sell the remaining puts at will, being sure to save at least one or two of them until Friday, when they expire. For what it's worth, they look to be headed most immediately toward a target of at least minor importance at 1.55. Don't get distracted patting yourself on the back, however, since there are reasons to doubt that yesterday's weakness will snowball. In point fact, by merely exceeding the midpoint Hidden Pivot resistance on the opening, the Cubes demonstrated that they are capable of coming roaring back. _______ UPDATE (Jun

AMZN, the most important stock in the world, spent all of last week in a holding pattern, albeit one that looked like consolidation for a thrust to $1055 in the days ahead. With the stock currently trading for around 1004, that would equate to a 5% move. It's inconceivable that the broad averages would languish or fall were this to occur, so bears would do well to prepare for a tough week. And if AMZN should push decisively above a 'midpoint Hidden Pivot' resistance at 1022.49, especially early in the week, shorts should dive for cover.

I'd set the bar for turning bullish again at 1268.50, but we needn't wait till that threshold is reached to jump in on the long side. Each of the last two thrusts refreshed the bullish impulsiveness of the hourly chart, and that is sufficient to warrant nibbling around the edges. For starters, that would have meant using a conventional entry trigger at 1257.60 on Friday (see inset) to get long. Since the opportunity is past, I'll recommend placing a 'mechanical' bid there for two contracts once the futures have traded up to at least 1258.50 and executed a 'lazy' pullback lasting for at least three bars to the green line. Your stop-loss would be at 1255.10. I've sketched this hypothetically for your further guidance, but you shouldn't do the trade unless you fully understand the two conditions governing 'mechanical' entries._________ UPDATE (Jun 26, 10:27 a.m. EDT): Gold marginally exceeded my 1258.50 threshold but couldn't sustain altitude for even a second consecutive bar, so there was nothing done on the trade. The subsequent collapse has been about par for bullion these days -- i.e., egregiously overdone and far more disappointing than the last rally was encouraging. This is a commodity simply marking time, and the tedium and frustration won't end until the dim bulbs who get paid to throw Other People's Money at the markets wake up one morning in a very different mood that is favorable toward gold.  Exactly what might cause this mood change lies beyond speculation at the moment. In any event, the selloff in the August contract still looks bound for at least 1217.50.  Alternatively, it would take a pop exceeding 1268.50 to turn the hourly chart bullish.

We're waiting for either of two trading opportunities to materialize in the week ahead: 1) bottom-fishing this presumptive correction; and/or shorting DIA at 217.21, a promising Hidden Pivot rally target. To attempt the former, bid 211.96 for 200 shares, just above the 'd' target shown, stop 211.84. You could substitute call options, but I'd go out no further than June 30 on the expiration, since this trade will go in-the-black immediately if it works at all. Please note that although DIA could turn from a secondary Hidden Pivot support at 212.80, I'll suggest ignoring the possibility to keep things simple. We'll concern ourselves with shorting 217.21 if and when DIA gets close._______ UPDATE (Jun 26, 8:03 p.m. EDT): Cancel the bottom-fishing bid; we'll focus for now only on the shorting opportunity detailed above. _______ UPDATE (Jun 27, 7:37 p.m.): DIA looks like it will need to come down to at least p=210.43, or even x=207.03 (click here for chart), before it starts looking attractive again as a buying opportunity. We can convert a 'mechanical' bid into a 'camouflage' entry trigger if either number is reached, but I'd suggest taking a bearish bias for now. Specifically, bid 0.30 for four July 7 211 puts, good for the first 15 minutes of Wednesday's session.

Tuesday's rally in this vehicle diverged from declines in the Dow and S&Ps, but not sufficiently to suggest that the FAANG/lunatic stocks are feisty enough to drag the stock market higher at the moment. There's no need to guess what's coming next, however, since QQQ's behavior over the next day or two can tell us what we need to know. A decisive pop above p=141.49 would indicate bulls are about to resume their upward trek into the cosmos; alternatively, a fall beneath 137.47 would imply trouble is brewing._______ UPDATE (Jun 22, 10:55 p.m. EDT): Let's speculate cautiously, buying a few puts to take home over the weekend if QQQ gets within 0.05 points of the 141.49 pivot resistance on Friday. Specifically, I'll recommend buying four June 30 141 puts with QQQ trading between 141.45 and 141.54. I estimate they'll be trading for around 0.65 at the time, but you can improve on this guess and use your good judgment to get a good price by simply observing the bid/asked spread for the options as the underlying moves toward the target.______UPDATE (Jun 25, 6:05 p.m.): The intraday high fell a few pennies shy of our put-buying threshold. Use the same instructions on Monday, but with two modifications: lower the bid for the puts to 0.60, and bid them only for the first 40 minutes of the session._______UPDATE (Jun 26, 11:05 a.m.):  QQQ opened way above the tight range I'd specified for buying puts this morning, and so, strictly speaking, there would have been nothing done on the order. However, if you did buy them with a straight limit bid at 0.60 -- understandable under the circumstances -- I'd suggest cashing out of half of your position right now for around 1.00 -- a nice profit that will cushion the remainder. (Actually,

Invincible? Headed higher no matter what? Eats bears for breakfast?  Look beyond the obvious and you may notice that the stock tripped a ‘counterintuitive’ signal to get short when it fell to the green line on Tuesday. We talked about this during this morning’s weekly tutorial session without finding an easy way to initiate the trade. It may be possible to do so using ‘camouflage’ on Friday; however, this play would be suitable only for subscribers who understand the tactic well enough to attempt it with a thousand-dollar diablo that shreds bulls and bears alike.  As we went to press, AMZN was actually on a ‘counterintuitive’ buy signal on the two-minute chart, but that is also the time frame you should use to find a tradeable abc downtrend. You could conceivably short the 1003.15 midpoint pivot with a stop-loss as tight as 7 cents, doubling down if AMZN continues to D=1005.48. Check in the chat room for more ideas, since I've put out a ‘jackpot’-type option trade in this stock this evening in a post at 23:50.______ UPDATE (Jun 25, 6:04 p.m. EDT): AMZN remained comatose on Friday, oscillating in a $6 range that left little room for casual speculation. I remain open to the possibility that, for once in a rare change, the stock is about to head lower instead of making yet one more record high. Even so. shorting it with risk tightly controlled will require patience and skill if you do so with a 'camouflage' entry trigger on the 15-minute chart or lower.