Rick Ackerman

Gold's bull market remains solidly intact, but it is in no hurry at the moment to push up to the $5000 level as its handlers presumably intend. In the meantime, expect the futures to mark time with a drift down into the $3000-$3100 range, where they could cruise effortlessly for months until it's time to stretch the bullish imagination yet again. Alternatively, a decisive push above $3400 would imply that the sovereign entities that have been doing most of the buying sense a further escalation of geopolitical trouble on the horizon. The 'D' rally target associated with a 3393.10 midpoint resistance lies at 3662.80, the highest target I could foresee over the next 5-7 weeks. (Please note that 3423.20 is the equivalent midpoint resistance for the August Comex contract. It is tied to a 'D' target at 3695.30.) ______ UPDATE (June 3, 12:12 a.m.): An explosive overnight rally has pushed the August contract to a so-far high at 3417.80 that lies just an inch from the 3423.20 midpoint resistance I'd said was key. A decisive move past it will clinch more upside to at least p2=3559.20, and thence to the 3695.30 'D' target given above as my maximum upside objective for the next 5-7 weeks.

Silver's long-term chart has been promising a run-up to at least 39.272 for years, but don't hold your breath. It's been stuck in an $8 range for more than a year, but bulls show little inclination to leave the comfort zone any time soon.  Moreover, you can see that even a $7 drop to the pattern's green line wouldn't have much impact on the big picture, even if investors would likely be feeling pretty disappointed by then. The most promising opportunity I can discern for bottom-fishing or augmenting a long-term position would come on a pullback to 30.033, the midpoint Hidden Pivot support of a corrective pattern projecting to as low as 26.058. The trade would be invalidated, however, by an upthrust exceeding 34.008. _______  UPDATE (Jun 3, 1:04 a.m. EDT): I'm just a tad skeptical about today's big rally, which fell six cents shy of the 34.995  'd' target of the super-gnarly reverse pattern shown. Let's stipulate that the futures close for two consecutive days above it, or trade above 35.800 intraday, before we assume they're headed significantly higher. 

Sellers have crushed a minor Hidden Pivot support near 106k that had looked promising as a place to attempt bottom-fishing, and now the 104,945 midpoint Hidden Pivot support of the large reverse pattern shown. This means the downtrend is very likely to continue to at least d=97,890. Your trading bias should be bearish until that number is reached, but plan on buying there aggressively, especially if you have profited on the way down and have money to cushion a tight stop-loss.  You could also try bottom-fishing at p2=101,418, provided you know how to set up a small-pattern trigger to cut the entry risk by perhaps 90% or more.

Rates on the Ten-Year Note retreated last week precisely to a key Hidden Pivot support at 4.39%. We are likely to know soon whether the downtrend will continue, since the reverse pattern here is so clear and compelling. A two-day close beneath the support would portend more slippage to as low as 4.16% over the next 4-7 days. The bet would become even juicier on an intraday print decisively below the red line -- say, 4.34% or lower. If the downtrend reverses from 4.28%, however, that could indicate an important tone change and the possible resumption of the uptrend that has dominated since early April, when rates bottomed around 3.88%.

The internet has evolved into the perfect medium for spreading crime into every household and every age group, and now Bitcoin is fast becoming the perfect medium for pushing a more violent kind of crime out into the streets. There was a time when one could avoid getting mugged simply by not wearing Italian shoes, a Burberry coat or a Rolex watch in certain neighborhoods. Nowadays, though, any schlepper in a hoodie could be carrying a password in his head with access to Bitcoin enough to buy two-dozen solid-gold Rolexes. The assailant wouldn't even have to risk carrying a gun, since a small pair of pliers to yank out the schlepper's fingernails would be the only tool a thief who uses unfriendly persuasion in its most recently popularized way would need. Don't laugh, because you damned well know this is going to happen in some alley somewhere: a schmuck who wouldn't give up an alphanumeric key stored in his head will lie disfigured in a pool of blood, and the story will instantly be at the top of the news across America. It's impossible to know whether Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is feeling remorseful over the current blizzard of headlines concerning the New York crypto investor held captive, tortured, peed on, beaten and threatened with death by two or more young men sadistically determined to pry a bitcoin account password out of him. If Satoshi has any humanity, he is asking himself 'What have I wrought?' Hadn't he simply wanted to invent a mathematically perfect money that would allow people to spend without being watched by the banks and the shadowy regulators who watch them? How ironic, then, that bitcoin has instead turned out to be an all but unusable medium for ordinary transactions while filling the heads of

Although I no longer expect the June contract to achieve a new record high, it can still be bought 'mechanically' on a pullback to p=5483.88, the midpoint Hidden Pivot of the pattern shown. The textbook stop would be 5266.75, implying a theoretical entry risk of nearly $11,000 per contract. It should be possible to cut that down to around $250, however, by using a 'camo' trigger fashioned from an intraday chart, so that's how we'll plan on getting aboard if the opportunity arises. Nudge me if I'm in the chat room then and we can plot this one together. _______ UPDATE (May 27, 5:08 p.m.): DaBoyz left shorts badly bleeding and hanging on the ropes with today's short squeeze. They were warned when last week's low on Friday narrowly missed touching a theoretical, major sell signal at 5742.00 (see inset chart).

Thursday's stab higher failed by $2 to reach a 462.26 voodoo number I'd advertised here, so we ended the week without taking home a short position. The stock barely held above an 'external'  low at 448.73 on Friday, but the obviousness of this structural all but guarantees that sellers will crush it when the new week begins. That would create a bearish impulse leg on the daily chart, the first since late March. If bears are agitated enough to push the futures below a second 'external' low at 431.11 notched on May 7 without any upward corrections, that would double the putative power of the impulse leg. _______ UPDATE (May 27, 6:18 pm}:  MSFT's rally from a too obvious low on Friday would ordinarily have brought a punitive reversal. But I didn't foresee that DaBoyz would throw the switch to activate short-squeeze conditions. They are already prepping for an ambitious run-up to challenge the old record highs. I have expressed serious doubts they will get there, but I am not about to lay odds. See my chat room comments today regarding Peter Eliades.

Rates on the 10-Year Note gave up little ground last week, suggesting they want to move higher. If so, they'll have a chance to make an important top at 4.92%, the Hidden Pivot 'd' target of the reverse pattern shown. A precise reversal is likely there, given the obscurity of the pattern that produced resistance. We can use it as a minimum upside objective as well. That's bad news, considering the amount of refinancing ($9Tr.) the U.S. Treasury must do this year. There are no guarantees that the 4.92% target will cap the uptrend, but if it gives way, it will put a lot of weight on stocks.

A 3360.50 rally target kept us confidently on board last week, even though DaBoyz tried their hardest to shake bulls loose on Thursday. Notice that the futures slightly exceeded the target by $6.  The 0.17% overshoot may not seem significant, but it has bullish implications in this case because the target, a Hidden Pivot resistance, should have worked precisely.  The next rally target lies at 3393.10, the midpoint resistance of a bigger, conventional pattern going back to April 7's 2970.40 low. It is tied to a 'D' target at 3662.80 that lies $153 above the previous record.