Last week's prediction missed the turn, even if expectations for physical gold were more bullish. The week began with a manic leap past x=46.97, which made more upside to at least p=49.17 an odds-on bet. Don't expect an easy move through this midpoint Hidden Pivot resistance, though, since both the pattern and the location of p will make it hard as rock. It will take a two-day close above p, or an intraday move surpassing it by perhaps 50 cents, to ensure further progress toward p2=51.38, or even d=53.58. If and when p has been decisively exceeded, a swoon to x=46.97, however unlikely, would be a back-up-the-truck spot to get long 'mechanically'.
Crude's rallies have failed so reliably at p that I've stretched the pattern a bit to provide some upside targets if it should break loose this time. More likely is that the January contract will hit p, noodle around for a few days, then resumes the weakness that has characterized this commodity since July. A retracement to the green line would not necessarily beckon a 'mechanical' buy. If this vehicle mildly surprises by continuing higher, I would still expect price action over the next few months to fall within the range $68-$75. Of course, that is barring a geopolitical shock that would push quotes to $80 or higher. ______ UPDATE (Nov 29): The futures performed even worse last week than my dismal forecast had anticipated: first by failing by 46 cents to reach the red line (p=71.97), and then by staying aloft for barely more than a day at the top of the rally. Let's embrace the good news: 1) the sleazeballs who rig the oil markets had little buoyancy to work with, and 2) gas prices will be coming from lower lows the next time the bad guys goose quotes on the flimsiest pretext. ______ UPDATE (Dec 7): Is yet another test of support coming at 66.32, the point 'C' low of the faintly bullish pattern shown in the inset? It sure looks that way, and it's hard to get interested, never mind excited. Zzzzzzzzzzz.
It's tempting to think in round numbers like the pundits who shill this hoax, but a mere $100,000 is not where bitcoin is going next. From a Hidden Pivot perspective, it appears nearly certain to achieve the 107,670 target shown in the chart, or 119,253 if any higher. The same bozos like to throw out absurdities like $500,000, or $1 million, but why stop there? The true believers who have stayed with bitcoin since it changed hands for a dime a copy (Oh yes, it did!) don't have limits, so let's not rain on their parade. As for the rest of us, I'd suggest taking these Hidden Pivot targets seriously because nothing goes up forever and because, in my estimation, one or the other Hidden Pivot resistance has an excellent chance of capping the literally insane rally that has made bitcoin the speculative sensation of the digital era.
The Trump rally reversed sharply after failing to achieve the secondary pivot (p2=6068.73) of the pattern shown. This is not a healthy sign, even if a 'mechanical' buy at the green line, stop 5725.50, looks very likely to produce a profit. That implies the futures will rebound to at least p= 5954.42 after falling to 5840.10, even if they don't eventually reach the pattern's 'D' target at 6183.04. The foregoing will have no bearing on the viability of the ambitious 7644.50 bull market target featured in last week's commentary. The E-Mini S&Ps' fall would have to exceed 3502.00 (!) to invalidate it. However, last week's developments demand that we pay diligent attention to lesser corrective patterns such as the one currently in progress. If there is a fatal weakness creeping into the long-term bull market, it will show itself first in ABCD patterns of minor degree.
Although MSFT has been treading water for months, the stock remains a crucial bellwether because of the company's enormous global footprint and the singular robustness of its revenue model, presumably even in hard times. Get Microsoft right, and your market forecast cannot go far awry. That's why we'll pay particular attention to small details -- at the moment, the stock's ability to convert into theoretical profit the 'mechanical' buy signal that triggered on Friday with the descent to the green line (x=413.45). This textbook set-up should produce a pop not merely to p=421.04, but to d=436.20. Any less would hint that all is not well and the stock is in distribution rather than consolidating for a shot at new record highs above July's 468 peak. A failure to achieve this was implied in my forecast back in August, when I began drum-rolling a target at 449.42 that would have left MSFT well shy of a new record. It topped at 441.85 and has been unable to improve on that since. We're about to see whether this failure portends deeper troubles for MSFT and for the bull market itself.
The ferocious but badly mistaken rally in the days after the election petered out as expected, giving way to a relapse that will soon test crucial support at p=88.01. That is my minimum downside target for the near term, but it is also where the brutal slide from mid-September's 101.64 peak could end. That would imply nothing less than the resumption of the bull cycle begun 13 months ago. I have adjusted p, as well p2 and D, downward to correct an erroneous coordinate used in my calculation of Hidden Pivot levels on the weekly chart. Respectively, they lie at 81.20 and 74.38.
I'd suggested paper-trading this vehicle by bottom-fishing with a $17 trigger interval. In theory, if gold's wrenching downtrend is about to reverse, the trade should produce an easy winner. In actuality, it stopped out the first opportunity and is in the throes of a profitable second. But the bounce, for starters, will need to exceed d=2608.50 to imply a recovery with the potential to achieve a new all-time high. My target above late October's 2801.80 record would be 2940.10. For now, though, we should look for the futures to work their way lower. If they fall to the green line (x=2497.50) of this pattern -- the one projecting to 2940 -- it would trigger a theoretically appealing 'mechanical' buy. In practice, however, it would be akin to catching the falling piano, and I am therefore recommending the trade only to subscribers who know how to pare the risk down to literal chump change. If the trade gets stopped out below 2350.00, wrecking the pattern, it would imply that bullion is not in a correction, but a bear market. _______ UPDATE (Nov 21, 1:22 p.m.): With an intraday high today of 2676, December Gold is enjoying a robust bounce from 2541, well above the worst-case low I’d projected above. This is bullish and puts the 2940.10 rally target credibly back in play. More immediately, my minimum objective for this so-far corrective bounce is 2724.00. That is a 'd' Hidden Pivot (a=2618.80 on 10/10) and a crucial point of resistance that will enable us to judge whether the rally is for real.
The 28.455 target of the reverse pattern shown started out as my worst-case correction target, but now it is probably the best we can hope for. The initial downside penetration of p=31.763 was decisive but not sufficient to make the d target a lock-up. It still isn't, but there's at least a 75% chance the futures will get there. The good news is that bottom-fishing at 28.455 is likely to produce a profit, even if the pattern is too obvious to engender a bounce precisely from that number, a Hidden Pivot support. If you're keen on getting short for the remainder of the ride, I suggest using rABC patterns on the hourly chart to set up 'mechanical' entry triggers. If you're curious about how this is done, stay tuned to the chat room for guidance in real time.
GDXJ likely has further to fall, since it has been routinely exceeding the d targets of minor ABC patterns. It will have a chance to turn from 42.52, the midpoint Hidden Pivot support, on the weekly chart, of a=51.92 (4-22-22). That will be an opportune spot to attempt bottom-fishing, although the precisely coincident low at 42.51 recorded in early September will make the trade tricky to execute. If it gets stopped out, expect more slippage to 37.18, where you can back up the truck and load it. That is the green line of the big pattern shown in the chart, and it is as pretty a place for 'mechanical' buying as you will find.
The futures rallied somewhat higher than we might have preferred last week, generating a bullish impulse leg in the process. This implies that any sequence of trading strategies we employ should have a bullish component. That would take work, however, requiring us to pay attention to a vehicle that is painful to watch. Crude's price action is animated almost solely by clowns and thieves, so I suggest opting for the no-brainer trade, even if it takes a while to set up with a drop to 65.27 (see inset). That might not occur, but it is still the only trade we should be interested in at the moment -- a no-brainer with excellent odds and risk under very tight control. Plus, it will enable us to avoid taking crude's freakish price action seriously. Considering that this is the biggest commodity market in the world, its rigged behavior is a disgrace to civilization itself.
