Current Touts

TLT – Lehman Bond ETF (Last:105.83)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

TLT has a long way to go to recoup losses since 2020. The chart shows three daunting resistance numbers at relatively lowly levels that eventually will give way. However, we should be grateful that this ETF proxy for Treasury Bonds is unlikely to approach covid-era highs near 180, since that could only imply a world in deep economic depression. The recovery of U.S. Bonds has unfolded slowly since TLT bottomed at 82.42 eight months ago.  The gain off the lows is about 14%, and while that might not seem like much, it is impressive considering the staggering amount of U.S. paper dumped on the market in the past year by sovereign holders, particularly China and Russia.  Although the dollar and its unbreakable lock on seignorage may stir up the envy of other nations, they cannot remain players in a financialized world if they stray too far from the greenback. That's why last October's lows for T-Bonds may yet endure, even as forecasts of their demise and the bankruptcy of the U.S. persist. Even in bankruptcy, the U.S. will still look like a safe haven to the rest of this blighted, godforsaken world.

ESU24 – Sep E-Mini S&P (Last:5536.50)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

I've used a continuous monthly chart to project a 6136.25 target for the E-Mini futures. A corresponding target in the cash S&P Index (SPX) lies at 6118.34.   These Hidden Pivots look likely to be reached, although not necessarily precisely, since the patterns from which they are derived will be all-too-obvious to every trader and technician in the game. They are nonetheless sufficiently compelling to not work in some fashion, presumably tradeably. In each instance, buyers had little trouble pushing past the respective HP midpoints, and that's why I'm so confident the corresponding targets will be achieved. If the trend maintains its current slope, that should happen by no later than mid-October if not significantly earlier.

MSFT – Microsoft (Last:449.78)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

The 456.88 target shown presents itself so clearly on the monthly chart that I am de-emphasizing the 452.35 target of a lesser pattern given here earlier. The latter could still show some stopping power, and we should therefore remain alert to the possibility that it will generate a major top.  We can attempt shorting there, too, but the higher target is where we'll train our firepower. It caps a pattern that is more obvious than we should prefer, but my use of a quintessentially 'textbook' one-off 'A' might give us an edge over traders who will be using the somewhat higher 462.80 target associated with the marquee low at 213.43.

GCQ24 – August Gold (Last:2331.20)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

There was hubris in my assertion last week that the perfectly formed head-and-shoulders pattern that has been taking shape since April would mutate into a 'surprise' breakout to the upside.  However, the chart shows what to expect if this forecast proves to be flat-out wrong. There is that possibility. The August futures would fall to 2204.20, completing the H&S pattern, before they could find traction. Moreover, the Auggies would become a juicy 'mechanical' short if they rally over the next week or two to the green line (x=2408.80).  The pattern is quite gnarly because of the double top, but I've seen this set-up work perfectly in the metals before (do NOT tell your friends if you plan to bottom-fish there, as you should). Rest assured, however, that even a $200+ dive as described would not mar the otherwise bullish look of the long-term charts. If you're still worried, here's a continuous monthly chart that shows the ostensibly distributive head of the H&S to be occurring above the 'D' target of a completed pattern stretching back 15 years. That is inarguably bullish no matter how nasty this correction gets.

SIN24 – July Silver (Last:29.614)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

Silver's correction since topping at 32.75 on May 20 has created a distinctive channel that grows more ponderous and tedious by the day (see inset). If the July contract falls yet again to the lower line and this happens within the next 4-6 days, that would imply a low near 27.50. However, here's a weekly chart that puts that in a long-term context that is clearly bullish. It shows a stall to have occurred in a logical place, a secondary pivot at 32.41. But even a nasty pullback now to as low as x=23.32 would still be technically constructive and generate a juicy 'mechanical' buying opportunity. I strongly doubt silver bulls will need such a rebuke after a nearly two-year consolidation begun two summers ago, however, and that implies the July contract can be bought 'mechanically' at p=27.873 with a stop-loss at  24.84. This is a theoretical 'do', but I'd suggest seeking guidance in the chat room if the opportunity takes shape.

GDXJ – Junior Gold Miner ETF (Last:42.42)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

If you're wondering when the miners are going to take off, this week's chart offers a sodden dose of reality. Notice first that GDXJ is currently trading about where it was in 2013. Lows a few years later near $15 followed the cliff dive from 2011's exhilarating precipice at 180. Who could have imagined that, 10 years later, mining shares would still be scuddling lazily along, tormenting investors more or less in proportion to the limit of their patience?  Yes, this ETF could take flight at any time, like a bat from hell. And it will -- just not on our time. If there is anything to console us in the meantime, it is the ease with which this vehicle's gratuitous swings can be traded. Now, for instance, you can stay short down to 38.32, or do covered writes until then, and then reverse your position when the target is reached. That would be 2.60 below the so-far retracement low off May's 47.25 peak. Don't sweat the details.

BRTI – CME Bitcoin Index (Last:60,202)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

Hey, all you twenty-something, failure-adjusted, peach flavored hard seltzer-drinking, avocado toast-munching, downwardly mobile, squishy-gendered, Robin Hoodie, World-of-Warcraft miscreants: Listen up!!  If you're as desperate as I think you are to fatten your crypto wallets, you'll need to pay up to find out exactly where bitcoin is headed next.  Hint: The last three digits of my current price target are xx191.  This will be a last-chance, bargain-basement retracement low before bitcoin blasts off for hyperspace.  I've published the super-secret correction target in my chat room, and you need only click here for a free, two-week trial subscription that will give you instant access to the chat room and all the other nuggets of tradeable information that lie behind the Rick's Picks paywall. No credit card is necessary, since that would only add to the unpaid balance, metastasizing at 21.99%, that has been devouring you limb-by-limb like a flesh-eating bacterium. _______ UPDATE (June 29): I've lowered my precise correction target (hint: it is below 56,000), a modification that has changed its last three digits to xxx709. UPDATE (July 5): Whether you subscribed or not, I hope my warning prepared you for the disaster that has unfolded in bitcoin.  It has actually exceeded the original downside target, and so I've posted an 'extension target' in the chat room. It is my worst case at the moment and is below 51,000. Click here to sign up for a free two-week trial, no credit card required.

DXY – NYBOT Dollar Index (Last:105.52)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

Bearishness on the U.S. dollar reached a shrill crescendo last week after the Saudis began accepting other currencies for oil. Some seem to think this will move the world away from the dollar as the global reserve standard, but I strongly disagree. The dollar's indispensability for propagating a $2 quadrillion derivatives shell game is far more crucial to its supreme status in the world's heavily financialized economy. Crude oil is certainly a large market, but it is puny in comparison to the nominal value of derivatives traded digitally around the world. The chart shows the dollar ensconced in the upper range of a wedge formation, An upside breakout without a cyclical correction down to the lower line would be very bullish, however illogical it might seem to dollar bears (aka 'inflationists'). When the breakout occurs, it will leave the punditry, eggheads and bloviators who would consign the dollar to ignominy with some serious explaining to do. Suck it up, dudes!

ESU24 – Sep E-Mini S&P (Last:5500.00)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

The September contract looks all but certain to reach the midpoint Hidden Pivot at 5587.75 shown in the chart (inset). The rally has been powered by relentless short-covering and gap-up squeezes on the opening bell, but I doubt it will punch through p effortlessly. There is always that chance, however, and if it does, then we should assume that D=6155.25 is in play.  The target may look like it is miles above, but it is only a 12% move from Friday's close.  The distance could be traversed in as little as 8-10 weeks, which, looking back to the summer of 1929, would warrant our being on high alert.  Wall Street should be pretty stoked by then about Trump's impending return to the presidency, so it would be the perfect time for Mr. Market to pull the plug.

MSFT – Microsoft (Last:442.55)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

Energized by eight weeks of consolidation, MSFT has fist-pumped past a 430.58 target that had looked capable of stopping the bull in it tracks. It did, and quite precisely, but only for long enough to give bulls a running start on new record highs. They will nearly always be precisely targetable, and I've selected a conservative one for now to give us a confident handle on trend strength. Look for the stock to reach a minimum 452.35 this week, or 455.95 ii any higher. The latter number was calculated by sliding the point 'A' low down to a somewhat lower bottom a few bars to the left. Both numbers are shortable provided you use small-pattern triggers to cut the risk.