August

Last week's bullish feint triggered a less-than-appealing 'mechanical' short at the green line (x=1980.60). The selloff into the close  was bound for a retest of p=1955.10, but if this 'hidden' support fails, look for more downside to 1929.50, the secondary (p2) pivot. Bears have had trouble doing serious damage, so there's no reason to think the downtrend, a correction from May 4's 2102 high, is likely to reach the D target at 1903.90. That implies p2 should be bottom-fished, presumably with a reverse pattern of small degree (aka 'camouflage'). ______ UPDATE (Jun 5, 6:59 p.m.): We'll let gold bulls, bears and the Wharton-educated criminals who manipulate them bayonet each other bloody for a while, but by all means please nudge me in the chat room if you see easy money sitting on the table.

I've drawn a pattern that should suffice to contain the constipated price action of this flaky proxy for global manufacturing. What you can expect in the week ahead is more range-bound trading, but with the prospect of an enticing 'mechanical' buy if the April contract should come down to the green line (x=75.12).   The implied entry risk of $10,000 on four contracts is too steep to initiate the trade conventionally, but it may be possible to cut that by as much as 90% with close attention to bullish entry patterns on the lesser charts. Stay tuned to the chat room if interested. _______ UPDATE (Feb 22, 10:01 p.m.): The trade mentioned above triggered, but only on paper, since no one mentioned it in the chat room. Whatever happens next, even if it's a breakdown, promises to be as inconsequential as everything else that's occurred on the daily chart since August. _______ UPDATE (Feb 25): Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. _______ UPDATE (Mar 11): Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. _______ UPDATE (Mar 13, 6:40 p.m.): April Crude looked ripe for bottom-fishing this afternoon, based on the 70.50 D target shown in this chart. Alas, the futures turned higher from just above it, mooting the opportunity. The pattern seemed gnarly enough to work, but the fact that the three coordinates are so obvious when viewed at-a-glance might have argued otherwise. Today's price action leaves me more open to the possibility that crude may be carving out a short-term bottom. _______ UPDATE (Mar 15, 11:58 p.m.): Crude carved out a possible bottom all right (see above) -- with the steepest one-day plunge since July!  The 65.65 low was foreseeable, or very nearly so, but arguably too distant from D=65.03 to cue up the kind of tight-fisted rABC entry we prefer. The bounce was ferocious, but it remains to be seen whether it

Although there's a solid consensus in the chat room that a major bottom is in and that my 1665.00 target will not be reached, I have my doubts. They are based entirely on the decisive downside penetration of p=1773.80 on July 5. I have only very seldom seen 'p' obliterated in this way without giving way to a follow-through that hit 'D'. If gold's robust two-day rally is going to be an exception, the first evidence of this would come with an impulsive thrust exceeding three 'external peaks that lie, respectively, at 1744, 1751 and 1771. That's the kind of power rallies typically exhibit when ending bear markets. If this one can vault all three peaks with no visually significant pullbacks along the way, I'd infer it is the real deal -- at long last. (July 27 note: For the December contract, the three peaks lie at, respectively, 1763.70, 1770.80 and 1785.80.)

Crude's gains toward the end of the week were impressive, but buyers looked winded when the clock ran out on them. Regardless, we should view the 99.85 rally target shown in the chart as a minimum upside projection for the near term. The pattern has already produced a $5200 'mechanical' winner on four contracts bought at the red line and would signal an equally promising trade if the futures were to swoon to the green line (95.89). ______ UPDATE (Jul 19, 6:50 p.m.): I've opened a larger 'reverse pattern' with a 110.78 target, since the D targets of  smaller ones have gotten vaporized these last few days. Monday's impalement of p=100.67 implies a strong likelihood the D will be reached. A swoon to X would trigger a very attractive 'mechanical' buy, stop 90.55. ______ UPDATE (Jul 21, 11:14 p.m.): Here's a chart for the September futures, with D=108.25. A pullback to x=93.24 would trigger an enticing 'mechanical' buy. 

Finally, a bottom in sight? Judging from the chart, with its textbook rhythms and clarity, it will be hard for the August futures to avoid reaching D=1665.00 and then bouncing tradeably from this Hidden Pivot support. The downtrend has obliterated several minor supports where I'd suggested bottom-fishing, but also a major one at 1773.80, the midpoint of the C-D leg. This suggested there was urgent selling still to come, and we will likely see the last of it within $1-$2 of the target. The pattern is too obvious for traders to count on a precise turn from D, but even an imprecise one should serve for bottom-fishing with risk tightly controlled. _______ UPDATE (Jul 21, 11:15 p.m.): The futures took a trampoline bounce after swooning to 1678, but I am not ruling out the possibility of a relapse that gets closer to my 1665.00 target. Alternatively, a push exceeding 1744.30 would put bulls back in charge.

The sharp rally off the July 6 low at 95.10 does not appear bound for greatness.  Although I still have a lofty outstanding target at 134.59, I've grown increasingly skeptical that it will be achieved. It has yet to be negated by a dip below C=86.81, but evidence grows that the bullish pattern is weakening nonetheless. Last week, for instance, we saw a corrective ABCD complete to its D target at 94.70. If the larger and still theoretically dominant, bull-market were as robust as its initial A-B impulse leg, the correction should not have exceeded p=104.38 (the red line in the chart).  My hunch is that, barring an unforeseeable geopolitical shock to global supply, the June 14 top will stand and that this rally should be shorted. Stay tuned to the chat room and email 'Notifications' if you care. ______ UPDATE (Jul 12, 5:18 p.m.): Bombs away! I am projecting $3.00 more downside before August Crude becomes an appealing speculative buy. ______ UPDATE (Jul 13, 9:40 p.m.): The futures have bounced after bottoming $1 above where I'd predicted. The rally shows promise, but it would need to surpass an external peak at 111.46 to merit our serious attention. Getting short (or long, for  that matter) will be tricky, so 'camouflage' is advised. ________ UPDATE (Jul 14, 9:57 a.m.): Someone asked in the chat room where I thought crude was headed. I responded as follows: $40 a barrel or lower-- just a hunch. But if you are addicted to bottom-fishing, the most promising place to try it would be 88.90 (basis the August). That's my minimum downside target for the near term, and I am confident it will be reached. The pattern is too obvious for precision, since the mouth-breathers and algos will be out in force trying to exploit it, so camouflage is

August Gold finally turned higher on the final bar of the week, a suspicious development from which some in the chat room seemed inclined nonetheless to take encouragement. My take is more skeptical, given the way sellers cracked the midpoint Hidden Pivot support at 1794.90 a week earlier. It suggested that the futures are likely to reach 'D' before they can make a good-faith attempt to end the long dirge begun from $2000  in April. Please note the small adjustment in the chart -- a shift to a higher point 'A' that has lowered the target by a few dollars to 1707.20.  Note as well that a two-level rally to x=1888.70 would set up a 'mechanical' short of a kind that has worked well for us in the past. _____ UPDATE (Jul 12, 5:38 p.m.): Chat room remonstrations have sought equal time for predictions of a 1670 low before this cinder block can turn around, so here it is: a 1665.00 Hidden Pivot target. Certainly not impossible, but I will be looking for a tradeable and potentially important turn from higher levels nonetheless. Specifically, I expect the futures to bounce from 1718.30, and thence from 1707.20 if there's a relapse. If 1707.20 is exceeded on a closing basis for two consecutive days, however, or exceeded by more than $4 intraday, I would infer that 1670 is indeed going to be reached (and slightly exceeded).  That would be a great place to back up the truck and buy 'em hand-over-fist.

Sellers ran out of steam precisely at the 104.42 target shown in the chart. This implies the so-far one-day bounce could travel a bit farther or even get legs, since the pattern took fully two weeks to play out. I'd proffered a 105.52 downside target initially, but when it was somewhat exceeded, a new target was warranted. The one in the chart was calculated simply by sliding 'A' up a notch above the original one-off. Now, if the uptrend exceeds c=114.05 of the reverse pattern, we should infer 116.29 as a target.  Here is the chart from which it is derived. Please note that one coordinate was slightly off and that the corrected target, as implied above, is 116.29, with p=110.43. (I have not corrected the actual chart.) _______ UPDATE (Jul 5, 9:21 a.m.): Last night's vicious little head-fake above p=110.82 reminds me of NatGas, which is always out to cripple and maim those who are capable of getting the trend and the swings right consistently. In retrospect, and in this particular instance, this behavior justifies using an ABCD pattern anchored at 101.53, a 'marquee' low. It yields a D target at 117.08 that is about to become moot with a presumptive feint below C=104.56.  Incidentally, I am not buying into the bullish story that the resurgence of China's manufacturing sector is about to drive energy prices to the moon. _______ UPDATE (Jul 6, 8:16 p.m.): We used this pattern to trade a 94.70 downside target.  Given the precise hit at p and its subsequent destruction, I cannot fathom why the target was not achieved within three pennies or less. Perhaps one last swoon is needed to finish the job? ______ UPDATE (Jul 7, 6:02 p.m.): Evidently not. The futures went ballistic today off yesterday's 95.10 low, and that's pretty bullish. 

I've been so down on gold lately that I should probably recuse myself, but here we go anyway: The trampoline rally off Friday's heavily manipulated low is likely bound for at least 1828.80, the D target of the reverse pattern shown. It is not quite a done deal because of the hesitation at p. That's why bulls should be careful if and when the move hits p2=1817.30, where a tradeable reversal could occur. Meanwhile it would take a print exceeding 1882.50 to negate the 1756.90 downside target that has been in play for nearly a month. ______ UPDATE (Jul 5, 11:20 a.m. EDT): So much for giving gold the benefit of the doubt. Today's freefall looks bound for D=1746.30, a back-up-the-truck spot for bottom fishing as far as I'm concerned. Here's the chart, with a pattern that caught a beautiful mechanical short just head of what eventually will have been a $136 selloff.  _______ UPDATE (Jul 6, 8:06 p.m.): We're now working on a 1710.00 target, although the bearish forecast did not prevent our exploiting a mid-day rally worth as much as $2300 to anyone who followed my 11:43 a.m. Trading Room 'rABC' guidance. (It also went out in timely fashion to all subscribers in the form of a 'Notification'.)))))))))))))