Dull Day on Wall Street; Volume Slides Again

The only excitement of the day occurred just before the eleven o’clock hour with the market pushing to break out from last week’s high. Volume was running below average, but price action appeared to be strong. However, just prior to the breakout we saw sellers step up and prevent the breakout. AMZN and EBAY were lower in higher volume along with AAPL who closed in the red for the second straight day. CNBC continues to pound on the Fiscal Cliff issue and cannot seem to move away from it. Small Caps continue to outperform and were too close to breaking out. If we are to breakout look for Small Caps to take the lead. We have experienced another dull day in the market as we remain trendless for now. PCLN suffered a big down day with volume running more than 50% above average. The stock looked poised to breakout and run despite the 50 day running under the 200 day, but today’s action is not good for the bulls. Right now the stock appears to be stuck in its range from the summer as overhead resistance remains strong. AMZN appears to be building a handle and will need to avoid any further selling on high volume. Pay attention to the stock around its 50 day as support around this moving average will be crucial for the stock. There doesn’t appear to be many bright spots in the market at the moment, but even with a dull market the environment can change rapidly. Be prepared. The market won’t get much economic news until the FOMC rate decision on Wednesday. Many will try to game the Fed and predict what the market will do. There is an upside bias on the days leading up to the FOMC rate announcement so any breakout here wouldn’t surprise us. If we do see the market breakout we’ll go right along with it, but we’ll have an exit strategy. Last FOMC meeting the market rallied on the news of QE. Unfortunately, the rally didn’t last and we saw the market sell-off. If you didn’t have an exit strategy and were long the market thru the downtrend you suffered through a nice loss. It is always best to avoid the downturns and wait for better entry points. We are waiting on the market and there are plenty of mixed signals right now. The NASDAQ remains below its 50 day and 200 day. On the other hand the S&P 500 and Russell are sitting just above it. Meanwhile, volume remains below average.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

It was a very uncorrelated market the past week with the Nasdaq falling 1%, the DJIA rising 1%, and the Russell 2000 coming in flat. Overall, nothing has changed in our model and we remain under an overall NEUTRAL condition. Despite being under a current NEUTRAL position, we definitely have a long bias currently in big-cap NYSE stocks. Low P/E stocks that pay a nice dividend that show some fundamental growth are beginning to outperform more speculative technology and small cap stocks. The biggest reason for the divergence is obviously AAPL which makes up about 9.5% of the Nasdaq. The near 9% decline this past week definitely was the anchor preventing the Nasdaq from rising. However, if you only think that AAPL is the reason for the weakness in the Nasdaq then why did the Russell 2000 lag? It’s because right now big-cap low P/E dividend producing stocks are in favor. Growth and technology is not. While there was not a ton of market moving news in individual stocks outside of AAPL, there were more oddities this week in more ways than one: 1. The constant overbought and oversold nature of stocks continued this week with some stocks seemingly up every day like GMCR and FB and some stocks actually down everyday like ONTY. 2. Continuous breakout fakeouts in stocks like TDG SWHC ACHC NCR RBA QIHU LPH EDU TOL MHO keep happening. 3. Breakout fakeout re-breakouts in stocks like GEO show up every once in a while. 4. Insane one day price moves in stocks like GRPN which retake their 50 day moving average on strong volume and end up 22% higher on the day. The bottom line is that the insanity continues and despite some pockets in low P/E dividend stocks there is not much that can be trusted or relied on when it comes to our markets. However, the USA is not the only market in the world. Thankfully, there are other nations out there that actually promote free markets and freedom. World ETFs like EWA EWS EWH EWA and ENZL continue to march to new highs. And in other South East Asia nations the same can be said from VNM, CAF, THD, EPHE, EWM and DXJ. Other ETFs hitting new highs include EWO EWN EWQ EWK EWL EWU. On top of that, India is on fire with INDY, EPI, SCIF, and PIN showing Relative Strength versus our market. So as you can see, as long as you do not focus on the US markets, you can make money trend following world ETF shares. Especially South East Asia. Remember, the world is nothing but a flow chart of capital. If that is the case, India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand will continue to dominate over the next decade as money leaves the United States and moves on to the next round of major growth economies. So while we may have an insane Congress with an insane Federal Reserve bailing out and taking care of insane banksters with QE and ZIRP, trend followers can pack their bags and take their money to South East Asia. This is a trend I believe we will continue to see well into the near-term and long-term future. You can’t be $16,000,000,000,000 in debt on the book ($86,000,000,000,000 possibly in unfunded debts) and expect the growth of the 80s and 90s to E-V-E-R return. Especially in a world where big corporations gladly hire cheap overseas labor and grant themselves huge bonuses and paychecks at the expense of the workers wages and benefits. It’s a different world. The manufacturing jobs that everyone keeps screaming that need to come back are N-E-V-E-R coming back. Ever. While everyone is upset about the trendless messy market we have right now, remember, on the other side of the world the trend is clear. Over in our neck of the woods we remain under a NEUTRAL condition with a bullish bias to big cap dividend-yielding low P/E stocks and a bearish bias on the overall macro economy. Aloha and have a wonderful weekend! Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal NTE long – 123% – 8/17/12 AVD long – 121% – 1/10/12 VRNM short – 58% – 4/10/12 CAMP long – 47% – 4/26/12 CSU long – 41% – 9/4/12 ASTM short – 33% – 7/17/12

AAPL Suffers as C and BAC Enjoy Big Moves

A wild day on Wall Street as stocks stage an intraday reversal only to give back gains at the close. Once again the market was ready to fall apart and we were able to find buyers at the lows. AAPL tumbled hard while BAC and C raced higher. The market liked these two gigantic banks were cutting costs by eliminating jobs. Volume rose across the board giving the NASDAQ a day of distribution and stall days for the S&P 500. At one point it appeared the Dow would put in a follow-through day (and NASDAQ a distribution day), but ended the day in stalling action. We are still without a confirmed uptrend and wild intraday action. In addition, we still have failing breakouts. Adding all of this up cash is very much king. All eyes will be on the ECB tomorrow morning. Since the last ECB meeting the economic landscape in Europe has not improved, but worsen. Expectations is for the central bank to leave rates steady as borrowing costs across the continent have dramatically been reduced. More importantly, it will be how the market reacts to the central banks comments. Given the movement off the recent lows the European stock markets are expecting the central bank to produce something for them to continue their trend. After the ECB announcement we’ll get initial jobless claims and a look into Friday’s job report. Let the fun begin from CNBC and their over-analyzing the data and blaming Sandy. Market action is where our attention will be focused. There is something sinister going on with AAPL. Perhaps the rumor of a dramatic reduction in demand or some fund was forced to dump was the cause of the sell-off. To be honest, we do not care the reason for the decline and what we know was today the stock sold off in heavy volume. The stock’s trend is down and it appears there isn’t much that will stop this stock from taking out the November 16th lows. AAPL is a beloved stock and owned by many institutions and if the selling continues the exits will become very crowded. Do not be a hero. The NASDAQ remains below its 200 day and 50 day with the S&P 500 continuing to find resistance at its 50 day moving average. Until we see these indexes move above these moving averages with conviction and without a follow-through day the long side is not safe. Cash is king and we continue to tread very carefully in this market.

ISM Shows Manufacturing Contracted as Stocks Reverse and Close in the Red

In a surprise to the market data out of ISM showed the manufacturing sector contracted waking up sellers pushing the market lower. The market gapped to the upside with the hope the economy wasn’t in that bad of shape with Europe and China’s PMI data. At the open the NASDAQ hit the high of the day and was never able to recover. SPY and DIA staged an outside reversal day while IWM and QQQs were able to avoid the pattern. Volume was lower on the day compared to Friday’s massive volume surge from end of the month rebalancing. While today wasn’t an official day of distribution it was certainly a big warning sign to longs buying has been exhausted. We still have not seen a true follow-through day and it appears after today we may not see one. Tread carefully as today was not a good day for the market if it wants to push higher. The outside reversal gets negated if the market is able to retake today’s high. Volume doesn’t matter too much, but we’ll need to see the highs taken out if this market has any chance of moving higher. The other game changer was the reversals at major moving averages. For example the NASDAQ gapped above its 50 day moving average only to cut right back under it. This is not the type of price movement you want to see from the market whatsoever. To make matters worse for this rally off the November lows is market leadership. Two stocks DDD SSYS broke out last week and were looking good until the last few trading sessions. The reversals are a clear indication breakouts are failing and a big clue to the health of this uptrend. CVLT is hanging in there and with QIHU breaking out it will be important to watch how these stocks act over the next few trading sessions. Given the market conditions it is very difficult to hang onto these stocks for big wins. Remember, have an exit plan for any trades you make and do not get caught without one. Not a good start for the bulls this week. It is best to review your trading plan and execute!

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading portfolio remains under a NEUTRAL signal, despite the strong gains this past week in the stock market. The gains from last week were very strong but it came from a very oversold condition and was straight up in a V-shaped formation backed by zero accumulation. While we are used to the stock market rallying on zero volume following heavy volume selloffs, we are at the same time still not used to it. Its a learning process adapting to the current market we have been in the past two years, following 200 years of normal price and volume relationships in equity and futures markets. Therefore, despite the strong gains, we remain in a NEUTRAL condition. This being said we do see constructive action underneath in the stock market. We had a lot of stocks fly past logical buy points that we were watching the past week. These stocks, instead of pulling back and allowing for a “safe” entry, continued to rally higher. Some examples include PRLB, FB, GMCR, and HIMX. We also see other stocks working on possible basing formations in big heavy volume leaders such as GOOG, PCLN, AAPL, and AMZN. We also see some new leadership in the form of 3D-printing stocks like SSYS and DDD. So while we remain under a NEUTRAL condition we will be more than willing to switch to a BUY mode. We would like to see the market base sideways or move lower on lower volume and then begin a strong move higher before this signal is generated. If we do not see the market pullback and instead are up 2% on lower volume Monday we will be obey the model and switch to BUY. However, we would make any position small as we are overbought short-term and simply have no volume. Historically, December is a bullish month for the stock market and it does rise on little volume most of the time. Therefore, volume is not much of a concern right now as the overall overbought condition following the V-shaped rally in the indexes. The bottom line is that while we see some constructive action in the market and it is seasonally a time to be bullish it still is not good enough to press bets here. We will continue to operate on the smallest level we have ever operated on at Big Wave Trading, continuing to keep an extremely high level of cash until better chart patterns can build in the stock market. 2012 has been the worst year ever going back to 1996 in terms of win/loss pain/gain ratios. Thankfully, due to trading small and getting smaller and smaller and smaller as the year went on we avoided the losses that the trend following wizards were dealt in the month of October and surely have been dealt in the month of November. In that regard, the past two months have been “wins.” Overall, though, losing money is never a winning situation. Still a 10% drawdown sure as hell beats a 50% drawdown. When you are wrong, get smaller. When you continue to be wrong, get even smaller. If you are still wrong, get as small as you can or do not trade at all. This has been the ultimate lesson from this trendless yet extremely choppy/volatile low-trading range market the past two years. The other lesson learned is to never overly trust one particular system. Diversifying amongst a bunch of different backtested systems that perform differently in each market and knowing how to weigh each system in each market environment has been another lesson well learned. Aloha and I wish you all the best during the upcoming week! Top Current Holdings – Percent Gain – Date of Signal AVD long – 130% – 1/10/12 NTE long – 124% – 8/17/12 VRNM short – 56% – 4/10/12 CAMP long – 54% – 4/26/12 CSU long – 43% – 9/4/12 ASTM short – 34% – 7/17/12 MAGS short – 30% – 4/18/12

Another Wild Intraday Session as the NASDAQ Closes Green for the 8th time in 9 Days

The market has become quite an interesting beast as of late with wild swings on every press conference DC makes. First Boehner’s comments sent the Dow down 50 points in a split second only to recover after Reid and Schumer respond. Nancy Pelosi was kind enough to wait for the market close to make her comments, but at the end of the day the market has moved higher again. According to Bloomberg volume was lower across the board and continues to be light overall. We are still operating without a true follow-through day, but despite the overbought conditions the short-term trend is higher. After the bell we got word the Democrats proposal would like to raise over 1.6 trillion in taxes and immediately raise spending by 50 billion. Republicans on the other hand are ready to concede the tax issue, but not the spending. For anyone to think a reasonable deal will be struck is crazy. Collecting less than 18% of GDP and spending 25% of GDP is not a sustainable model. You simply cannot overspend what you take in to eternity. It is not sustainable. We can argue over tax rates and where we should or should not cut spending, but if you can’t agree to pay only what you take in then no real solution will be had. We are now in extreme overbought territory and it would be good for the market to take a rest over the next few days. Even one day of a pull back on light volume would do this market some good. We only need to see a few days of this market taking a rest. Distribution would not be welcomed at all and we must avoid any serious price decline. If stocks are hitting buy points take the signal and have an exit plan. Hopefully tomorrow we can avoid seeing any more press conferences by any congressional member! Get out and enjoy the weekend.

NYSE Posts Second Day of Distribution as Reid Signals Congress Still Can’t Get its Act Together

For the second day in a row the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and the NYSE Composite posted another day of distribution. It is an ominous sign for a newly developed rally to post back to back days of distribution after a follow-through day. Positive economic news from Durable goods to housing did very little to help this market today. Sellers jumped aboard just before the 10am hour, but were held back by another intraday rally like Monday’s session. It appeared as if the NASDAQ and others were ready to bolt to higher ground before Harry Reid and Mitch McConnel spoke about the Fiscal Cliff talks. The market couldn’t rebound and ended near the lows of the session as volume jumped. This rally has a negative tint to it and the next move on volume will spell out the direction we’ll head in the short-term. Friday’s supposed follow-through day kicked off a new rally and the one thing you do not want to see is distribution within the first few days after the follow-through day. Unfortunately for this new rally is we have had back-to-back days of distribution. Monday’s intraday action was bullish, but still put the NYSE composite, S&P 500, and Dow into distribution camp. Today’s action was clear distribution and is not questionable. Distribution following a new confirmed market rally spells trouble for the rally attempt. I’d expect to see this rally fail shortly and we’ll be on the hunt for a new uptrend. If we move higher on strong move we’ll change our tune, but for now distribution is spelling trouble for this rally attempt. Financials rolled over today with the XLF rejected at its 50 day moving average. Retail (XRT) still is having trouble with its 50 day moving average despite the media’s attention on how good Black Friday sales were. Oil and Gas was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 followed by financials. A sign the market is on shaky ground is from the only sector higher on the session being the Utilities. If we don’t see the market improve here look for utilities to show strength while the rest of the market heads lower. If you jumped into the market yesterday or today remember to have an exit strategy. It will mean the difference when it comes down to your returns! Buying is the easy part.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio switched from a successful SELL signal back to a NEUTRAL signal the past week as the DJIA, SP500, and Russell 2000 retook their 200 day moving averages. The Nasdaq remains below its respective 200 day moving average but that is due to AAPL and we took notice of last Friday’s very bullish intraday reversal on AAPL coming from very oversold conditions. Overall, we see it as constructive price action in the overall market. While volume declined each day the past week, due to the holiday, it really doesn’t matter. This market has already proven that volume or no volume when the Fed is printing money and manipulating interest rates it simply doesn’t matter. Higher volume selloffs followed by lower volume rallies have been the norm since 2009. Until the ZIRP policy is abolished, we do not believe this will change any time soon. The biggest problem with the low volume rallies is that prior to 2009 low volume rallies would not cause the model to switch like it does now. This unfortunately means that there will be more false signals and thus more times when we will have to cut our losses. Instead of watching the model switch 5-15 times in a year it is now switching around 20-30 switches per year the past two years. This simply would not happen in a normal market environment where the Fed basically lets asset prices rise and fall based on where the market expects fair value. In the intermediate term we are in a seasonal uptrend cycle as we head into the final month of the year. Like always, January will be more-than-likely be the real tell to the trend of December. But being that it is December and that we are refusing to sell off after leading CANSLIM stocks have cracked across the board it means that the odds are in favor of prices rising going into the end of the year. However, if you think we have any positions based on that assumption, you are 100% incorrect. All signals are price based. If prices break higher, we go long. If prices break lower, we go short. If we are wrong, we cut our losses immediately. There is no deviation from this model based on any indiscretions we may reserve about future market prices. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Aloha and have a great upcoming week. Top Current Holdings – Date of Purchase – Signal Date AVD long – 129% – 1/10/12 NTE long – 111% – 8/17/12 VRNM short – 54% – 4/10/12 CAMP long – 51% – 4/26/12 ASTM short – 40% – 7/17/12 CSU long – 37% – 9/4/12 MAGS short – 25% – 4/18/12

The Market Shakes Off Comments from Bernanke and Close Flat

Continued positive data from the housing market helped boost the market in the early going. However, the focus would quickly turn to Ben Bernanke’s speech at 12:15. Prior to his speech this headline appeared: BN 12:15 *BERNANKE SAYS FISCAL CLIFF WOULD POSE `SUBSTANTIAL THREAT. And during his speech he stated the Federal Reserve would be unable to assist if Congress did not avert the fiscal cliff. The market did not like the sound of this and sold off as volume picked up the pace. It wasn’t before long before buyers stepped up and supported the market pushing the major averages back to flat line at the close. Volume slid on the day, but with the Thanksgiving Holiday upon us light trading is to be expected. It is hard to ignore the support we saw today and we’ll be looking for a confirmation day to switch to buy mode. The market will get initial claims tomorrow, but attention will be drawn to the European summit and black Friday sales figures by retailers. This year more roughly 45% of Americans say they would like to forgo Christmas all together this year. One would conclude with an improving economy should produce consumers willing to purchase more. Perhaps we are seeing the effects of declining real wages due to inflation caused by a Federal Reserve printing at warp speed. Will opening earlier help sales? Time will tell, but looking from the outside it does appear sales have the potential of coming in on the low side of things. Then again, the market may ignore this and move higher. Price rules above all else. A couple of big technology stocks got hit hard today. HPQ and INTC both sunk to new lows as both stocks appear to be heading into the single digits. HPQ simply cannot turn itself around in a consumer dominated commodity business. INTC announced its CEO is departing in May and the news did not sit well with the market. We know CAPEX is falling and these stocks are certainly feeling the effects of decrease spending. We await a confirmation day for this rally attempt. It may be difficult to see one with Thanksgiving on Thursday, but we have seen stranger things.

Stocks Rally Hard as Hopium Spreads over Fiscal Resolution

Better than expected housing expectations and existing home sales helped boost the market’s rally off of Friday’s reversal. Volume on the day was lower and below average, but we have expected that with the Thanksgiving Holiday. AAPL was the star of the session rising 7% on the day. At one point the stock accounted for more than half of the day’s gains. At the Friday low we were quite oversold and when our fearless leaders expressed optimism we saw the market rally. Given the conditions of the market last week a relief rally is not out of the question. Day two of an attempted rally looks to be okay except for we are lacking the quality setups we normally see. We remain in sell mode, but we’ll obey the market if we get strong price and volume action. The VIX closed at its lows of the session as fear continues to evade this market. It is quite interesting to see the fear index where it is when we have AAII sentiment very bearish last week at 48.82%. Bulls weren’t seen at lows, but did come in at 28.82. We could debate as to why the VIX is so low and for us to have a meaningful bottom we need to see capitulation with some fear. Friday’s low might have appeared to be capitulation we didn’t see the surge of volume we’d normally see (excluding options ex volume). Perhaps this time things are “different” and the VIX will head into the single digits. We live in a QE dominated ZIRP world where anything is possible. The big story of the day was the move in AAPL stock rising more than 7% on the day. Last week the stock simply could not find any footing until Friday’s low. At this point a move back to the 50 day (629.65 currently) wouldn’t be out of the question given its big decline from September highs. The rally would likely bring on a “death-cross” where the 50 day undercuts the 200 day moving average. The last time this occurred was during the 2008 market meltdown. We aren’t predicting a similar situation, but with the stock severely over-owned and loved anything is possible. Day two of a new attempted rally after an extremely oversold condition is not out of the question. Given the low volume for the holiday we can see this market continue to push higher. Tomorrow we’ll get some more housing data along with Ben Bernanke speaking at 12:15 pm EST. Stay disciplined and do not try and be a hero here picking a market bottom.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio remains under a SELL signal on all indexes. However, we do take note of the positive price action and strong volume (even though it was options expiration related) on the indexes and more importantly on the oversold beloved-stock named Apple (AAPL). Volume on AAPL was the highest since March and comes on an excellent intraday reversal. We call that positive price action. However, there is no way, based on Friday alone, to know if this is the end of the downtrend or just an oversold bounce. Some of the positives going for the market is the fact it is very oversold on the short term, the crowd is increasingly becoming more bearish, and AAPL’s price and volume move on Friday. Some of the negatives are that there is still no obvious rotation from old leading stocks into new leading stocks, most recent strong sectors (IBB XHB ITB) are starting to crack on heavy volume, and despite sentiment growing more bearish there was absolutely zero fear in the most recent pullback. Everyone truly believes Ben will save us from every big bad market decline. The only way we see it at Big Wave Trading is that you must keep an open mind to everything and anything in this new QE-fed world. There is only one two ways to trade this market: trend following signals and value investing. The old momentum methodologies that made position traders like me wealthy during our early career have been missing since the 2008/2009 stock market bottom. This is a direct correlation of a QE/ZIRP policy. So, even though it seems the market is not done selling off, you must keep an open mind in the regards that Ben will indeed come to the markets rescue any time it even attempts to move lower. We have taken notice of some stocks that made very strong moves on Friday. However, we will need to see further positive price action next week or the week after to know if it is more than a one day options expiration wonder. The social networking site FB sure has been putting in some impressive price and volume action lately. That stock is definitely a stock that should be on all trend following wizards radar. It is too much of a cult stock and has so much volume that it is mandatory active and inactive traders watch this stock for trend following signals. Overall, we remain extremely heavy cash at Big Wave Trading due to the inability to trust price and volume action in the current choppy tape. Without any spike in the VIX, it is hard to believe a real bottom is here and while we are short some index ETFs we will be ready to reverse those positions ASAP if we continue to see further price appreciation. At the same time we do know another 2010 and 2011 pullback is more than likely to happen sooner or later and we will be ready to act accordingly when the time does come calling. And come calling it will one day. You can not keep an artificial economy up forever. Can you? Maybe you can. It’s a much different world than it was before QE. Get used to it. I doubt it changes any time soon. I doubt it changes any time not too soon (4 years at least). On that chipper note, have a great weekend everyone. Surf is up on the north shore and the sun is shining. Aloha!! Top Current Holdings – Percent Gain – Date of Signal AVD long – 112% – 1/10/12 NTE long – 102% – 8/17/12 VRNM short – 58% – 4/10/12 CAMP long – 47% – 4/26/12 ASTM short – 37% – 7/17/12 CSU long – 33% – 9/4/12

The Market Remains Oversold and Unable to Rally

A late day push helped the market from closing near the lows of the session. Disappointing bottom callers the market was couldn’t rally and close into positive territory. Volume dropped from Wednesday’s level, but at this point we’ll need to see a heavy volume reversal to signal any sort of bottom. Financials helped the S&P 500 from sliding further as the XLF found support at its 200 day moving average. Despite the help from financials the market could not overcome the pressure put on by sellers. Our sell signal has been a big winner for us and we remain in our sell mode. Tomorrow’s option expiry should bring in volume, but it will be interesting to see how the VIX reacts to options expiring. At this point we have yet to see the VIX jump showing fear has crept into the market. Given we have yet to see capitulation it is hard to fathom we saw any sort of bottom today in the market. It was nice to see financials rally, but it was only one group to rally while the rest of leading stocks took a beating. We could be just around the corner from a bottom, but the real question will be is when we do bottom how deep will it be? Why trend following works very well is you do not need to know how deep or how high a market can go as an investment decision. A disciplined approach is how we are able to take advantage of the markets. Defined entries and exits takes the guess work out of deciding whether or not if you get in or out of a position. Guessing a bottom in the market is just silly and has yet to prove fruitful. The allure of catching a bottom is simply too much for some, but you’ll notice they never make it long term. Stick with a disciplined approach and Big Wave Trading. Have a great weekend and remember to cut those losses short.

Stocks Fall Again as Fed Hints at More Asset Purchases Next Year

Despite CSCO and ANF gapping higher the market could not overcome selling. Once again volume jumped on the day as Institutional Investors dumped stock on the market. We did see some movement from the VIX, but the fear index remains tame under 20. Selling picked up steam as Obama stepped up to the microphone after meeting with numerous CEOs. The market clearly didn’t appreciate what he had to say nor what came from the FOMC meeting minutes. More asset purchases were discussed for next year due as if the first three easing programs worked. Our sell signals remains and has kept us on the right side of the market despite the oversold conditions. There isn’t much this market hasn’t taken to the woodshed. Homebuilders and Financials were the two groups holding up and now they are under tremendous pressure. BAC had been holding up, but it too could not hold up under the tremendous selling pressure. XLF is now just above its 200 day, but all we see is heavy volume selling. It will take some time before XLF will repair itself. XHB sliced through its 50 day today and appears to be headed to its 200 day. We may be oversold, but there isn’t much signaling a short-term bottom. We could bounce into next week, but we aren’t seeing anything ready to support a significant move higher. Perhaps we get a Grand Bargain the market likes, but what we heard from Obama this is simply a pipe dream. Given the oversold nature of the market it wouldn’t surprise us to see the market try to bounce at these levels. We do not have a crystal ball, but given what we have seen from the market and with a tame VIX it is hard to believe we have found a floor. The June bottom came when the VIX nearly hit 30, but lead to a choppy bottom before we headed higher. Until we get capitulation and a VIX jumping it is very likely we’ll continue lower. Do not be a hero and try to pick a bottom. Leave that to Jim Cramer.

For the Second Consecutive Day the Market Closes in the Red

Another day of selling hits the markets, but at least we did not see the high volume Wednesday ushered in. The NASDAQ dove below its 200 day moving average yesterday and the S&P 500 joined the club today. While both indexes appear to be in free fall mode the VIX index closed lower on the day. Fear seems to have sidestepped this market despite the back to back days of big selling. AAPL had an epic day of selling as more than 37.5 million shares were trading with the stock closing just off the lows of the session. This type of action occurs when you have an over-owned stock being sold and it never ends well. Stocks are hinting at worse things to come and despite QE from the Federal Reserve sellers are ruling the day. Talk over the fiscal cliff is just talk as we’ll likely see the proverbial can kicked down the road. This is what politicians do best is kicking the can down the road. The issue really is how much taxes will rise. You can bet regardless of your income levels you will be paying higher taxes next year. At this point the market is simply trying to price the affect of the fiscal cliff. Spending cuts in the bill are roughly 10% of the budget deficit and not likely to be as devastating as the rise in taxes. We talk about not going over the fiscal cliff, but at some point we’ll have to pay for our debts and the longer we put it off the worse it will be. It is no surprise to us we remain in a sell signal even if we think a fiscal deal will be struck. Price and volume action remain the key in this market. We aren’t about to stick our necks out and try and pick a bottom. Yesterday’s dip buyers were hit hard today and losses are not something we enjoy seeing. Judging by the McClellan Oscillator we are in extreme oversold territory with a reading -147 for the entire market. It is not THAT extreme, but in an area where the market is capable of snapping back. A bounce here would not surprise us in the least. However, if we are to bounce we’ll need to see this market confirm a new market rally before we operate on the long side. Guessing when the market will turn would not be a disciplined approach. Perhaps a rumor of a fiscal deal would reverse the trend here, but it is anyone’s guess. We’ll continue to operate in sell mode and stay patient. Have a great weekend!

Noon Time Rally is Faded as Stocks Close off The Best Levels of the Session

The market along with the rest of the world awaits the outcome of today’s Presidential Election. Mid-Day stocks enjoyed a nice pop with volume exploding higher, but it would be all for nothing. Friday’s highs would be a big point of resistance for the market and sellers began to take over. At the end of the day the NASDAQ and S&P 500 had closed in the green but well off their best levels. Coinciding with the market rally the VIX or Fear index fell hard as investors rushed back to a “risk on trade.” The Dow Jones Industrial average lead all major market indexes with 133 point gain or up 1.02% gain. Volume was solid for gains, but the lack of ability to close near the best levels put another stain on what would have been considered a solid day. We at Big Wave Trading remain in sell mode and continue to see nothing from the market that would get us to move into buy mode. Perhaps a push above the 50 day for the S&P 500 with volume would change our tune. At this point we simply do not have enough evidence to push higher. Gold and silver along with other commodities jumped along stocks, but commodities as a whole have been beaten up so badly recently the relief rally isn’t unexpected. Two economic figures were released today, but weren’t covered by the media for obvious reasons. Coverage for most of the day was regarding the election and possible outcomes. No one person or anyone knows the future and it is entertaining to see folks continue to predict what will or won’t happen. Both economic figures were disappointing with the JOLTs Job Openings lower than expected and the ISM New York index show a contraction with a reading of 45.9. Prior reading for the ISM New York was 52.9 and when you layer on top Hurricane Sandy things will likely be worse in the coming weeks/months. At 5pm East Coast time we’ll begin to see exit polls and there will be no doubt bets made on InTrade who will win the election. Polls will close staring at 6pm and throughout the night. Let the fun begin!

NASDAQ Leads Market higher in Light Trade Ahead of Elections

Tomorrow’s Presidential and Local elections have been the dominating headline for much of the day as US Voters are set to usher in new and old leaders. The market on Friday sold the jobs report as the majority of the market closed just off the worse levels of the session. Friday’s session was quite bearish given what was to be perceived as a positive jobs report. At Friday’s close the market was in borderline oversold territory and today’s bounce appears to be a reaction to the heavy selling on Friday. Light volume ahead of tomorrow’s election is to be expected with bets not willing to be made prior to exit polling. We remain in sell mode and will continue to remain in sell mode until this market can find stable ground. Economic data was on the light side today with the ISM Non-manufacturing index was released. The service sector did expand, but at a slower pace than expected. Logically thinking would have had the market move lower, but we rallied on the news. It wasn’t until the end of the day where buyers showed up. It was on the light side as volume was well below Friday’s levels. Today’s action while in the green was not very bullish considering volume was so light. Tomorrow’s session will prove to be volatile if we begin to see exit polling contradicting the polls we have been seeing up until this point. In the end it will depend on who will come out and vote. Will it be the Democrats who outnumbered Republicans last election? Or will we see Republicans dominate the turnout? The question is why are we only stuck on a two party system? Cut your losses! Ride the trend.

Outside Reversal for the QQQs Looks Negative, but Does it Spell “DOOM?”

Friday’s action was quite bearish for the market, or was it? It is not a good thing to see the market gap higher then fall flat on its face. We’ll take a look at the QQQs to see what happens when the ETF stages an outside reversal day. Friday’s Chart: Crunching the numbers here is what stands out: The average return following the outside reversal: 1 Day – (.23%) 5 Day – .00% 20 Day – .68% 30 Day – .44% Comment: Things aren’t all that bad, right? The Best Performance: 1 Day – 10.42% 5 Day – 16.63% 20 Day – 12.12% 30 Day – 28.25% Comment: As you can see, if you go short this signal you best cut your losses REALLY FAST. The Worse Performance: 1 Day – (8.21%) 5 Day – (13.63%) 20 Day – (10.38%) 30 Day – (58.28%) Comment: When it gets bad, it can get real bad! Final Thoughts: The odds of this pattern working (short side) across the four time frames is 43%. I wouldn’t be all that excited, but remind you this analysis does not take into consideration if the QQQs was in an existing downtrend or any other special situation. This analysis is the 50,000 foot view of what happens when the market notches an outside reversal.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio remains under a SELL signal on the SP500, Nasdaq, Russell 2000, and DJIA. The NYSE switched to BUY signal yesterday and subsequently re-switched to a NEUTRAL signal by the close of today’s trading. Two words can sum up this week of trading: random, ugly. Another word many traders were using this week was confusing. While we remained under the 50 day moving average on all important (I would not consider the NYSE “important” per se) indexes, the action on Thursday had the type of move that signals a short-term low has been hit. The previous three to five sessions in the big indexes prior to Thursday indicated a market that wanted to continue to bounce. However, today completely put a wrench in that assumption. The worst part of this whipsaw move the past two days is that our short ETF positions gave a partial cover signal and our exposure was reduced at the open on the gap only to see the market sell off all day confirming the original signal. It is what it is. Now what? Well, technically, nobody knows. Still, with this kind of action in the indexes, following the already in motion sell off, it can be said that based on history the market should continue to sell off. However, based on the history of the past four years, the market should establish a low around here on very little volume and then rally to new highs on even lower volume. That has been the pathetic, but real, pattern the past four years. It’s outside of anything you can backtest on USA markets but it is what we have. Our current methodology has us in a very heavy cash position, with some current long positions still working, and a couple of hedged ETF shorts to counterbalance the longs. As these longs give final profit taking or cut loss exit signals, we will increasingly become more weighed to the short side via our ETF short positions. If we do find support here, our longs should continue to work and we will exit the ETF short positions. As for current trading opportunities we are finding very few. There are a couple of recent pumps that are in shortable positions but you can’t place large amounts of capital in these cheap pumps. There are very little to zero stocks setting up in current strong technical patterns, with proper volume characteristics, that lead to high percentage breakouts. On top of that, there continues to be no trend following signals via our trend following methodology in individual stocks. We have noticed strength in a few world stock markets, particularly singling out the South East area. It will be interesting to see if the money continues to flow into these advancing nations and out of declining nations like the United States. Follow the money. The money never lies. Price is the only truth, in a world full of professional and well-payed liars. We wish everyone a great weekend. Maybe next week we can get a more trend-friendly market. The current chop of the small trends that we do get make it nearly impossible to make any significant gains as we must position size accordingly. Aloha everyone! Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal AVD long – 120% – 1/10/12 NTE long – 59% – 8/17/12 VRNM short – 51% – 4/10/12 CAMP long – 48% – 4/26/12 MAGS short – 29% – 4/18/12 CSU long – 28% – 9/4/12 ASTM short – 25% – 7/17/12

NASDAQ Jumps off its 200 Day Moving Average in Increased Trade

Day three of the NASDAQ’s most recent attempted rally ended on a solid note with the index gaining 1.44% on increased trade. Big Wave Trading’s model has moved into neutral territory as we did see the market make solid gains. Traders in QQQs and SPYs didn’t overwhelming support the move as the ETFs showed volume come in lower. However, volume in the ETFs hasn’t mattered in determining a new market rally and today did not diverge. Banks lead by BAC continue to act well in this market and continue to get support from the Fed. Diverging from the market rally were Gold and Silver closing the day lower. Tomorrow’s job report is the highlight of the week and surely be a big focus for market pundits. The NASDAQ put in an impressive move today. Suffering on the day was the VIX or fear index. Even during the decline fear never picked up to the point where you would say investors aren’t fearing any decline in the market. Volatility ETFs were once again slammed and continue to show themselves as a very difficult trading vehicle. But, now the market will have to deal with the jobs report tomorrow and election on Tuesday. In the after-hours session plenty of stocks are moving higher. MELI and FSLR weren’t as fortunate as PCLN, LNKD, FOSL, and SBUX. Many of these stocks have been beaten up since the summer time. LNKD continues to trade higher despite sporting a PE near 200! Remember, CSCO in the 90s had an astronomically high PE and was a huge winner. PE only matters on the way down and not when the stock is moving higher. Remember, price will dictate your actions not where the PE trades. Many growth stocks are given high PE ratios by traders. It is when supply and demand deteriorates to a point where the stocks falls hard. It is only then when the PE was too high. We’ll see what tomorrow brings for these stocks, but they are performing well in the after-hours session. We are no longer in oversold territory after today’s move. We are back to neutral in our model and will await a confirmation day. Friday represent day 4 of an attempted rally for the market. Remember, cut your losses. CORRECTION: WE REMAIN UNDER A HARD SELL SIGNAL ON THE DJIA/SP500 BUT ARE NEUTRAL ON THE NASDAQ, RUSSELL 2000, AND NYSE. OVERALL, WE ARE NEUTRAL, WITH A TINY HEDGE REMAINING IN THE SPY/DIA. WE WILL DELETE THIS SMALL REMAINING HEDGE IF WE SUBSEQUENTLY CLOSE HIGHER ON FRIDAY.

Markets Resume Trading after Sandy Ripped Through the East Coast

Two days of trading were lost due to the storm, but the aftermath for many remains a daunting task. We at Big Wave Trading hope those who were affected by Sandy return to a sense of normalcy soon. The Russell 2000 led all market gains today, but was the lone bright spot in the market. AAPL’s management shake up weighed heavily on the stock as it dragged down the technology heavy NASDAQ with it. At the open stocks enjoyed a lift, but it was a negative Chicago PMI figure that soured the mood of the market. PMI figures showed a contraction for the first time since late 2008 as many continue to fear the fiscal cliff. Big Wave Trading is still under a sell signal and today’s market did very little to help reverse our course of action. Price and volume are not favorable here and until it improves we’ll continue to operate under our sell signal. All eyes will be on the ADP and jobless claims report tomorrow. Friday’s non-farm payroll figure is set to be released and it will be an important to Romney and Obama. Gary Johnson the Libertarian candidate can too use this to show under freedom and his leadership we would be able to build a more stable system. For Romney and Obama it will be a fight over the same system we have in place today. Of course, the mainstream media will do its best to spin it positively for Obama while Fox News will do the same for Romney. In the end, we care about our leading stocks and market direction. As the market goes we shall go too. The leading sectors today were the utilities, consumer goods, and financials. Oil and gas along with Technology stocks were the groups weighing on the S&P 500. Financials continue to be the stocks leading this market and we aren’t surprised. How can you not do well when you have a buyer willing to pay top dollar for a junk asset? Continue to keep an eye out for emerging winners because this market can snap back on a dime. It is good to be back in the saddle. Cut your losses short.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading portfolio remains under a SELL signal that was triggered on 10/19/12. It was another down week for the overall stock market and it was another above average weekly volume sell off for the Nasdaq composite. This now brings the total of above average volume weeks on the downside this year to 6 vs. 0 up weeks on above average volume. Despite the constant distribution that we have seen the past four years, it simply has not mattered as we are in a QEn environment. This means that despite the weak action in the overall market, and stocks following earnings lately, it would be unwise to assume that the next rally attempt, if it does come on lower volume, will fail. We have seen time and time again how higher volume sell offs are supported around the 200 day moving averages on lower volume and then the next thing you know we are hitting new highs on below average volume. Therefore, despite being under a SELL signal with short positions in the DJIA and SP500, we have an overall neutral/cash bias at Big Wave Trading across the board. We are prepared for the market to find support here and rally and we are ready for the magic bullet of QE to finally run out of firepower. Either way, we are ready. The most telling issue in this downtrend is two fold, for us. One, we still have long positions that were initiated in the previous uptrend that continue to trend higher above key short-term and long-term moving averages. If more of our longs were outright breaking down on huge volume, we would be more “worried” about falling prices. Second, we continue to receive zero extremely high reward/low risk ratio short signals. Without these “screaming” shorts, we find it best to stay neutral on the overall downtrend taking only the 50 DMA trend following signals in the market indexes. Since June we have not had a single stock produce what we would call a 10 out of 10 long or short signal. The new signals that generate, since June, have at best been a 7 or an 8 out of 10. This is not terribly surprising considering the magnitude of this artificial low volume stock market rally the past four years. However, it is annoying as it prevents us from making any substantial money to the upside. Until we receive these “near-perfect” signals, we will continue to operate on a shoestring basis giving preference to trend following signals in high priced stocks, extremely high quality CANSLIM stocks, and index ETFs that trade significant volume. If the market finds support around the 200 day moving averages of the major indexes and we can rally back above the 50 day moving average, obviously the SELL signal will be negated and we will be back looking to operate on the long side. However, until we start to rally on higher volume, sell off on lower volume and then rally on higher volume, on the market indexes, there is no way we will even think about increasing our size. That is unless that 10 out of 10 shows up but it is hard to believe they will when the overall market’s volume is artificial. Low volume rallies followed by heavy volume sell offs that are then followed by more low volume rallies do not produce the quality chart patterns that we require (along with growth in the fundamentals) before going heavily long in any one position. For now, we remain under a SELL signal and will operate accordingly. Cash is king, right now, for those with a time horizon longer than one day. Aloha and have a wonderful weekend everyone! Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal AVD long – 143% – 1/10/12 NTE long – 59% – 8/17/12 CAMP long – 56% – 4/26/12 VRNM short – 46% – 4/10/12 MAGS short – 30% – 4/18/12 HEB short – 29% – 9/24/12 CSU long – 29% – 9/4/12 SHF long – 28% – 8/1/12 TAYC long – 26% – 6/15/12 ASTM short – 26% – 7/17/12

Stocks Close off the Highs but in the Green as AAPL and AMZN report Earnings

Another day and another rally attempt failing to hold the morning gains as stocks close just off the lows of the session. Oversold conditions can produce multi-day rallies, but today ahead of AAPL and AMZN the market was unable to hang onto gains. Jobless claims and new home sales weren’t overly inspiring, but weren’t awful either. During the session as stocks sold off a rumor surfaced Fitch was about to downgrade the United States, but was untrue. How this country will pay off this debt without making a sacrifice is beyond me. How any agency would have our debt rated AAA is baffling. At the end of the day the market as able to close in positive territory, but tomorrow’s GDP report looms over the market. During the after-hours session the two big stocks the market was looking at was AAPL and AMZN. Both stocks have taken a beating prior to their earnings report. First up was AMZN and at one point was down below 208 a share. It closed the after-hours session above 220. The move off the lows of the after-hours was quite interesting considering AMZN continues to disappoint. AAPL reported earnings and the reaction to the news was less dramatic than AMZN. Whether or not we feel the earnings was bad or good tomorrow’s reaction will be the most important piece for us. Tomorrow’s GDP report will be the highlight of CNBC’s morning. There will be no doubt an endless discussion on what it means for the market and of course the economy. Remember, one week from tomorrow we’ll get the October jobs report. Third quarter GDP is expected to be around 1.8% any number not reaching that potential will be a big disappointment. One can conclude a bad number would be bad for the market, but we know this may not be the case with the Federal Reserve printing money. How the market reacts tomorrow will be very important. As of late, earnings have not been too kind to many stocks and we continue to see a lot of Revenue misses. Earnings are easily “gamed” whereas revenues are not. There were many who were expecting big moves out of AAPL and AMZN. EXPE and PCLN made the big moves higher! Earnings continue to produce wild moves! Stay disciplined and have a great weekend.

The Fedral Reserve Rate Announcement Fails to Lift Stocks

There wasn’t much anticipated from the Federal Reserve today, but there was hope something may hit the wires impressing the market. New Home sales were slightly better than expected reaching a new high. However, nothing impressed the market at all and was unable to hold the morning gains. It is pretty pathetic when the market is unable to hold gains for one day. We remain very weak and in a sell signal and technology earnings continue to disappoint. Despite Buffett’s cheer leading for buying on the dip we continue to remain in weak price action. The fiscal cliff is just one issue facing this country. Many will point to the spending cuts and tax increases causing short-term pain for a fragile economy. However, the short-term view versus long-term view should be discussed. How long can we kick the proverbial can down the road? At some point we’ll need to have revenues exceed expenditures to pay off the debt and it won’t be fun. Another issue is capital expenditures or CAPEX. CAPEX spending continues to decline as the view of the future continues to be clouded. Firms are not spending their cash because they have zero visibility due to the current market environment. The Consumer is still deleveraging and corporations aren’t spending will not spell out a pretty picture for profits. Volume ended the day higher on the NASDAQ as the index continues to struggle. On the bright side of things the index remains above its 200 day moving average. Tomorrow the index will have two big components report: AAPL and AMZN. Both stocks do not look healthy at the moment and have pulled back from recent highs. We are not about to guess how these two stocks will react, but we do know when they do will affect the NASDAQ in a big way. AAPL is one of the most over-owned stocks. Many mutual funds and portfolios in general have large positions in the stock (12-13%). The exit door will be mighty crowded if holders begin to flee. Tomorrow is a new day, but what we know now is a very weak market action in the 4th year of a bull market (March ’09 – Now). Cash is king.

Dow and S&P 500 Lead Stocks Lower as NASDAQ Finds 200 Day Support

More selling hits the street despite yesterday’s end of day rally. The 200 day provided the NASDAQ with some support, but the index failed to put in a big turn around day. Earnings continue to pour in and are only helping a few stocks. FB reported after-hours and is seeing a rush of buyers into the stock, but FB is not the norm. Volatility spiked closing above its 200 day moving average for the first time since the beginning of June when our most recent rally began. Fear has once again crept back into the market, but we lack the panic we normally see in a market bottom. Price action continues to be weak with volume still big on the downside and we remain in sell mode. Earnings season has crushed many growth stocks, but they continue to pile up. BWLD is just another victim to the earnings disaster. FB and PNRA are two bright spots, but they are the exception to the rule. NFLX was hit hard again in after-hours as the company failed to reach its user target. The stock had seen some life, but for a little over a year has been taken to the woodshed. CMG is in the same camp. The ultimate growth stock AAPL reports on Thursday and after failing to rally after its announcement of the iPad mini Thursday’s report will be important to the stock. AAPL has touched its 200 day, but has yet to top out since the 2009 bottom. More than 3 years later the stock has had a tremendous run and Thursday we’ll see if the stock can find the juice to resume hitting new highs. Commodities continue to pull back as crude oil briefly hit an 85 handle on the day. Gold and silver continue to pullback after their run up from the announcement of QE 3 or what we call QE forever. The market has now pulled back roughly 6% (NASDAQ) from the QE announcement. The market dropped roughly 3.5% from its peak from the QE2 announcement. At the moment we have support at the 200 day for the NASDAQ while the S&P 500 has yet to reach its 200 day. The election is two weeks away and it is bound to have an affect on the market. The most recent pullback has not been kind to leading stocks and it appears we’ll see this continue given the reaction to earnings as of now. Have a plan and trade. Cut losses and ride your winners. Volatility is finally showing some fear in the market and will at some point signal a possible bottom. Cash is king for now.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

THE COLUMN BELOW WAS A PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP COLUMN PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY FOR BIG WAVE TRADING MEMBERS. ANALYSIS SPECIFIC TO TRADING POSITIONS HAS BEEN REMOVED. Happy anniversary of the October 19, 1987 crash everyone!! Well, well, well. It sure was an interesting day to say the least. Today’s option expiration was nothing short of exciting as stocks sold off on heavy above-average higher-than-the-day-before volume. Stocks and stock indexes didn’t just sell off, they cratered. The weakness in the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 finally spread over today into the SP 500 and DJIA thrusting all four major indexes into a SELL signal on our market trending model. The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 were currently under a NEUTRAL signal and the SP 500 and DJIA were under a BUY signal but today’s sell off was confirmed everyone thus switching everything into a SELL. It doesn’t matter where you look. The indexes, futures, the options chain, ETFs, or inverse ETFs. Wherever you look, volume exploded higher. What didn’t explode higher but finally moved was VIX. VIX has finally begun moving in the direction those of us at Big Wave Trading believed it should have started moving in on 9/25. While the move came on convincing volume, and the CBOE reported the highest weekly trading volume ever in VIX futures, a BUY signal was not triggered in VXX/UVXY/TVIX. [MEMBERS CONTENT ONLY]. [MEMBERS CONTENT ONLY]. Getting back to the overall market, it was the fifth time this year that the Nasdaq has closed lower for the week on above average 50-week volume. As just mentioned, this now makes it five times that this has happened versus 0 times the Nasdaq has closed higher on above average 50-week volume. 5 – 0. For the year, the NYSE is actually up 1 vs. 0 times down. But the NYSE is not where you find your dynamic exciting technology based growth stocks. Those are found on the Nasdaq and Russell 2000. When you consider the volume pattern of the Nasdaq and then take a look at the recent slope of the Relative Strength line of the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 compared to the SP 500 you can see that we have a potential problem brewing here. The Relative Strength line of the Nasdaq is simply imploding here nearing the December 2011 levels. Meanwhile, price is nowhere near those lows. If this trend continues, watch out! The Nasdaq and Russell 2000, in healthy uptrends, lead the market. The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 start to lag the NYSE when a rally is on its last legs. The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 lead the market down when a downtrend is starting in the stock market. What stage are we in now? You are correct. This obviously means that now is the time to be cautious. This is especially the case when you look at the recent action in AAPL, GOOG, AMZN, PCLN, and LULU. After taking a look at those, take a look at the big giant bellweathers like IBM, INTC, MSFT, SBUX, MCD, and GE. Notice the same bearish action? Then take a look at your leading biotech stocks like ALXN, BIIB, VRTX, and PCYC. Is there anything surviving? Of course. The bank stocks like GS, BAC, and JPM are acting like there is nothing wrong and of course for the master criminals that run these banks and the USA there is not. On top of that, they need to make sure real estate prices go up so that all their real estate holdings continue to make them wealthier and wealthier (If these sociopaths CREATED their own businesses this would not be a problem. They didn’t.) on the backs of the middle class. On that note the XHB is fine. HOV, TOL, PHM, BZH, MTH, MHO, LEN, KBH, etc. all look like they were completely oblivious to the carnage gripping the market today. If you see the big banks (KBE) and home builders (XHB) start to roll over, then you can be sure this uptrend is finished. To me, it already is, as I follow the Nasdaq/Russell 2000 as market leaders. However, if these stocks continue to rally, show no damage, and we begin to find a floor to this selling, I would expect that the uptrend could definitely continue. I mean, it is a Fed based QE driven stock market. When stocks sell off, they step up to make sure their jobs are safe for now. I am sure one day this will stop working. Until then, the theme don’t fight the fed still rings loud and true. No one can predict the future in the stock market. I will not try to either. While it looks like we are about to crack wide open, we could easily find support and rally higher on no volume. Hell, we did it in 2009, we did it in 2010, we did it in 2011, and we did it earlier this year in 2012. Why not a fifth time? [MEMBERS CONTENT ONLY]. [MEMBERS CONTENT ONLY]. It looks ugly but it has looked ugly before. Let’s see what happens next week. Have a great weekend everyone. Aloha. [MEMBERS CONTENT ONLY]. Top Current Holdings – Percent Gain – Date of Signal AVD long – 139% – 1/10/12 NTE long – 62% – 8/17/12 CAMP long – 59% – 4/26/12 CLGX long – 52% – 6/19/12 SVNT long – 44% – 9/10/12 VRNM short – 39% – 4/10/12 CSU long – 32% – 9/4/12 MAGS short – 31% – 4/18/12 SHF long – 28% – 8/1/12 ASTM short – 26% – 7/17/12 HEB short – 25% – 9/24/12

S&P 500 Adds to Gains as Volume Rises Across The Board

IBM weighed heavily on the Dow Jones Industrial Average today helping keep the index in negative territory while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ close in the green. Volume on the exchanges was heavier across the board thanks to earnings trading from INTC and IBM. Both stocks were able to find buyers, but failed to get back into positive territory. More trouble for leading growth stocks in the after-hours session with MLNX and ALGN disappointing the street. Banks and homebuilders continue to be the leading sectors of this market in our new uptrend. We have mentioned before with the Federal Reserve propping up the mortgage market thru its mortgage backed QE forever program it is going to help the banks and homebuilders. While this may be good for banks and homebuilders leading growth stocks continue to get hurt. MLNX and ALGN are just two examples where growth stocks are simply not in favor in this market. AAPL a bellwether growth stock remains below its 50 day moving average. A new iPad Mini may help sales, but for now buyers aren’t jumping head over heels for the stock. QE trading is supposed to lift all boats, but for now just the banks are benefiting from the program. Today marked day 3 of an attempted rally. BWT Model is back in buy mode after Monday and Tuesday’s action, but for those who follow IBD methods we have yet to confirm a new uptrend. Thursday will mark Day 4 when we would see the market confirm a new rally. We’ll need to see volume swell above the previous day and strong price action. Despite the lack of IBD confirmation we are paying close attention to the stocks that are leading. Leading growth stocks are having their trouble here and it is a sign slower growth is upon us. Stick with stocks that are leading.

NASDAQ Closes Positive for the Second Straight Day as Big Tech Disappoints in After-Hours Trading

Back-to-back Accumulation Days has the Big Wave Trading model switch back to BUY mode. The NASDAQ still remains below the 50 day moving average, but the S&P 500 continues to act strong on the back of bank earnings. Technology earnings are now in focus and during the after-hours session INTC and IBM reported earnings disappointing the street. Both stocks will be putting pressure on the market during tomorrow’s action and it will be important to see how both stocks respond tomorrow. Given the past few days price action is strong and what we needed to see this market to move back higher. Tomorrow can bring on a different market and it is why we have a stop loss strategy. We cannot blindly go long or short without knowing our exits. Risk control is a must as tomorrow may bring on intense selling, but there is no way for anyone to know what tomorrow will bring. Of course there are many opinions, but are these opinions always right? What happens when your opinions are wrong? A disciplined mechanical approach to the market is far better than forming an opinion and trading by the seat of your pants. Earnings season continues to benefit banks and with support from the Federal Reserve it shouldn’t surprise those many banks are reporting good earnings. INTC and IBM were hit hard today along with APOL and ISRG. INTC had previously warned and it couldn’t impress the street with the previous warning. As we move forward with earnings expect a bit more volatility as companies report. Be aware of when your stocks are set to report. Know where your exits are and make sure you are using proper position sizing. Cut your losses short and we’ll see if this market can build upon Monday and Tuesday’s action.

NASDAQ Breaks Six Day Losing Streak; C Jumps more than 5% on Earnings

The market finally bounces from oversold conditions as volume ends mixed. Volume rose on the NYSE and NASDAQ exchanges, but SPY and QQQ volume remained light. Retail sales jumped more than expected helping set the tone early on. Sellers got the upper hand on the NASDAQ, but were quickly turned away as stocks zoomed higher into the close. Price gains were solid and although we did not see the overwhelming volume associated with institutions supporting the market. Today was day one of a new attempted rally on the NASDAQ lead by banks. Banks lead the market today on the back of Citbank’s earnings with the stock gaining 5.5% during the market session. WFC continues to suffer from its earnings report, but other big banks continue to act well ahead of earnings. GS, BAC, and JPM continue to act well and are poised to move higher. When the Federal Reserve will be buying mortgage securities from Banks it is hard to fathom the Federal Reserve will pay anything but the highest price possible. So far, the only group to benefit from QE Forever will be the big money center banks selling mortgage securities back to the Federal Reserve. We were bound to bounce from the selling we saw from last week. The NASDAQ was down 6 days straight and it is quite normal to see the market rebound. There is no way to know whether or not this will turn into a new uptrend or a one day wonder. We’ll need to see confirmation of a move higher before we get excited over one day’s action. We remain in neutral mode and until price action and leading stocks say anything different we’ll remain neutral. There is just 22 days left to the election is over and it cannot come soon enough. As soon as the election ends the fiscal cliff topic will be one in focus and one the market will grapple with and hopefully produce a trend. Today concluded day one of an attempted rally and we’ll be waiting for confirmation one way or another.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio is currently under a NEUTRAL condition. The model switched from BUY to NEUTRAL on Tuesday due to the Nasdaq closing below the 50 day moving average on average volume. Our model expected this switch to occur after Apple (AAPL) closed below the 50 day moving average on strong volume on Friday October 5th. On September 24th Apple began to sell off on above average volume and continued to do so for another four sessions before finally breaking down on October 5th. Another problem we started to also notice was the overall lagging of the Nasdaq’s Relative Strength line compared to the SP-500′s Relative Strength line. While the Nasdaq was breaking out to new highs in September, its RS line was severely lagging no where near its previous March highs. In recent weeks we have seen the Nasdaq’s RS line simply implode compared to the overall market. This RS lag is even more severe in the Russell 2000 full of vibrant young growth stocks. This RS lag is overall problematic for a variety of reasons. You normally want to see new exciting growth companies and revolutionary technology companies lead a market. Not stodgy old safe dividend producing large capitalization stocks. While a trend is a trend, the strength of a trend is directly correlated to what type of stocks are leading a market. Another problem we have witnessed during this switch to NEUTRAL is that we have not seen a rotation from the leading growth stocks that have come under some intense recent selling into new leading growth stocks. On top of that, we noticed that WFC and JPM are putting in low-volume breakout high-volume fakeout reversal moves. GS and BAC appear to want to do this too. As the rulers of the world go, so will go the stock market. If the Lords of Finance sell off, the market is going to sell off. So we have a market under heavy distribution, leading stocks like AAPL and PCLN possibly rolling over, banks (KBE KRE) putting in breakout fakeout moves, and an extremely low VIX on top of all of this. What does all this point to? A high probability that we will enter into a SELL signal at some point and will begin to rework the short side/long put side of the market. However! However. There is always the Fed and Ben Bernanke. They have already intervened during every single one of the last market pullbacks. What is to say this will not be any different? They have already screwed the poor and middle class over with their “zero-percent-CDs-forever-policy,” allowing the folks that do not have time to invest in the markets no chance what-so-ever to get ahead. They have already bailed out failing corporations effectively killing free markets. They have continued to print worthless dollar bills at the push of a button for years now, effectively destroying its purchasing power thus causing massive inflation that hurts the folks that can’t save money in the first place due to the low interest rates. So do we think that an actual prolonged downtrend will start thus allowing a new fresh crisp batch of leaders to rise from the ashes when the market is ready to move higher again? Nope. We sure don’t. We can only hope that one day the Fed decides to let the market do what the market needs to do but we are not going to hold our breaths. The first area of support we are looking at is the 200 day moving averages on all leading market indexes. The bottom line, for right now, and I mean right now, is that we are NEUTRAL. We will take long and short signals as they arise. We are extremely picky here and if it is not perfect or near perfect for the reason we want to conduct the trade, we will not take the trade. On a final note, speaking of perfect, we did not have one technical/fundamental or even technical alone “perfect” chart setup during the entire uptrend from June to September. This was the first time since the 2009 uptrend which only produced CANSLIM quality long signals and zero “perfect” CANSLIM/”perfect” chart signals. To me that tells me all I need to know about the quality of the uptrend itself. Aloha everyone and have a wonderful and profitable week. Top Current Holdings – Percent Return- Date of Signal AVD long – 136% – 1/10/12 CAMP long – 61% – 4/26/12 NTE long – 57% – 8/17/12 SVNT long – 53% – 9/10/12 CLGX long – 53% – 6/19/12 VRNM short – 39% – 4/10/12 PRXI short – 37% – 3/30/12 SHF long – 35% – 8/1/12 MAGS short – 31% – 4/18/12 CSU long – 30% – 9/4/12 ASTM short – 25% – 7/17/12

Morning Gains are Erased as Buyers Continue to Stay Away

A much better jobless claims figure helped set the early tone of the market. Unfortunately, it would not last as sellers continued their relentless pursuit. It certainly didn’t help that reports of the jobless claim figure being falsified by a large state not reporting its quarterly figures. At any rate what is important is how this market is acting and how weak leaders are performing. Is it finally AAPL’s time to undergo a big correction? Time will tell, but what we are seeing now is some big league weakness. Heading into the weekend it will be interesting to see how we close this troubling week. AAPL is a big concern due to its overall size in the market not to mention its weighting in mutual funds. Growth funds have feasted on AAPL and who can blame them with its ability to produce. However, with the stock over-owned and a LARGE part of numerous portfolios any correction could bring on disaster for those left holding onto AAPL. While the company may be cheap to growth when sellers want out the flood gates will open and when they do look out. The VIX continues to remain suppressed showing the market really isn’t fearful here. Perhaps many still believe QE forever will save stocks. This is where we get SOS – Save Our Stocks program from the Federal Reserve. There are still many market pundits hoping for the S&P 500 to finish the year above 1500 topping out at 1550 for the year. Bullishness among II survey respondents continues to be very high and with bears nearly extinct. It is easy to see why the VIX remains around the 16 level as market participants are very bullish without fear. We are no longer in an uptrend and must be vigilant by staying nimble and cash heavy. If this market turns around we’ll go with it, but for now we are in dangerous territory. Have a great ending to this week and enjoy the weekend!

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

There will not be a weekend update this week. We apologize for the inconvenience. Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal AVD long – 145% – 1/10/12 CAMP long – 72% – 4/26/12 SVNT long – 61% – 9/10/12 NTE long – 60% – 8/17/12 CLGX long – 58% – 6/19/12 VRNM short – 36% – 4/10/12 PRXI short – 36% – 3/30/12 SHF long – 35% – 8/1/12 CSU long – 30% – 9/4/12 MAGS short – 28% – 4/18/12

A Lackluster Final Hour as Stocks Settle in Prior to Friday’s Non-Farm Payrolls

Stocks got a positive boost off the first Presidential debate, but for technology stocks it wouldn’t’ be enough. Financials continue to be leading stocks in this market and today once again the group leads the market. But, once again the market is looking ahead to Friday’s job market. In the final hour buyers stepped up and began to push the market above the morning lows. Unfortunately for longs it wouldn’t last as stocks pulled back into the close. Tomorrow’s Non-Farm Payrolls will be the talk of the town and how the market reacts will be what we’ll be focused on. Volume ended the day mixed with volume on the NASDAQ coming in lower. Technology stocks continue to lag the broader market despite GOOG hitting another fresh new high. Banks have been the leading stocks as they will be the greatest beneficiary from the Federal Reserve’s mortgage-backed security purchase program. The Federal Reserve will be purchasing less than high quality securities from Banks improving the quality of assets on balance sheets. It is almost a no-brainer these stocks will benefit from the program. While we would love for the NASDAQ to lead this market given the situation we’ll more than likely to see the S&P 500 as our leader. Stick on leadership and leave the laggards for the birds. Tomorrow will likely be a big day for the markets. Let the fireworks begin at 8:30am EST! Have a great weekend.

AAPL leads the NASDAQ Higher as Volume Expands; Crude Sinks

Heading into the first debate of the 2012 Presidential Campaign was led by the NASDAQ despite a faltering Semi-Conductor sector. Small cap stocks struggled as well with the Russell 2000 closing down 20 basis points. Volume expanded on the day, but with back to back days of subpar volume on Monday and Tuesday it was inevitable volume was going to increase. This morning’s ADP Employment change report showed 162,000 jobs were add in the month of September coming in slightly above expectations. In addition to the ADP report, a better than expected ISM Non-Manufacturing reading showed the service sector expanding in September. Not terrible news from the economy, but focusing on the price action we saw the market notch a day of accumulation. We still have not broken out from our recent trading range, but price action continues to be favorable to bulls in this uptrend. It appears the market is waiting on the debate tonight and Friday’s job report. Friday’s jobs report will more than likely disappoint not because of we don’t like the current administration, but the past few reports have been disappointing. In any instance other than the unemployment rate falling below 7% the Federal Reserve stock market put will more than likely dampen any bearishness related to the report. Anything is possible in QE trading. Look at crude falling more than four points today. Commodities are perceived as a good investment with the Federal Reserve printing presses running at full tilt. So while conventional thinking is a fun cocktail party discussion only price matters in the market. Whatever the market will bring we are going to be prepared. Tomorrow at 2 pm we’ll get the minutes from the latest FOMC meeting where Ben Bernanke announced QE3. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to what the FOMC discussed during the meeting. Tomorrow should be a fun day with the market reacting to the first debate as well as the FOMC meeting minutes. Who knows we may even get a Spain bailout rumor. There is always something the chew on when it comes down to this market. Actions however, are governed by the price movement of our stocks. Enjoy the debates, but remember to cut your losses and there are other candidates then just Obama and Romney.

Late Day Rally lifts Stocks off the Lows of the Session

The markets experienced a low volume session ahead of tomorrow’s economic data. ADP Employment and ISM Non-Manufacturing index are set to hit the wires tomorrow morning. For much of the day’s session sellers had control over the market as AAPL touched its 50 day moving average. While the market as not heading for a day of distribution price action was not looking too kind. A close at the lows would have been on the bearish side of things, but the late surge by buyers helped take the bearish tint off the market. This uptrend continues to remain intact and our current consolidation continues. Aside from tomorrow’s economic reports is the first of a few presidential debates. At the moment, according to InTrade Obama will be the next President of the United States. We can debate polls, but money speaks and it is saying Obama wins in November. Tomorrow night’s debate may very well solidify Obama’s lead or swing the vote to Romney and it will be interesting to see how the market trades off the debate. For those who believe a Romney victory will lead to a rally do not count your chickens before they hatch. Anything is possible and opinions are often wrong. Capping the week off will be Friday’s job report. Given the weak PMI figures and uninspiring economic data it is hard to believe the economy has grown enough jobs to make a difference. On the surface we’ll get a peak at what the government calls unemployment. Real unemployment is much too scary of a number to report so we get an adjusted figure from our government. The Federal Reserve has now pegged Quantitative Easing infinity to the jobless rate and now this figure has become even more watched. Is it important, perhaps, but to for our purposes it always boils down to price and leading stocks. The Federal Reserve is here to stay and print, but it all comes back to whether or not we are in an uptrend or downtrend. After a quiet two days to start the week perhaps we’ll get a bit more action tomorrow. Keep those losses small.

The 4th Quarter Starts in Lackluster Fashion

NASDAQ 100 stocks lagged the broader market lead by MSFT and AAPL as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000 were able to close in the green. Volume ended the day lower than Friday’s inflated figures from end-of-the-month rebalancing. Overall the session wasn’t that inspiring, but it wasn’t entirely awful. Early on in the session optimism ran high with positive news from the ISM Manufacturing Index report showing the sector expanded when expectations were for it to slow. Price paid were a bit higher, but weren’t alarmingly higher. The close was decent with buyers stepping up and lifting the markets avoiding closing on the lows. Our uptrend remains with very little distribution piling up despite the bearish opinions of the market. Today’s reversal is not what you want to see from the market. Last year, however, the first day of October was not that great either. Even the second day, 10/4/2011 at 3pm looked dire until we got a rumor of a new bailout for Europe. While things may look dire now you just never know what the market will hand you the next day. Guessing where the market will be next is not a recipe for success and continues to keep traders from maximizing potential gains. Stick to a disciplined approach and play the odds rather than simply guessing. The election is not far a way at all! It will be nice to get away from the constant stream of political ads and banter. However, for this market it does appear we are looking like an Obama victory. We can debate polling tactics and have yet to have a debate, but there is one thing that is certain: no one knows where the market is going. Will Obama help the US avoid the mandatory spending cuts and tax hikes? Will Romney? Will either candidate get our fiscal house in order? It is very doubtful either candidate will resist the urge to spend and inflate the deficit higher. Then again, the Federal Reserve is pumping $40 billion a month into mortgage backed securities and it won’t matter. In the end, focusing on leading stocks and their price action is the way to go. Leave the guess work to others. We aren’t off to the best start to the quarter, but it could be far worse. Cut those losses.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio remains under a BUY signal from August 3rd, following the past week’s market pullback. The pullback was overall orderly with only Tuesday being a session of concern. The fact that there were many stocks that made big moves following that session and that the market did not follow through immediately with the selling shows that the uptrend remains intact and in solid shape. Despite the low VIX and high % of bulls to bears in the Investors Intelligence survey, the atmosphere remains overall toxic. Individual investors based on the AAII survey and the real-time Finviz survey continue to point to a public that is overall skeptic to bearish. The crowd is definitely not overall bullish. At best, it can be said that sentiment data points remain mixed. What doesn’t remain mixed is price. Price is still trending higher on all time frames except the most short-term. If we get another distribution day or two, we might have some more short-term problems. However, the action in individual stocks in regards to long-term base structures, along with stocks already hitting new highs, indicates that the market might want to trend higher for a bit. I just would not expect any kind of explosive gains. Especially when the macro picture is at best not bad. 1% to 2% GDP growth is never going to light the fire underneath a country’s stock market. For now, we will stick with this slow uptrend that is still not offering any what we would classify as “perfect” or even “near perfect” long signals. Trend following big priced stocks that trade a ton of volume by buying in the money options with low implied volatility as they cross above and below whatever moving average one uses continues to be a superior methodology compared to the once extremely profitable tried and true combination CANSLIM/momentum methodology. Aloha everyone and I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal AVD long – 141% – 1/10/12 SVNT long – 70% – 9/10/12 NTE long – 61% – 8/17/12 CLGX long – 52% – 6/19/12 CAMP long – 46% – 4/26/12 VRNM short – 35% – 4/10/12 SHF long – 34% – 8/1/12 PRXI short – 33% – 3/30/12 MAGS short – 28% – 4/18/12 STX long – 25% – 6/29/12

Stocks Finish of the Lows of the Day as Volume ends Mixed

Stocks continue to struggle with the Fed’s Quantitative Easing hangover as the S&P 500 and NYSE Composite get hit with a day of distribution. Sellers got to work again pushing stocks lower in the morning session. Riots in Europe certainly did not help ease any fears traders have over the economic conditions in Europe. At today’s lows the market returned to the same levels the market was at prior to the Fed’s announcement of Quantitative Easing infinity. While we closed off the lows of the session there wasn’t much to cheer about. A few leading stocks were able to hold their gains, but we’ll need to see buyers step up. Our uptrend is still intact and under pressure. We do not have a pile up of distribution where we’d normally see during a topping market. Today’s distribution on the NYSE and S&P 500 weren’t MAJOR distribution days. In fact, volume just snuck higher. In addition, now with the market at these levels we are quite oversold. McClellan oscillator is not sitting at -200 (T2106 ticker on TeleChart). Conditions can always worsen, but we are at a level where we normally see the market bounce. Add in we only have two days left in the month there is always the possibility of the market window dressing its gains. It will be interesting to see how sentiment has shifted post Fed easing. AAII sentiment has favored the bulls, but last week’s reading pinned the bulls at 38% and bears at 34%. Not overly bullish or bearish. However the II survey had been quite bullish. Sentiment is a tricky indicator, but at extreme points it becomes an excellent talking point. A few stocks like FTNT, SWI, and GNC who were setting up as leaders continued to see sellers today. ELLI has been a tremendous winner and at one point was down more than 7%. This type of action in leaders normally is a bad thing for the overall market. However, we are in QE land where normal is anything but. Given the lack of distribution and oversold conditions this uptrend may still have something left. Great news, the NFL referees may be back! Perhaps the NFL should have listen to one of the golden rules, cut your losses short!!!

Riots Breakout in Spain as Distribution Hits Stocks

Heavy volume selling struck the market down marking a day of distribution. One day of a heavy volume selling does not break an uptrend, but this one grabbed our attention. The day started off well with the market pushing to the highs of the session prior to noon time. Just as it appeared we were ready to take off to new highs sellers jumped on the opportunity to push stocks lower. Just as the sellers got going riots broke out in Spain over their economic issues. Fear continued to grow and sellers continued their operations right until the close. Volume ended the day nearly 20% higher than Monday’s level and with the price declines notched a day of distribution. Our uptrend is under pressure, but one day doesn’t change a trend. Since the announcement of QE infinity or QEn the market has been consolidating the gains. The consolidation was going very well up until today’s action. A day of distribution here or there is okay, but when it comes with this type of price decline we must be on alert. Even a quick 5% correction can see leading stocks getting blown out of the water. It is important we take our signals and when sells are triggered we execute. Hanging on to hope is no way to be in the market. Yes, we have QE, but will it overcome the economic troubles? Can this market continue to push higher? The $64,000 question only price will answer. One day does not make a trend, but a collection of distribution days will not be a good signal for the market. Leading stocks have already begun to move lower and today was no exceptions. Stocks setting up in bases like GNC have suffered some nasty selling. The market will need to stabilize and move higher otherwise we can expect this market to correct deeper than 3-5%. It is anyone’s guess if today was a fluke or not, but this uptrend is under a bit of pressure. Stick to your signals and always cut your losses short.

Monday’s Continue to be Tough on Stocks as the Market Close in the Red

The story of this uptrend has been Mondays closing lower. Volume was lower today, but even with Friday’s volume today’s trade was quite light. On the face of it we do have a market continuing to consolidate its Fed induced rally. Friday’s session saw sellers knock down the early rally and they were able to continue their operations today. Growth stocks as well as technology stocks saw the brunt of the sellers operation. GOOG escaped their wrath, but on the whole growth stocks were the ones under quite a bit of pressure. We continue to escape distribution, but we haven’t seen the push from growth stocks we normally see here. Many are close to breakouts, but as time progresses we’ll need to see them lead the market higher. There is still quite a bit of talk over the fiscal cliff and continued European worries. Europe’s woes will not be solved here any time soon. Deleveraging takes time if the masses are not able to withstand the pain needed for a quick recovery. The same goes for the United States. With Obama in the lead and the Democrats looking like they’ll take the senate it appears we won’t see any resolutions to our debt woes in the near future. Democrats if they continue with control will undoubtedly raise taxes and cancel and reduction in spending. While raising taxes may or may not raise revenues not cutting spending is what will add to the deficit. Now the real question will be how will stocks react? It is anyone’s guess, but if you stick with leading stocks and price you will not lose. The last week of September and it is hard to believe Fall is here. All of the gains in the month have come on only central banking days! It would be nice if the market could get some gains without the help from central bankers. In addition, it would be nice if High Frequency Trading was outlawed and stopped from distorting price and volume on our stocks. Mark Cuban said it best: “High Frequency Trading simply adds volume not liquidity.” Even with High Frequency Trading we still have an advantage and that being price and focusing on a leading stocks. Another week in this uptrend starts lower and with very little distribution we can’t help to think this uptrend will continue to march on. Cut those losses short.

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio continues to be under a BUY signal that was generated on August 3rd. The past week was another overall solid week with solid intraday price action outside of Friday. Another positive was the Nasdaq having two up sessions on volume well above average, continuing the trend from the previous week. We continue to believe that this uptrend can last longer based on the overall public (AAII Survey bulls: 37.5%) still not showing that bullish fever and the NYSE short interest ratio sitting around 5-year highs at 21.03. As long as the trend is up, the public is not overly bullish, and the short interest ratio remains high, the trend should continue to be our friend. We know what to look for if that changes but so far we have absolutely no signs of a change in trend coming. In fact the last distribution day on the Nasdaq was on August 21st (according to Telechart’s data). That is one month without a distribution day. Clearly, for now, there is nothing to worry about. We will cross that bridge when we get there. As for stocks, we continue to find a ton of attractive long positions and continue to see many others setting up. If this continues, it bodes well for the continuation of the rally. Despite some trading sessions the past week being quite boring, there were plenty of stocks that made exciting dynamic price moves higher. Seeing these stocks move like they are on quiet days is a clear sign of real accumulation. The only bad news, so far, in this rally is that we have not had a single stock set up in a “perfect” setup. However, that isn’t surprising as beautiful green filled chart patterns have been in decline since the 2008 crash. Trend following is definitely where it is at. Playing hot charts is not. I am sure one day that will change but as of right now it has not. We’ll keep hunting. Have a lovely rest of your weekend and aloha. Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal AVD long – 141% – 1/10/12 SVNT long – 70% – 9/10/12 NTE long – 65% – 8/17/12 CLGX long – 58% – 6/19/12 SHF long – 36% – 8/1/12 CAMP long – 33% – 4/26/12 PRXI short – 32% – 3/30/12 MAGS short – 30% – 4/18/12 VRNM short – 30% – 4/10/12 STX long – 25% – 6/29/12

Volume Ends Lower as Stocks Close off the Lows

The week of consolidation continues as debate over whether or not this market can go higher rages on. Overnight China’s flash PMI disappointed showing the country continues to slow significantly. China’s disappointment sent futures lower across the board. US economic data continues to be uninspiring as jobless claims remain high. Buyers did step up at the end of the day putting a bullish tint on the day. Volume ended the day lower across the board as the NASDAQ escaped a day of distribution. Week’s like this one will certainly shake the confidence of those who are long the market. Our uptrend remains and we’ll remain long this market until price tells us otherwise. For those who simply follow price do not concern themselves with whether or not a trend is over. At the moment we have plenty of folks including Elliot Wavers citing extreme bullishness as a reason the market is about to head lower. Hey, they could be right. No one knows the future and the way the market is acting says the uptrend remains intact. Tomorrow may change and those calling for a correction may be right, but what if they are not? What happens then? We follow price action of our stocks and the market. Everything else is noise. The one sentiment survey I do talk about here is the AAII survey. At the moment the split between bulls and bears is 38% to 34%. Both figures remain at extremes and this survey was done earlier in the week. As the market heads sideways are those who are bullish going to remain so? We can come up with an infinite about of scenarios and guesswork on what may or may not happen. Guess what, it doesn’t matter! Football season is in full swing and we’ll have another fun filled weekend after tomorrow’s option expiry. After a long week of consolidation tomorrow will be interesting to watch. Have a great weekend!

Small Caps Lag the General Market as Stocks Close off the Highs of the Day

Small cap stocks lagged the general market by closing in the red with the major market averages close just barely in the green. Buyers stepped up their operations just after 10:30 am EST showing this market has support. However, buyers weren’t able to keep the market at its high of day closing off the best levels of the day. Volume rose across the board, but we failed to make significant gains. At this time, it appears the market continues to move sideways digesting last week’s gains. Our uptrend remains intact and we continue to expect this to continue. Housing data hit this morning was mixed, but existing home sales saw some promise. Homebuilders continue to be stellar as they come off their beaten down levels. Regardless of your opinion of the housing market homebuilders have had a heck of a run. Stocks like PHM and LEN continue to look like they want to move higher here. Of course anything and everything can happen, just look at QCOR today. What we know now is homebuilders continue to look like they are going to continue to move higher. We are still waiting for this market to push higher. We have plenty of leading stocks on the verge of running higher and it may take this market pushing higher to kick these in high gear. This week has been a good week for the market and very tight despite options expiry on Friday. Usually the week of expiry tends to be volatile and in high volume. So far so good in terms of volume and how tight this market is trading. Of course, we need the market to move higher at some point before we get too bored with it. In any event, this uptrend remains healthy. Keep pushing forward!

New Seeking Alpha Post (HMY, PPP, SLW, GFI)

In A QE World, Silver And Gold Make Sense

The Dow Edges Higher as Broader Market Consolidates Again

Turnaround Tuesday didn’t quite work out, but for the second straight day the market puts in an excellent day of consolidation. The past two days have certainly done enough to work off overbought conditions in the near-term. Volume inched higher on the NYSE and roughly 15% higher according to preliminary stats from IBD. Monday’s volume was so light that it didn’t take much for volume to creep higher. All in all another solid day for the overall market as our uptrend continues to stay intact. A few retail stocks took it on the chin today, but all in all leading stocks held up relatively well. KORS and ROST look weak and with KORS secondary pricing soon it appears the stock wants to continue to head lower. ROST on the other hand remains below its 50 day as traders sold the stock today. The stock has been on quite a run since last August and is now looking tired. A quick observation here is QE3 will not help out retail stocks. Why? Who cares, price action in leading retail stocks shows investors are looking elsewhere. Given the back to back consolidation days we need this market to resume moving higher. At the very least leading stocks need to get going with or without the market. We have escaped distribution, but we can’t consolidate gains forever! It is important not to get impatient with the market and allow your stocks to work. But, at some point we need to keep our money moving and stocks that are not moving do not belong in our portfolio. Keep in the game! We have plenty of opportunities with this market and if you give up or “take a break” you may miss a golden opportunity. I don’t like missing out on gains and if you do it makes it infinitely more difficult to capture superior gains. Cut those losses short.

Red Monday’s Continue as AAPL hits the $700 Mark

The market stages a very nice day of consolidation as volume dropped well below Friday’s level. For most of the day’s session stocks traded in negative territory as last week’s gains were being digested by the market. Nearing the close it appeared stocks were set to close near the lows on the day, but buyers stepped up and pushed stocks well off the lows at the close. Buyers are lurking and the end of the day action certainly highlighted the case. A great day for an uptrend as days like these help work off overbought conditions the market may be in. We continue to operate in an uptrend and continue to look for this market to push higher. It is clear stocks love further monetary easing by the Federal Reserve. The unintended and intended consequences are pretty significant, but the unintended consequences will only hurt those who cannot keep up with inflation. Just to think in four years after gas prices plunged to well below $2 a gallon they have risen back to near $4 again. In many places, gas is well above the $4 mark and this hurts those whose income levels do not keep up with this type of inflation. I just do not see how buying more mortgage securities is going to help the poor rise up or create more jobs. As for our trading it appears it will be a positive, but then again we just follow price. A big positive was the fact that volume was running well below Friday’s level throughout the session. Running mostly 30% behind Friday’s level and remained that way at the close. NYSE volume ran 34% below Friday’s level and the NASDAQ 26%. Expect volume to move higher tomorrow and we’ll see if buyers step up and avoid distribution. We have not seen too many bad distribution days and at this point we only have two distribution days on the books. The key is to pay attention to see if we have a clump of distribution days together and leading stocks falling hard. Your stocks will tell the tale of the market if you are in the right ones. A good start to the week and now we’ll need to build upon it. Remember, it is very important you need to have a game plan and execute!