Saturday, November 29, 2008

Volatility Charts

Fortune favors the bulls as the rally continues.
More stocks are getting bullish and the volatility is dropping.
Stocks above the 50dma are increasing, but we don't have a confirmed trend.
There are an increasing number of stocks making all time highs, but it's still meager.
The spread between short and long term volatility is normalizing, but it may indicate complacency.

Risks are still high, but a proverbial toe in the water won't drown bullish speculators if they play the right sectors. Staples, Telecoms and Heath Care aren't moving, but Basic Materials and Energy are flying high. The bond market continues to exhibit a flight to quality, so remain cautious.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Twittered Tickers

Thoughts from the collective at StockTwits.com
I suspect Google stinks, but I'm not short yet. It will rally, but there are better opportunities.
General Motors is also terrible, long or short. Better stocks abound.
C continues to rally, and thought it has hit my 7.60 target, there is no reason to run. 12 anyone?
I take a lot of shit for hating on Apple. Thus, I have nothing to say.
SKF continues to destroy the undisciplined, but I bet this will go to 300 again.

With the market in rally mode, even the worst stocks will rise. Twitters seem focused on big news driven names, and I suspect that is not the most fertile group for easy trades. I still think SKF will be a winner, but due to its enormous volatility, it requires a keen awareness of price trend and proper position sizing according to your personal risk tolerance.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

UUP & $USD Divergence?

Any one have thoughts on the following divergence?
The relatively new Dollar Bullish ETF UUP is indicating a new downtrend.

On the other hand, the $USD, a index with a bit more trading history, seems to be at the lower range of an uptrend.

Since they share a 1:1 correlation, this aberration might be explained by the graphing technique I'm employing. The charts are scaled by average true range over some really long period I've arbitrarily set (9999999). Since UUP has little trading history and less long term volatility, it might exhibiting a closer relationship to its relative trend line. Due to its longer indexical history, $USD has a greater range, and thus the scale is probably reflecting it's volatility. I suspect that many traders will be getting short UUP due to the chart, but perhaps it would be better to investigate the nature of the underlying $USD.

To put this into perspective, let me detail my past Thanksgiving. After a glorious feast centered around a enormous Turducken, I went out for a smoke with a few friends. A curious looking fellow who was clearly unemployed and missing a few screws came up to us and began a classic rant. "9/11 was an inside job, Planet X is coming, 2012, New World," yadda yadda. Since I believe all that shit, it was embarrassing to hear it from a clearly deranged lowlife for whom I have little sympathy. The nail in the coffin was his insistence upon an economic collapse, and the fall of the dollar, which is more conspiratorial logic that I agree with. Then it hit me.

When the unemployed and homeless are shorting the dollar, beware. All logic screams that the dollar should fall. We've all seen the charts, we know the debt burden is incalculable, we know that the Fed can print money. But the dollar is rising. Scores of analysts with enough degrees to melt the steel core of the WTC say that the dollar must fall. It isn't. Trade what you see, not what you believe.