Turtles

An echo high yesterday.

The gap up into 2742 is met by selling down into the 2735 area which held support until late afternoon selling pushed the market down to 2725.

Although potentially just a minor pullback in the up trend, the fact that it occurred at the same price level as the previous high suggests sideways or downwards and a potential re-test of rising support.

Chart of S&P 500 for 23 May 2018

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Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

 

Fulk

Market gaps up above recent declining resistance, and then chops about inbetween 2726 and 2738, absorbing the move higher.

Chart of S&P500 for 22 May 2018

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Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

 

Lindbergh

The market drifts lower into May expiration, holding, just, above the Buy Signal level.

Oscillators weakening.

Pulling back or rolling over?

Chart of S&P 500 for 21 May 2018

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Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

 

Acre

I stumble in and in you fit me with those angel wings
send me gold set me high set it up I'm in the sky
'til the storm is gone
and the temperature's high
and delight is dining
at my table

PJ Harvey, Victory, 1992

An indecisive day with a strong move up to 2732 repelled and a subsequent bounce off 2712.

Downward pressure from wednesday's projected high from the DB T structure and upward pressure from the new T structure pushing towards a high projected for today.

Some declining resistance from the recent high emerging to be negotiated IF the market is going to move higher.

Primary options expiration today should add at to the mix, as traders prepare for the next month's move.

Chart of S&P 500 for 18 May 2018

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Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

 

Idaho

There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, 1929

A push up into a projection for a high from the DB T structure and a pulse high and the market closes Tuesday's gap.

I have drawn in the possibilities for an extension of the current T structure, in case it is larger than the initial red structure from the recent high. Interestingly, we have projections for a major high or major low at the end of the month, an important turn perhaps. How the market responds after the red projection will be revealing.

Of course if the market follows through to the downside from the projections for highs yesterday it is certainly possible that this structure could collapse like the previous ones.

Put/call ratios are flashing a warning again.

Some caution is recommended.

Chart of S&P500 for 17 May 2018

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Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

 

Like a crime

All of this is mine
All of this is mine (this is mine)
Want it like a crime (this is mine)
Give these lips of mine (this is mine)

PJ Harvey, This is Mine

(From the soundtrack of Stella Does Tricks, 1996, Dir. Coky Giedroyc)

The market drops out of the gate and spends the day looking at 2700, back-filling, perhaps threatening to move lower, but holding up above the current support and Buy Signal level, for now.

A pulse high and another projection for a high today from the DB T structure, perhaps an attempt to fill yesterday's gap.

Chart of S&P 500 for 16 May 2018

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Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

 

Mercuralia

A gap up open and a visit to the 2742 level initiates a gradual decline in-line with the new T structure's projection for a high. Further consolidation and a pause may be necessary to let off some of the pressure from the rapid move off the recent low.

Chart of S&P 500 for 15 May 2018

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Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

 

On the Edge

Welcome to the Trading the Line Special Report.

I do apologise, it has been rather a long time since my last free report.

On the edge of a recovery , maybe. Let's recap.

On 18 April the market succumbed to the declining resistance angle from the January and March highs and was forced to re-test the bounce from the April lows. It seems that each drop towards the 2600 level was met with an increasingly bullish response.

On the 04 May the market rapidly moved higher from a touch of the 200 day moving average and triggered an S/T Buy Signal at 2649 that is still active today some 75 points higher.
The S/T system is my proprietary price based system that requires the market to prove itself by moving beyond a particular level. The system then runs a cover stop level under the market until price performance deteriorates significantly. This system does not capture the exact turns in the market but captures the meat of the moves. It has performed particularly well under the stresses of the recent volatile market, keeping us informed of the general direction of the market.

The thrust on 04 May provided an early warning of a change in the market structure as the T volume oscillator – an indicator that descibes the market's internal rate of change of buying or selling pressure – moved upwards through the recent declining trend-line or cash-build up line and defined a new T structure. This new T structure utilises the selling since the most recent high on 18 April and projects the next highs today, on the 14 May and a more important high on 18 May, with the possibility of further waves beyond.

So, as the market makes a relative new high and hints at the possibility of further recovery, the question on every trader's mind is – is this just a bounce before the bearish action continues, or has the market finally returned to its previous calm bullish discovery of new all time highs.

Let's take a look.

Chart of S&P 500 for 14 May 2018

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The market has moved up through and beyond the declining angles from the January highs, and we can see that the oscillators are displaying relatively bullish behaviour at the most recent low in comparioson to the previous lows, suggesting that the bearish pressure has been steadily reducing.

The Osc oscillator in the chart above is a momentum indicator which of course lags the market but is now moving up strongly, suggesting that there is strong upward momentum behind this move.
The T volume oscillator in the chart below is an indication of overall buying or selling pressure as it measures the rate of change of advancing vs. declining stocks in the NYSE as a whole. The blue line is the readings as is, and the red line is an adjustment to take into account an anomaly that occured at March options expiration due to some very heavy buying back of hedges. Both versions look bullish, displaying a series of higher lows and a general cash-build up since the oscillator high on 19 December.

Chart of S&P 500 for 14 May 2018

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The DB (double bottom) structure centred inbetween the February and April lows has generally been bearish, projecting a series of lower highs. At some point these type of structures collapse into a final low or morph into a larger structure. The most recent projection for a high from the DB structure was 07 May and as the market is now moving above that low, we can see that the DB structure is turning bullish or losing its negative influence.

Weekly chart of S&P 500 for 14 May 2018

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The weekly chart above shows that the market is still holding a long-term trend line rising from the February 2016 low, as it continues to absorb and digest the breakaway move into the January 2018 high. For now, primary support is holding, with the possibility that a later re-test of the major support area may still be necessary.
I am still seeing some interesting comparisons between the 2015-2016 bearish phase and 2018 where the important breakaway move requires re-testing of earlier support lines to consolidate the market's advance, in effect the building of a large T structure. Notice also that important resistance still resides at about 2800 and may of course be the current target.

2018 continues to bring with it some very exciting trading and a range that is far beyond the experience of recent years. We should expect it to continue and trade accordingly. This is a Brave New World.

Regardless of whether the market can sustain its current advance or whether another, perhaps deeper, low is ahead of us, the simplicity of the proprietary price based S/T Signalling System continues to keep us on the correct side of the market, providing a timely Buy signal and a green light, for now.

If you would like to learn more about using the S/T Signalling System please get in touch.

Be prepared for whatever is coming next, and trade with confidence:

To receive detailed daily analysis, guidance and the updated daily Buy / Sell trigger levels being generated by the Trading the Line system before the market opens, and intraday alerts when appropriate, please become a Member and Sign up for Alerts & Observations – includes access to Members Area and the Explanatory Notes for all of the concepts discussed.

Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

 

Nova Roma

Another impressive move upwards through the previous high and potentially out of the declining resistance.

Market now displaying some similar characteristics as at the previous recent highs – overbought and perhaps over-stretched and very low put/call ratios – but also showing some bullish divergences with those highs.

An echo high is scheduled for today, and the new T structure projects into early and late next week. The volume oscillator indicates strong breadth and supports the projections for highs with the increasing possibility that the new T structure is larger than currently drawn.

This is looking more and more like a recovery – how the market performs at the next pullback (whenever that occurs) will be revealing.

Chart of S&P 500 for 11 May 2018

Be prepared for whatever is coming next, and trade with confidence:

To receive detailed daily analysis, guidance and the updated daily Buy / Sell trigger levels being generated by the Trading the Line system before the market opens, and intraday alerts when appropriate, please become a Member and Sign up for Alerts & Observations – includes access to Members Area and the Explanatory Notes for all of the concepts discussed.

Disclaimer: This is the diary of a personal trading system, its methodology and the signals that it is producing. You are welcome to follow along but please understand that the information presented here is for educational purposes only. No recommendations are being made to buy, or sell stocks, options or futures contracts. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decisions.