Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
Bear markets are not (always) prices going straight down, a la 1987.
Bear markets are ‘price destruction’; a series of ups and downs that effectively drain (whipsaw) the typical market account.
The last two weeks have seen record breaking extremes; the latest being this update, indicating the market posted the largest volume ever recorded.
Dodging Bullets
A case in point, this site’s narrow miss on having a huge gain (LABD-25-06, short biotech) being completely obliterated in last week’s largest short squeeze, ever.
It’s (almost) a ‘no-brainer’, this type of market behavior is not bullish (not advice, not a recommendation).
Then, The Propaganda
If it’s not dodging bullets, it’s sifting through the propaganda, half-truths, and outright lies.
The latest of these, (could be) ‘China dumping dollars’ and other ‘collapse’ narratives.
There’s volatility for sure. That’s what bear markets are about. However, this link might help mitigate the hysteria around the ‘It’s all blowing up’ narrative (not advice, not a recommendation).
In the above link, how it really works, time stamp: 17:58
So, here we are. What’s next?
Gold & Silver, Update
Even though both gold (GLD), and silver (SLV), are trading lower as of this post (12:52 p.m., EST), the Junior Miners GDXJ, posted a new daily high, thus, short JDST-25-09, was exited (not advice, not a recommendation).
Today’s activity does point to a new potential (developing) set-up, this time, silver miners SILJ.
Silver Miners SILJ, Daily
The set-up (spring-to-up-thrust) may develop from here, or it could diffuse into chaos.
It remains a possibility, until price action itself says, ‘no’.
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
Gold (GCM25) is holding steady with a marginal decline.
Silver (SIK25) has posted a characteristic opening ‘spike’ reversal (5-minute bar), threatening to move lower.
At this juncture, the important part, is what’s not happening.
That is, neither metal has had a (significant) gap-higher open; they are not continuing their unabated advances.
For silver, we’re going to update the SLV, ETF, chart.
Silver SLV, Daily
As of this post, the (futures equivalent) ETF close of last Friday (29.19), is holding.
Trading is still at the 61.8%, Fibonacci retrace.
From a positioning standpoint, this sector (precious metals) is already held short via the Junior’s leveraged inverse JDST (not advice, not a recommendation).
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
To answer that question, or at least look at the probabilities, let’s step away from the breathless, me-too herd, and see what’s really going on.
Silver, One Year Later
Before we get to what the crowd’s doing now, as a reminder, last year at this time (the crowd said), silver was supposed to be launching into a hyperinflationary breakout.
Remember that? Well, it didn’t happen. 🙂
This site posted for months, price action itself (SLV) indicated the probabilities were low for a sustained breakout, starting with this link.
However, there are times when the masses are correct. Is this one of those times?
Let’s take a look.
First, The Hysteria
To get a gage on what’s going on, we have a sample of the current mind-set, listed below.
‘Sell America’ Trade Sparks Gold-Rush, Dollar Crush As US Bond Yields Surge Most In 43 Years, link here.
Gold Euphoria, Bond Mayhem, Dollar Disgrace, link here.
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
As the prior update stated, the LABD-25-06, trade was exited in the pre-market yesterday. XBI was at support and that was the reason for exit.
At the time it was unknown, later in the session, we’d get (potentially) the largest short-covering rally in history.
Currently (as of 8:03 a.m., EST), XBI, is trading slightly lower.
Depending on the regular session action, the short trade (via LABD) may be re-opened (not advice, not a recommendation).
Gold Tops
For gold (GLD), large volume, wide price swings can be signs of trouble.
Yesterday was huge volume and price bar, resulting in a ‘Force Index’ reading of ‘257.8’-mil.
That does not necessarily mean anything until it’s put into context.
That last time there was a similar high-energy move was March 8th, 2022; a ‘Force’ reading of 243.1-mil, that put in a top, not exceeded for nearly 2-years.
Miners Test
Then, the miners, GDX, GDXJ.
For this update we’ll look at the Juniors, GDXJ.
Junior Miners, GDXJ, Daily
There was a breakdown (with gap) from the wedge. That breakdown has been tested.
Along with the test potentially complete, the price gap from last Friday’s action (4/4/25) has essentially been closed.
Positioning
Short the GDXJ, via JDST as Trade JDST-25-07; the stop is (equivalent to) a few ticks above yesterday’s (56.18) GDXJ high (not advice, not a recommendation).
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
Those on this site daily, knew something was about to happen in a big way.
It was just, when.
Now, markets are volatile if not imploding.
Nearly all sectors reversing at once.
As of this post (10:55 a.m., EST), some of those are attempting to recover (GDX, GDXJ, SILJ) with others down hard (not advice, not a recommendation).
There were plenty of clues:
Massive volume increase in GLL, strange activity in biotech, then resignation at the FDA, failure of NVDA to get back to a 50% retrace, the list goes on.
As mentioned yesterday, one sector that’s continuing lower is biotech, XBI.
Biotech XBI, Daily
There may be several trading channels in effect. Only the most aggressive (so far) is shown.
Note the locations of short positioning via LABD (not advice, not a recommendation).
As of this post, the initial LABD short, entered on March 25th, is up over +40%.
Going Forward
So, what happens now?
For this trade, Livermore said it best (paraphrasing):
Position on the right side of the market (the correct direction), then wait.
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
Sometimes, the question is not ‘what’s happening’, but ‘what’s not happening’.
In today’s case, we have gold (GLD) at new highs and the miners, not.
Not only are they not following gold higher, for the Juniors GDXJ, and the ‘Silvers’ SILJ, they both posted a new weekly low.
Junior Miners, GDXJ, Daily
Last Friday was a reversal bar.
Today (so far) we have gold at new all-time highs and the miners lagging (not advice, not a recommendation).
As of this post (12:54 p.m., EST), GDXJ, has moved up to test Friday’s low.
While price action retraces to test, it’s closing the gap on the amount of risk for a short position.
With that in mind, a direct short of GDXJ, has been opened (GDXJ-25-01) with the stop at (or to be) the session high (not advice, not a recommendation).
Note: As a result of the gold hysteria, YouTube grifting, book writing, podcast interviews, dollar collapse, and ‘It’s all coming down’ mania, instant gratification on this position is not expected. 🙂
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.
The Good: Only the Senior Miners, GDX, have managed to claw their way past the highs set nearly five years ago in August of 2020.
The Bad: Junior Miners GDXJ, remain below that August ’20, level.
The Ugly: Silver Miners SILJ, are the worst, having their peak a bit later in February of 2021; they remain over -35%, below their highs.
The Market Rolls Over
Yesterday, Friday, was a down day for the Dow, S&P, The Qs, Transports, Airlines, Semis, nearly everyone.
For some of these indices, their all-time highs were posted months, if not years ago.
There may be some (bidding) ‘defensive’ action with gold (GLD) continuing higher; as said in earlier posts, the rest of the monetary metals are far below their highs.
Let’s look at the weakest; the silver miners, as they are likely going to be the ones most affected by an economic decline (not advice, not a recommendation).
Silver Miners, SILJ, Daily
We’re at an interesting spot.
Friday was a down day that pushed below existing support, shown in zoom area.
We have simultaneous action.
Once resistance was penetrated on March 18th, it could not hold. After eight trading days, on Friday, it posted lower on heavy volume.
However, we can see that SILJ, is now in (a minor) Wyckoff ‘spring’ position. So, the question is, what happens next?
Note: Posts on this site are for education purposes only. They provide one firm’s insight on the markets. Not investment advice. See additional disclaimer here.