Category Archives: Semiconductors

From ‘Hype’ to ‘Opportunity’

August 31, 2023 By in Artificial Intelligence, Positions, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX, Wyckoff 1 Comment

What A Difference A Day Makes

Update: 9:50 a.m., EST

Exited SOXS @ Stop 9.05, then re-entered after the open at 9.19.

Hard Stop @ Session Low 8.97 (not advice, not a recommendation)

SOXX, price action pushed above well-established resistance and so far, has failed to hold.

After hours has the SOXX, trading down -2.45-pts. (as of 7:30 p.m., EST) which gives us a hint there may be a new daily low at the next session.

If so, it’s a Wyckoff Up-Thrust, a reversal, with significant potential for downside.

Positioning

Already short this sector via SOXS with hard stop at the session low of SOXS 9.05 (not advice, not a recommendation).

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

SOXX … Setting-Up for Tomorrow

August 22, 2023 By in NVDA, Positions, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX, Wyckoff 1 Comment

Anything Can Happen

Yes … anything can happen but what’s the most likely thing?

At this juncture, based on price action so far (as of 11:38 a.m., EST), the SOXX looks like it will penetrate the blue line resistance tomorrow or the day after (not advice, not a recommendation).

That penetration should it happen, will set-up a potential reversal (Wyckoff up-thrust) condition.

Exactly how that action will take place is unknown. Nvidia (NVDA) is scheduled to release earnings tomorrow after the close.

Semiconductor SOXX, Daily

The chart shows a potential target area.

The target is right in the vicinity of a 50%, retrace from the reversal high (7/31/23), to the low, set last Friday the 18th.

Positioning

Based on the behavior of price action during the last session, it was clear for the short term, higher action in SOXX and lower action in SOXS was probable

With that, even though the stop of SOXS 9.93 was not hit (as it was today), a discretionary exit was made at SOXS 10.51, which yielded about +8.4% on the trade.

Next Steps

On the sidelines for now (not advice, not a recommendation) and watching closely.

It seems the mania has increased all the more even though we’re past the top on the SOXX.

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

SOXX, Hits Downside Target

August 19, 2023 By in Artificial Intelligence, Livermore, NVDA, Prechter, Semiconductors, South Sea Bubble, SOXS, SOXX

First of Many?

At this point, market bulls have to be just a little bit nervous.

Is the reversal from Friday, going to hold into next week or was it just a blip on the way to much lower levels?

Can a ‘Once in 300-years mania’, affect us here and now. Is that knowledge useful for day-to-day decisions?

One way to answer is to place that fact in the ‘fundamentals’ category; knowing it’s there but stay absolutely focused on the immediate truth, that is, ‘price action’.

The SOXX, So Far

We can see the SOXX reversed as identified here.

Then it continued lower, formed a trend line, shown here (using inverse SOXS).

Fast forward to now.

The weekly chart (below) shows price action contacted the first Fibonacci projection ‘exactly’ and rebounded.

That ‘rebound’ was Friday’s reversal bar.

Semiconductor SOXX, Weekly Candle

We’re at a critical juncture.

Livermore said years ago, ‘surprises tend to come in the direction of trend’.

With that, Google may have just released the first of many AI, and specifically NVDA, market surprises.

That report is the for the mainstream and even it admits, ‘There was a lot of hype’.

When hype is exposed, the market typically exacts its own form of revenge.

That revenge usually falls on the ‘little guy’ who’s left holding the bag, unable to fathom, ‘the experts’ were only in it for the money.

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

SOXX Pivots Down … Again

August 18, 2023 By in Positions, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX 1 Comment

New, Sharper, Downtrend?

Has the semiconductor SOXX, sent us a signal that’s it’s in a new steeper, downtrend?

The last update said probabilities favored continued downside for SOXX (upside for SOXS).

If there’s been a more aggressive pivot down, that trend looks like it’s being tested during today’s session.

We’re about two hours before the close; both the SOXX and its inverse SOXS, are posting reversal bars.

If the reversal’s going to be confirmed, there needs to be follow-through. That means, the next session (Monday) is the important one.

Since I am maintaining short this sector (not advice, not a recommendation), we’ll look at that position using the leveraged inverse SOXS.

Semiconductor Leveraged Inverse SOXS, Daily

The original trendline is shown from the prior update.

The dashed line is a potential new more aggressive trend.

If Monday opens gap-higher for SOXS (lower for SOXX), and then posts a new daily high, it’s a potential confirmation of that new trend.

Positioning.

Short via SOXS remains intact.

Hard Stop has been moved to SOXS 9.93 (not advice, not a recommendation).

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

AI Fails To ‘Follow-Through’

August 15, 2023 By in NVDA, Positions, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX 2 Comments

Where’s The Continued Upside?

If it’s a screaming bull market and not a potential reversal, after yesterday’s SOXX launch, you’d expect more upside.

After all, we’ve brought out the big guns for added ‘credibility’:

Dan Loeb, David Tepper, and Paul Tudor Jones piled into Nvidia stock last quarter – and other elite investors joined them

Throw on top, the promise of massive IT budgets:

AI set to unleash an unprecedented wave of spending.

Well, with all of that, we must hike our price target:

NVDA Stock Alert

The hysteria increases ever more when we read, NVDA could move the entire market … just days from now.

That part may actually be true but not the way anybody thinks. 🙂

So, let’s move past the mee-too-ism and focus on what the price action’s actually doing.

You know, like looking at reality.

Semiconductor Leveraged Inverse SOXS, Daily

The short position via SOXS remains intact so the focus is on the SOXS daily time frame (not advice, not a recommendation).

As is typical with the markets, it can be read both ways.

Today’s action was higher (lower for SOXX) but there was no new SOXS daily high.

At the same time, it looks like a trend is being confirmed.

Positioning

Taking the recent analysis all-together, links here, here, here, here, especially here, I’m going with the SOXS trend confirmation.

That is, Inverse Fund SOXS to move higher with Sector Fund SOXX lower (not advice, not a recommendation).

Hard Stop remains at SOXS 9.42.

However, we now have a Soft Stop (trader discretion) @ SOXS 9.93 (yesterday’s low).

Tomorrow’s session has the Fed meeting minutes released at 2:00 p.m., EST.

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

‘It’s Just a Flesh Wound’

August 11, 2023 By in NVDA, Positions, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX, Van Tharp, Wyckoff 2 Comments

So, Now It Starts

It’s like the knight in Monty Python.

We have the usual suspects being rolled out to let us know, there’s nothing to worry about.

Links here, here and here.

This one, is especially ripe.

Watch until the end (if you can stomach it) where the host asks in exasperation, after a 200% gain in NVDA, ‘is there really more upside?’

At this point (as of 11:05 a.m., EST), the answer is no.

Forces Of Thier Own

All the way back in 1902, Wyckoff discovered after studying the tape (the Ticker):

‘Forces were at work, moving prices, that had no connection to real values.’

That, ladies and gentlemen, is all you need to know.

Fundamentals are just a well-orchestrated ruse to keep the public thinking, if their pencil’s sharper than the next guy’s (think FactSet), they’ll have the market figured out.

Wyckoff ‘Nails It’

So, he we are.

Using Wyckoff analysis (reading the tape) the probability for the current reversal, was identified within a day.

The subsequent short position (via SOXS) was stopped out yesterday, almost lost completely, but for the re-entry @ SOXS 9.70 (not advice, not a recommendation).

As of this post, we’re a full point higher at 10.70, an 11%, gain in just hours … not bad.

With that said, we’ll shift gears a bit and go straight to the leveraged inverse fund SOXS, but use a 3-Day chart.

Semiconductors Leveraged Inverse SOXS, 3-Day

The 3-Day, is being used as the market itself has defined (for now) it shows price action characteristics more clearly.

Distance between the entry and the stop is 0.28-pts.

As a position size example:

Risking $1,000 on the trade would result in a size of 3,571-shares of SOXS (not advice, not a recommendation).

For more information on sizing, see Van Tharp, link here.

Note: There’s a big price difference (over 450%) between the Wycoff text and the Van Tharp text … just sayin’.

Next Steps

At this point, there’s not much to do on this trade (not advice, not a recommendation).

Keep in mind we’re at an historic bubble extreme, the likes of which has not been seen since Sir Issac Newton lost his fortune over 300 years ago.

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

The ‘Right’ Trade Entry

August 10, 2023 By in Dr. Elder, Positions, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX 2 Comments

Professional vs. Amateur

Quickly: An update (as of 11:05 a.m., EST) on the short position in the SOXX.

Early session had an exit at the Hard Stop SOXS 9.46, as planned.

Then, price action as it sometimes does, began to exhibit behavior akin to a wash-out.

The short via SOXS, was re-established SOXS 9.70, with a new Hard Stop @ the session low of 9.42 (not advice, not a recommendation).

Perfect vs. Professional

Years ago, Dr. Elder talked about how the professional may try several times to get the entry he wants.

The amateur will only try once. If he gets stopped out, it’s as if a parent (the market) is giving him a whack for being wrong.

It’s a difficult psychological barrier to overcome but you’re witnessing it in real time 🙂

Charts to follow in a later update.

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

Stupid ‘AI’ Short-Sellers

August 9, 2023 By in Positions, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX 1 Comment

Everybody Knows, AI’s The Way To Go

As if on cue, we have this piece of propaganda out from the mainstream.

‘AI short sellers lose big‘

Of course, there’s some truth … that in-total for the year, short positions have not been continuously profitable.

Contrary Indicator

The article represents another (potential) contrary indicator; short sellers (those that are left) may be about to ride the wave down (not advice, not a recommendation).

As the AI mania collapses, we’ll have the same set of clowns demanding short-selling be banned. 🙂

So, let’s see what our favorite AI chief cook and bottle washer’s doing in today’s session (as of 11:30, a.m., EST).

Semiconductors SOXX, Daily Candle

Ruh-Roh Scooby.

The daily chart has a terminating wedge that’s now breaking to the downside.

The magenta arrow with the ‘Note’ indicates, the current reversal was identified to the day; link here.

The dangerous part is, if the SOXX follows the ‘rules’ laid out in this link, it’s likely to be a swift and merciless decline (not advice, not a recommendation).

Positioning

With no obligation to do so, here is how I have addressed the SOXX, set-up thus far (not advice, not a recommendation).

Note: SOXS, is a ‘leveraged inverse’ fund for the SOXX

August 4th had two entries same-day, as noted.

This series is the fifth trade campaign in the SOXS for the year (SOXS-23-05).

Hard Stop is today’s session low of 9.46 (not advice, not a recommendation).

Obviously, with the SOXS currently at 9.97, all positions are well in the green.

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

The MAERSK ‘Message’

August 5, 2023 By in GLD, NVDA, Positions, Prechter, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX

‘He’s Dead, Jim’

What’s the MAERSK message?

The economy has collapsed.

He’s Dead, Jim

But wait! We’ve already written the script on what happens next:

Buy the dip, soft landing, no collapse until after the ‘elections’, stocks to soar, bull market just starting.

The Propaganda, Bot

A Bull Market Is Coming

Morgan Stanley thinks it’s a buying opportunity

Have Patience, Intel Investors!

Is this the crash-proof economy?

Not Time to Worry

The AI, Bot

Meanwhile, the SOXX and its loyal henchman, the AI bot, may have just ‘changed hands’.

Well, actually leveraged inverse SOXS, could be changing hands, shown below on the weekly chart.

Semiconductors Leveraged Inverse SOXS, Weekly

The massive volume in SOXS, over 369-million shares for the week represents (at the closing price) over $3.4-bln.

That may be the inflection point (not advice, not a recommendation).

As a reminder, here’s another example of ‘changing of hands’, link here. Since then, GLD has not topped that level.

Three-Hundred, Three Years (33)

Not since the South Sea Bubble of 1720, has there been an environment such as this.

Reference time stamp 11:10, in the link.

NVDA Earnings, Tick-Tock, Closer

One has to wonder, how NVDA, is going to ‘spin’ its upcoming earnings release and how the market will react.

Will it be, ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’, or just good ‘ol fashioned ‘sell’. Maybe it will be ‘buy, then sell’. 🙂

Who knows but it looks like the rest of the market’s not waiting around to find out (not advice, not a recommendation).

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279

When The ‘Dog’ Barks

July 27, 2023 By in INTC, Positions, Semiconductors, SOXS, SOXX

Intel (INTC) Up, In After-Hours

After-hours trading for Intel, show it’s up around +7%.

The company managed to post a profitable quarter; so, naturally the stock ‘launches’ based on the hopes of ‘recovery’.

One has to suppose the ‘n/a’ currently listed as P/E, reported by bigcharts.com, here, will be revised to show at least something.

SOXX, After Hours

A volatile day continues in the after-hours with SOXX, trading up about +0.66% (at 525.13).

The real question is, will that hold through to the next session or will it evaporate overnight.

Today’s Action(s)

As stated early in the day, the short position via SOXS, was exited with a profit for the trade series, around +3.7%.

The Semiconductor short via SOXS, was re-established later in the session at lower prices.

The new Hard Stop exit, is the SOXS low of 8.32 (not advice, not a recommendation).

Dogs Barking

We’re at the stage in this mass-psychosis mania where dogs (INTC), are starting to bark.

A full-blown downside, sustained, semiconductor (AI) reversal seems to be very close.

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

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 Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279