Category Archives: The Speck

The Market Set-Up … This Week

October 23, 2022 By in Bonds, Catherine Austin Fitts, DRV, DRV-22-05, GLD, Gold & Silver, IYR, Positions, Real Estate, Scott Walters, SLV, The Speck, TLT, TMF, Wyckoff, ZeroHedge 2 Comments

What To Watch … Gold, Bonds, & Real Estate

First off, ‘Goldman‘ says melt-up.

Not to be outdone, we have this ‘me too’ melt-up article as well.

Let’s not forget, all the ‘Fed must do something’ rumors and feigned concern by its members.

If anyone really wants to know the big picture, the overall plan (a wide majority do not), this interview may be the best explanation to-date.

With all of that, we certainly could get some kind of rally in the coming week. We’ll let the price action speak for itself.

As a reminder, Wyckoff analysis does not concern itself with press releases, rumors or ‘fundamentals’; Wyckoff himself, determined based on price action alone, they have no material effect on market movement.

In his words, ‘other forces are at work’, and it’s those forces that interest us.

Gold & Silver

As said in this update, gold (GLD) was just ‘ticks’ away from posting a new monthly low. In fact, it got just 0.24-pts, from a new low before rebounding.

Of course, each time we get any kind of rally in the metals, there’s the usual hysteria. Even though for the past seven months and counting, those rallies occur at lower and lower levels … i.e., a bear market.

Shown below, it’s in a trading channel with price action at the right-side channel line.

Gold (GLD) Weekly

The chart below gets closer-in.

From left-most contact point on the channel to the initial contact on the right side is a Fibonacci 13-weeks.

Also note, the weekly high posted at the center line is a Fibonacci 5-weeks from the left-most contact.

Highly emotional markets tend to adhere to Fibonacci until either the emotion wears off or ‘everybody’ recognizes the structure.

Obviously, to keep the channel intact, a lower open (and lower action) at the next session is needed.

Silver (SLV) has already been discussed in this update and this one.

Bond (TLT) Capitulation ?

Was this past Friday the day?

Gap-down trading on huge volume.

Looking at the daily chart of TLT below, Friday’s level of (down) volume has occurred only three times in the past three years.

Each time, there was a near immediate rebound or in the case of March 2021, the rebound came several weeks later.

Bonds (TLT) Daily

Moving in closer, we see the possibility of an ‘island-gap’ at the next open.

What could drive capital into the bond market?

Well, how about a ‘shock’ or continued market melt-down (not advice, not a recommendation).

A quick check of the local newsfeed (as of 12:45 p.m., EST) shows nothing on the horizon other than usual nuclear attack threats, power outages, child mutilation protests, marauding bears and the disarmament of Canadians.

Nothing to see here …

Real Estate

There is no mistake, events in real estate are happening at the fastest pace in recorded history.

As Scott Walters put it, over 10-million people bought into the ‘work from home’ hype and got themselves instantly (nearly) upside down in their transaction.

Now, the layoffs start.

Real Estate IYR, 3-Day Close

Zoom-in, on the channel

As the last update said, we’ll know soon enough if there is more upside or if last Friday was it, and the downdraft continues.

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 Usual Suspects

October 15, 2022 By in $SPSIBI, Biotech, Dr. Elder, Gwen Olsen, LABD, LABD-22-08, Livermore, Positions, SPBIO, The Epoch Times, The Speck, Usual Suspects, ZeroHedge 1 Comment

Special Biotech Edition

Bogart

An immense flood of data; research reports, lawsuits, expose articles and anecdotal evidence; every day, multiple times a day, something new.

Has the biotech technical (finally) lined up with the fundamental?

Those fundamentals are farther down but first, we’ll discuss the technical.

As a reminder, sometimes charts are inverted during analysis. This ‘trick’ was discovered years ago and is based on techniques used by Dr. Alexander Elder.

Biotech SPBIO, Weekly Close (Inverted)

We’ve taken the weekly closing chart of SPBIO ($SPSIBI, on StockCharts) and inverted it to mimic the action of inverse fund LABD.

The index has no volume; so LABD is used instead.

The magenta arrow shows the pivot point for the index, corresponds will all-time record volume on leveraged inverse LABD.

Next, we’ll get closer-in and look at the ‘pivot’ on the hourly chart (inverted).

SPBIO, Hourly (Inverted).

The magenta arrows show successive positions (Livermore ‘probes’) entered (via LABD) before the main entry @ LABD 22.99, which was 90% of position size up to that point.

The next day (Friday) had a gap-lower open that was quickly reversed. Position size was increased by another 5%, at LABD 22.29 (not advice, not a recommendation).

Effective position equates to LABD 23.17

Price action pulled away steadily from the early morning levels, suggesting a sustainable reversal.

The Fundamentals

Some of this stuff, you just can’t make up.

Listed in somewhat chronological order, here they are (not an exhaustive list).

No. 1

Pfizer hires 600 to help document adverse events. Wasn’t it supposed to be ‘safe and effective’?

No. 2

Pilot Shortage

Fired/quit because they refuse to get ‘protection’.

A possible corollary to what’s happened, via injection, we have this.

No. 3

Pfizer, nobody wants their product … after the rollout.

No. 4

Who could it be?

Previously unknown (or rare) problems and illness now starting to accelerate.

No. 5

We’re here to help.

No. 6

You mean, it was all a lie?

No. 7

The real reason for getting ‘tested’?

No. 8

What did the media know and when did they know it?

No. 9

It’s still a ‘suggestion‘ but the payouts to family members are real.

No. 10

It’s over … and then it’s not.

No. 11

We’ll keep it quiet, so no feelings get hurt.

No. 12

How bad is your batch? Let’s see.

No. 13

You mean, it was never tested? I’m shocked.

No. 14

After all that, maybe we can give it another shot.

No. 15

A potential infinite number of complications … nothing to see here.

No. 16

Getting away with it? Not so fast.

No. 17

Just had a heart attack? We can help.

No. 18

Limited Hangout? You decide.

No. 19

Lastly, this is what it’s really all about.

Recorded years ago. Did her ‘prophecy’ come true?

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

Tesla … Set To Implode

October 8, 2022 By in Biotech, LABD, LABD-22-07, Mass Psychosis, Taleb, Texas Freeze, The Speck, TSLA, TSLL, TSLS, Wyckoff 3 Comments

Watch The Tape

Two-year uptrend, broken.

A year’s-worth of ‘distribution’ from strong hands to weak.

Ten days from now is the next TSLA, earnings release.

With TSLA, price action approaching The Danger Point®, that earnings release is likely to be a catalyst.

The monthly chart has the trendline (and channel) break along with the distribution phase.

Tesla TSLA, Monthly

Note, each thrust attempt higher (magenta arrows) has subsequently failed.

Thrusts following the first one, are at lower levels.

The weekly chart below, shows what we’re looking for; penetration of support to potentially set up a short-trade (not advice, not a recommendation).

Tesla TSLA, Weekly

When or if that penetration takes place, depending on the depth of the thrust, we’ll have a Wyckoff spring set up … that ultimately is expected to fail.

Ways To Trade

As if on cue and possibly in anticipation of TSLA fireworks, there’s a long and short ETF, for just this ticker.

Released just months ago; TSLS, a 1X inverse (bear) TSLA. The bull side has 1.5X leverage with TSLL.

TSLS, has a 100% maintenance requirement and TSLL, has the same.

Or, one can short directly.

There’s no dividend and the broker used by my firm shows TSLA, has no borrowing restrictions other than a 40% maintenance requirement (not advice, not a recommendation).

Then, there are options … we’ll discuss those if some kind of high probability opportunity presents itself.

The Masses

Let’s not forget the herd. What are they doing/saying?

With that in mind, a random check of our favorite holding pen, SeekingAlpha, has oodles of TLSA analysis.

The most recent is actually quite good from a thoroughness perspective. It admits/discusses the downward pressures and identifies the support/resistance levels discussed above.

The problem is the mass psychosis.

It’s the ‘EVs are the way’ mantra as if Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh himself, was communicating directly.

With the winter carnage in Europe just weeks away, we’re about to find out how green ‘electrics’ hold up when there is, well, no electricity.

Back to Biotech

While all of the above is transpiring, the real Black Swan continues to emerge; the latest here, here and here.

This event is happening now; the effects of which will last our lifetimes.

It’s massive and world-wide; likely to override any mainstream (traditional 60/40, type) analysis.

After letting go of the biotech short for the seventh time, two days later, this past Friday, it decides to reverse.

We’ll cover that in the next 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

Trading A Silver Collapse: Part 3

September 25, 2022 By in Food Supply, Gold & Silver, Silver Collapse, SLV, The Speck, Wyckoff, ZeroHedge 1 Comment

No One Expects A Long Term Siege

This time is different.

This is not 1987, or 1998, or 2000, or 2008.

In those cases, once the market reached bottom, the recovery was sharp (’98, ’09) and if not, was steady as in ’87 and ’03 – ’04.

In each case, interest rates were high enough to allow ‘fiddling’ that would in turn, result in the desired (i.e., up) market response.

Ammo Is Spent

This time, we’re in another melt-down and there’s no ammunition left to save the market.

That all got spent in ’08.

Back then, those witnessing firsthand, efforts like TARP, could feel in their gut, ‘there won’t be a (save) next time’.

So, here we are.

Always Fighting The Last Battle

It’s been said, Generals are always fighting the last battle; that is, what happened last time.

In line with that thinking is the (YouTube) idea, once we get a ‘collapse’, it will be time to rush in and scoop up ‘assets’ at fire sale prices.

That idea would have worked quite well in ’08 – ’09, which was last time.

On The Brink

Last time, there was no threat of nuclear war.

There was no infrastructure collapse or crop failures and looming world-wide famine (just to name a few).

There was no ‘elephant’ either.

This article, just out, has California front running the elephant with ‘composting’ signed into law a few days ago.

Silver, The Collapse of Demand

It’s not the metal itself that’s the problem. Having some is always a good idea.

It’s the idea of trusting in these ‘things‘ to be one’s savior.

There are larger forces at work that will likely overshadow owning something you can’t eat.

Once again, this just out: World’s largest produce market (Paris) goes up in flames.

At some point, there will be a collective world-wide realization … it’s the food supply.

When that happens, the expectation is, all ‘assets’ will be heavily sold off, including precious metals.

Silver (SLV), Monthly Close

The monthly chart shows the line to watch; the downtrend that started in late March of this year.

If SLV maintains its current rate of decline, it will be April of next year before we get to the support level shown below.

Pushing (and closing) below well-established multi-year support (orange line), is no easy task.

We would likely need to have some sort of catalyst to help price action get to those levels.

Once below support (‘Target Area’), SLV would then be in Wyckoff spring position.

Summary

As always, anything can happen; precious metals could rally starting at the futures open in a couple hours.

Price action itself, is the final arbiter.

Most ‘investors’ are not prepared for a long-sustained siege-grinding rachet lower, possibly to single digits.

If that happens, then will be the time to assess the potential for a significant long-term rally.

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

Biotech (Short), The Details

September 6, 2022 By in $SPSIBI, Biotech, IBB, LABD, LABD-22-05, Positions, SPBIO, TDA-LABD-22-02, The Speck, ZeroHedge 1 Comment

Relentless Positioning For The Downside

Like a terrier on a mailman’s leg, positioning short biotech via LABD, has been relentless (not advice, not a recommendation).

This update details the current positioning via 3X, Leveraged Inverse Fund, LABD.

This is not investment advice; this site has no obligation to provide the following information.

However, as stated in the About section, one of the purposes here, is to document trade actions and results.

With that in mind, the green arrows show the locations of LABD entries for the short-biotech (SBPBIO) trade identified as LABD-22-05.

Biotech SPBIO, 3X Leveraged Inverse Fund LABD, Daily

The magenta arrow at the far right of the chart, is the ‘break-even’ point. It’s about 1.75 – 2.0 points away from the current price.

Note: This is not ‘Dollar Cost Averaging’.

Few in the industry know that ‘dollar cost averaging’ is based on a scam conducted by the bucket shops in the early 1900s.

It’s comforting to know, that method (the scam), has made its way into at least one SEC certification requirement.

There, I feel much better 🙂

One of, if not the main reason for working this trade with the current method, is the real danger this market could ‘implode’ at any minute.

We’re just one (un)planned event away from being down 20% – 50% overnight.

Biotech SPBIO ($SPSIBI), Weekly Close

The weekly close shows SPBIO to be unique among all the major indices (miners excluded).

Not even the sister index IBB, has the weekly MA cross (black arrow) to the downside.

“You Are Here”

On the chart below, the complete positioning short SPBIO is shown as the magenta rectangle.

Also shown, are measured move targets.

Looking at the potential of this trade, the reason for the dogged persistence becomes clear.

Summary

As always, anything can happen … the trade could fall apart.

That’s true.

However, probabilities for continued market downside are increasing, not decreasing.

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

GDX, Down 5-Months, & Counting

August 30, 2022 By in All-The-Same, Bitcoin, Crypto, Dollar, GDX, GDXJ, GLD, GOLD, Gold & Silver, Gold Miners, The Speck

Way Back, To 2012

We have to go all the way back nearly ten-years, to find five consecutive down-months.

The bear market in the miners GDX, and GDXJ, is not any news to those accessing (or following) this site over the long-haul.

Nearly two years ago, this report pegged the bear market before it was even a blip in anyone else’s pineal gland. 🙂

That fact’s proven-out by the listing of no fewer than ten links to other analyst’s super-bullish posts on gold and gold miners.

It’s safe to say at that time, everybody else was pointed in one (bullish) direction.

So, what’s happened to GDX (and GDXJ) since that October 25th, 2020, report?

GDX, is down approximately – 38.2%, and GDXJ, has declined – 47.6%.

Not exactly a bull market.

Senior Miners, GDX, Monthly Bar

Looking at the chart, it’s obvious; the prior ‘five-months’, distance traveled, was much less than our current situation.

Add to that, there’s no real support until lower levels. The decline’s free to continue, unabated.

Summary

This site’s primary focus is strategy. The longer term, the better.

Including the October 25th, 2020, report on the gold miners, we’re coming up on several other significant two-year anniversaries:

Bitcoin to Replace Gold?

Dollar Reversal; Ready

Corn Goes Vertical

Let’s not forget, ‘The Speck’, as we call it, was identified as a hoax well over two years ago; documented with this post.

The intuitive assessment of only partial data (at best) was, and probably will remain, the most important post of all.

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

‘Follow The Money’

August 12, 2022 By in $SPSIBI, Biotech, LABD, LABD-22-05, Livermore, Positions, SPBIO, TDA-LABD-22-02, The Speck, Wyckoff 1 Comment

Well, Almost … Now, It’s ‘Follow The Volume’

‘Follow the money’ was the clue back in the days of the Watergate scandal.

To unravel the secrets of the break-in, you had to follow the money trail.

Not much has changed since then; except this time around it’s important to look at the volume as well.

The 3X Inverse List

Compiled below, is a list of triple-leveraged inverse funds.

Only one (in bold) has recently posted record breaking volume day after day and week after week.

BNKD, DRV, EDZ, FAZ, LABD, SMDD, SOXS, SPXS, TMV, TZA, WEBS, YANG

From a Wyckoff analysis standpoint and from the volume itself, LABD is clamoring for attention.

The daily chart shows us volume is off the scale.

Biotech SPBIO, 3X Leveraged Inverse LABD, Daily

No other leveraged inverse fund’s chart (in the above list) has this look.

Somebody, Always Knows ‘Something‘

Wyckoff wrote back in the day, ‘insiders’ can’t leave well enough alone; their greed is too great to keep under control.

They take their information and act accordingly.

Our job is to look for those actions, decipher them, and then ourselves, act accordingly.

Who Could It Be Now?

So, what could it be that would cause ‘insiders’ (and professional speculators) to focus nearly exclusively on biotech and go short the sector.

Hmmm, just what could it be?

Well, the mainstream media doesn’t seem to have a clue either. It’s all a big ‘mystery’ to them (although cracks are appearing).

It’s The ‘What’ … Not The ‘Why’

Both Livermore and Wyckoff admonished us not to focus on the why of market movements. The ‘why’ will always come out later, after the fact.

They were concerned with ‘what’ is happening; is price moving up, down, or going sideways in accumulation.

Summary

There’s no mistake based on the chart of LABD above, something major, potentially long-term, is setting-up in the biotech (SPBIO) sector.

The chart itself tells us to focus specifically on this area (not advice not a recommendation).

With that, we’re about mid-way through today’s session.

Price action appears to be going through a test of yesterday’s reversal.

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 It Heads South …

July 28, 2022 By in $SPSIBI, Biotech, LABD, LABD-22-05, Positions, SPBIO, TDA-LABD-22-02, The Epoch Times, The Speck, ZeroHedge

… Bad News, Comes Out

Is that where we are with Biotech?

Houston Methodist Sued, $25-million

In what may be just the beginning of similar actions, is this the pivot point?

Part of a lawsuit’s process is ‘discovery’. That’s probably the last thing any ‘institution’ wants.

ZeroHedge picked up the news, linked here; the comment section is telling.

Potential for a significant reversal in SPBIO, has been on the radar for about three-weeks.

What’s price action saying at this juncture?

SPBIO, Daily

For starters, within the first hour of today’s session, we’ve already had an ‘outside-down’ print; last session’s highs and lows have been exceeded by today’s action.

Shifting gears for the next chart, we’re looking at 3X Leveraged Inverse Fund LABD.

LABD, Hourly

The Wyckoff spring set-up is clear. The testing discussed in this update, is per-the-book for Wyckoff action.

‘Tests’ can always fail.

That’s why it’s called ‘The Danger Point’. It’s the location where the risk of being wrong is least (not advice, not a recommendation).

The next chart, also LABD, highlights the record volume on two time-frames, daily and hourly.

This is a potential ‘changing of hands’ from weak to strong for the short-side on SPBIO.

It should be noted, last week’s volume for LABD, was also a record, making it three time-frames.

Summary

As this post was being created, LABD continues to rachet lower into what is now a deep test.

Currently trading at LABD 25.98 (mid-session), we’ll see if the test holds and LABD finishes higher for the day.

Meanwhile, the fundamental backdrop and pressure continues to build.

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

Biotech’s Liquidation Sale

July 18, 2022 By in $SPSIBI, Biotech, LABD, LABD-22-05, Positions, SPBIO, TDA-LABD-22-02, TDA-YANG-22-01, The Speck 2 Comments

Won’t Know For Sure, Until It Hits Bottom

Watching and waiting for the downside reversal; looks like it’s here.

With about thirty-minutes left in the session, biotech SPBIO, is printing a reversal bar.

It’s not just the reversal that’s important but we could also be on the right edge of a massive trading channel.

Biotech SPBIO, Daily

It’s hard to see what’s really going on until we compress the channel and look at the possibility.

It doesn’t seem real.

However, we all have to realize we’re in uncharted (literally) territory.

If this sector begins a significant decline, that’s when to expect “bad news” coming out in the mainstream … likely to accelerate the downdraft.

Positioning

The short position in FXI (via YANG) was closed out (TDA-YANG-22-01) at 10.64, with a 15.4%, gain.

A new position was opened in LABD @ 25.80, as LABD was reversing off the session lows (not advice not a recommendation).

Trade identified as TDA-LABD-22-02.

The original LABD-22-05, was maintained, still active.

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

Biotech … Trend-line’s End

July 14, 2022 By in Biotech, LABD, LABD-22-05, Prechter, SPBIO, Speck-Effect, The Speck

The Next Leg

Down markets have a nasty habit of revealing the bad news of truth.

Robert Prechter Jr., said it years ago (Wave Principle), the public needs to be conditioned to receive (and even demand) bad news.

Bear markets condition the public’s consciousness to fervently seek that which they previously ignored.

This reversal could be trend-line’s end for biotech.

If so, during the next leg down, we may be about to get the revelation.

The previous post was valid but a little early … by one day.

As we’ll see below, If the current action holds, it’s a potential major pivot to the downside.

Biotech SPBIO, Daily Chart

The un-marked chart does not look like much at this point. However, the mark-ups below reveal the potential.

We’ll start first with an obvious trend-line.

Next, is a similar trend to the left of the original and then, a potential trend at the right edge.

Where it gets interesting, is when the chart is compressed to show the symmetry of the trading channel.

It’s hard to dispute that it does not exist … there it is.

Positioning

Currently short this sector via LABD (not advice, not a recommendation), with LABD entries at 27.58, and 29.29 for a combined entry of 28.11.

Trade identified as LABD-22-05, with current stop at the session low LABD 26.57.

Summary

SPBIO, is edging lower with near term support areas on the hourly chart (not shown).

We’re still at the danger point; price action can reverse its nascent down move.

However, this time the fundamentals could provide the backdrop; a potential black swan (of ‘side effects’) and especially if the overall markets (S&P, Dow, NASDAQ) have also reversed.

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