Category Archives: Wyckoff

Gold Miners … Test & Reverse

May 15, 2023 By in GDXJ, GLD, JDST, SLV, Wyckoff 4 Comments

Decisive Rejection

Is the bottom about to fall out?

The last update on the Junior Gold Miners GDXJ, said they were hanging by a thread.

That update even included a forecast which turned out to be wrong and right at the same time (not advice, not a recommendation).

The miners have reversed … it just did not happen the next day as shown on the forecast chart.

The decisive rejection of the resistance (and test) level happened four days later.

Today, continued a slight retrace of that down-move as shown on the daily close chart below.

Junior Miners GDXJ, Daily Close

The attempt to push above known resistance (blue line) has failed. Price action had a false breakout (Wyckoff Up-Thrust), then a test and subsequent failure of that test.

The zoom of the reversal area shows more detail.

Last Friday’s session closed higher as did today … however today’s volume (i.e., commitment) was down – 49.4% when compared to the prior session.

The buyers are pulling back … price action is drifting higher.

On a weekly basis, we still have a bearish MACD divergence (not shown). Probabilities at this point indicate lower prices ahead (not advice, not a recommendation).

Stay Tuned

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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

Nat-Gas … The ‘Disruption’ Trade

May 8, 2023 By in GDXJ, JDST, Natural Gas, UNG, Van Metre, Wyckoff 5 Comments

Waiting For The Next Shoe

Nat-Gas, at multi-year lows but for how long?

We’re not in Kansas anymore and to expect things to operate ‘normally’, is a strategic error (not advice, not a recommendation).

The last update on Nat-Gas, specifically the futures, warned of new lows before a significant reversal:

“The Nat-Gas futures contract for May (NGK23), needs to post above 2.383 soon (in the next day or so), or the contract is at risk of pressing to new lows.”

Well, we’ve moved on from the May contract to the June contract and that contract indeed posted a new low this past Friday, the 5th.

Just Because …

Just because nat-gas is down, does not mean that it has to go up. That type of thinking is another error, typically called a ‘mind trap‘.

A better way to think about the situation, is to figure on a ‘disruption’ of some type, resulting in either a destruction of supply or excess demand over the usual conditions for the season (weather) at hand.

So, let’s see if the charts agree with that premise from a Wyckoff analysis standpoint.

Nat-Gas UNG, Weekly

Each significant downward thrust is becoming shorter in net distance traveled.

The horizontal blue lines tell the story. We’re nearing the end of the down move (not advice, not a recommendation).

Now, on to the daily. Price action penetrated support and has reversed … it’s in Wyckoff ‘spring’ position.

Natural Gas, UNG Daily

Of course, what happens next is the question.

Just as this post said we’d revisit it towards the summertime, showing there’s no Fed ‘pivot’, we can also propose there’s likely to be a severe disruption in the supply of nat-gas (not advice, not a recommendation).

Housekeeping & The Junior Miners, GDXJ

The expected lower open in the GDXJ did not happen.

So far, it’s been a narrow range day (as of 10:47 a.m., EST).

Price action is oscillating around unchanged and there appears to be no urgency to move either direction.

Standing on the sidelines for now (not advice, not a recommendation).

Stay Tuned

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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

Hanging By A Thread … GDXJ

May 7, 2023 By in GDX, GDXJ, GLD, Gold & Silver, Gold Miners, JDST, Wyckoff 5 Comments

At The Next Open

If we’re at the downside pivot for gold and the miners, there’s only one right answer for the next market session.

That answer is:

Lower open, lower high, lower close.

Not advice, not a recommendation.

However, it is an assessment of where we are in the market cycle for gold and the miners.

The focus is on the Juniors GDXJ, as they are the weakest of both gold GLD, and the Seniors GDX.

If GDXJ, does not open lower, there’s something else happening; that would mean the downside reversal potential is in question and/or it could morph into more testing at the Axis Line, previously discussed.

Here’s a close-up of the sector.

Junior Miners GDXJ, Daily

Volume bar No. 1, corresponded with a solid up move for that session; shown as Price Bar No. 1.

Volume Bar No. 2, is where it gets interesting.

Specifically, higher volume, more narrow range (net distance) and a close well off the high.

Wyckoff called this: ‘effort vs. reward’.

Lots of effort (volume) with less reward (distance) than the previous move.

The next session confirmed that assessment by opening gap-down and then spending the entire day attempting to close higher … which did not happen.

That day (last Friday) may have been short covering. If so, we’re about to find out.

Junior Miners, GDXJ, Daily (forecast)

If we’re in a reversal (a big if), then we’ll get some variation of the price bar (black arrow) as shown (not advice, not a recommendation).

For the bearish option to remain intact, GDXJ needs to open lower and close lower for the day.

However, it does not need to post a new daily low, although that would help the case for more downside.

Anything other than what’s just described, would indicate a more complex price action environment.

If that happens, an update will be released.

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

Gold Bulls … Exhausted

May 6, 2023 By in GDXJ, GLD, Gold & Silver, Gold Miners, Wyckoff 5 Comments

The Volume Speaks

Nearly everyone expects gold to go higher; much higher.

You want ‘clicks’ on your website? Then talk about how gold’s going to the moon.

It’s an easy grift. Everybody’s doing it.

However, gold’s truth is in the price action, not the grift.

We’re going to look at that truth and more specifically, what gold’s (GLD) volume is telling us.

With full understanding that anything can happen, gold could go higher, there’s a case for a significant downside reversal (not advice, not a recommendation).

Gold GLD, Weekly

In Wyckoff analysis terms, volume is the energy behind the move. It’s the commitment … or lack thereof.

Last week’s volume is far below the prior spike high set during the ‘invasion’.

It’s down over 56% from the ‘invasion’ spike and down 26% from the most recent spike.

Demand, commitment and thrust energy, are backing away from the gold market.

Moving down to the daily, we see the net distance traveled with each significant thrust is shorter than the last.

Gold GLD, Daily Close

Wyckoff wrote about this observation a century ago when discussing how to spot the end (or absorption phase) of a move.

He called it ‘shortening of the thrust’.

So, there it is. The weekly chart shows each major volume spike is less than the last.

The daily close has net distance traveled less than the last.

Add in the mining sector’s GDXJ, posting its most recent peak four weeks ago (week ended April 10th).

Last week’s action in the Junior’s appeared to be an act of desperation by the bulls.

We’ll cover that sector 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

Gold Miners … The Reversal

April 29, 2023 By in Derecho, GDX, GDXJ, GLD, Gold & Silver, Gold Miners, JDST, Jerimiah Babe, Spring-to-Up-Thrust, Wyckoff 1 Comment

Each Peak Is Lower

Gold’s reversal or potential for reversal, has already been covered here, here and here.

We’re going to focus on the Junior Miners GDXJ but start first, with an updated chart of gold (GLD).

Gold GLD, Weekly Close

This is how it looked back on April 15th.

As of the close yesterday, we have this:

It’s arguable GLD, is now below the resistance line (completing the Spring-to-Up-Thrust) but that’s not the most important part from a trading standpoint.

When looking at the Junior Mining Index GDXJ, there’s an ominous pattern.

Junior Miners GDXJ, Weekly Close

Each extreme peak over the last three-years has been labeled; the Derecho of 2020, the so-called Ukraine ‘invasion’, and now, the banking crisis.

Note: The SVB bank failure was on March 10th. There was a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction by the public into gold and related components … that peak appears to have stalled at the location shown.

What’s going on is obvious; it’s a bear market.

Each major peak, lower than the last.

Now, the interesting part.

The Junior Miners are in Wycoff Up-Thrust condition.

In this case, price action’s solidly below the resistance line.

Looking at the daily (not shown), there may have been a ‘test’ of resistance this past week for a move higher; if so, it failed and GDXJ closed slightly lower.

Summary & Positioning

So, here we are: The market (SPY) has rallied over the past week, giving the illusion that all is well.

However, it too is now in up-thrust (reversal) position.

For my business accounts, it looks like being short the miners at this juncture is lower risk than being short biotech (not advice, not a recommendation).

Typical short vehicles that could be used (not a recommendation) are DUST and JDST.

As always, anything can happen. If the markets ‘implode’, they might be closed for any number of days or weeks.

Stay Tuned

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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

Short Squeeze … Biotech

April 28, 2023 By in $SPSIBI, Biotech, LABD, Wyckoff 1 Comment

Running The Stops

It looks like we’re in a squeeze with price action screaming higher.

As shown in the last update, the LABD hard stop was @ 16.79 (not advice, not a recommendation).

With that said, the entire short position was exited at 16.7501, early in the session.

Overall gain was around 3.96%

With the housekeeping out of the way, let’s move on to the chart and see where price action’s likely to head next.

Biotech SPBIO, Daily

We’ll get right to the point and show the most likely area to clear out stops and potentially set up for the next reversal.

The moving averages have been left in the chart (not a usual practice) because that’s the focus of the crowd.

In their minds, a close above the 200-Day MA, would be bullish.

If that happens, from a Wyckoff standpoint, we could be in up-thrust (reversal) position.

Fibonacci Time

Also of note: When a Fibonacci sequence becomes obvious, that’s when it tends to fall apart or morph into some other type of sequence.

That may be happening now.

Strategy

As always, price action can and will do whatever is necessary to extract as much from both sides (bull, bear) as possible.

It may contact the 200-MA or not. It all depends on where the most stop oerders are hiding.

Slightly above the recent highs looks like a good area for those stops.

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

Mastering The Reversal … Biotech

April 22, 2023 By in $SPSIBI, Biotech, LABD, SPBIO, Wyckoff 1 Comment

At The Extreme

We’re about to find out if Biotech’s in a new bull market or at the retrace extreme, ready for reversal.

The last update gave us the big picture on the index; a massive H&S pattern, five years in the making.

A potential trendline was shown on the daily chart of inverse fund LABD. That trend was subsequently negated by price action just hours later.

Let’s look at SPBIO, more specifically, the 4-Hour Chart.

To mimic price action of leveraged inverse LABD, we’ll invert the SPBIO.

The reason for inverting, not using LABD, is that leveraged funds have a downward bias which distorts the actual data.

Biotech SPBIO, 4-Hour, Inverted

The chart highlights Point No. 1 and Point No. 2. These areas are identified as a reminder; the prior set-up and reversal was identified, to-the-day.

There’s no guarantee the same performance will be repeated, i.e., spotting the next reversal.

The chart below, shows why we’re at The Danger Point®

Wyckoff discussed a phenomenon he called ‘shortening of the thrust’. When price action’s ready to reverse, the directional thrusts become shorter.

We’ll zoom-in on the recent action to show that Friday’s session failed to post a new daily low (high for non-inverted).

Now new low, may be the reversal nuance or not … we’ll find out at the next open (not advice, not a recommendation).

Not shown on the chart, price action’s retraced a Fibonacci 50%, of the entire move from the set-up and reversal of February 2nd, and 3rd.

Summary

Taking it all in aggregate, we’re obviously at an extreme and either going to reverse from here or launch into a sustained continuing directional move.

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

Nat-Gas … New Lows ?

April 20, 2023 By in BOIL, LABD, SPBIO, UNG, Wyckoff 1 Comment

The Tape Is Always Right

The Nat-Gas futures contract for May (NGK23), needs to post above 2.383 soon (in the next day or so), or the contract is at risk of pressing to new lows.

We’ll look at the ETF proxy for nat-gas UNG, below, showing a Wyckoff up-thrust (downside reversal) condition.

As this post is being created (8:51 a.m., EST), the pre-market session shows the futures and UNG, oscillating about unchanged.

Natural Gas UNG, Daily

As with the upside reversal identified in the biotech sector (link here), we’re just reading the tape and acting accordingly (not advice, not a recommendation).

With that said, a trade was executed and closed in leveraged fund BOIL, with the following details:

BOIL Entry: 3.15

BOIL Exit: 3.45

Profit (Loss): 9.52%

The expectation was for a much larger profit.

However, price action is not behaving as if it’s in a strong up-trend. It’s even at risk of posting new lows as a result of the Up-Thrust condition noted above.

Meanwhile, biotech looks like it’s about ready to reverse.

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 … Testing Resistance

April 18, 2023 By in $SPSIBI, LABD, SPBIO, The List, The Speck, Wyckoff, Wyckoff Stock Market Institute

Test & Reverse ?

The Wyckoff ‘spring’ position in biotech was identified correctly.

Two days later, SPBIO launches straight-up.

So, let’s take a look at what’s likely to happen next.

Going way back to 1931 and Wyckoff’s teachings and course material (still available here), he stated:

‘When an up-trend is decisively broken to the downside, more often than not, there’s some type of attempt to rally as a test of that break.’

We’ll use a Fibonacci 3-Day Closing chart of Biotech SPBIO, to see if Wyckoff’s timeless market insight still holds up in today’s world.

Biotech SPBIO 3-Day Close

Starting with an un-marked chart, first.

Putting in the notations with a zoom into the recent action.

Well, it looks like nothing has changed in the last 100-years because there it is. 🙂

Biotech broke down out of its trendline and bear flag of the past five months and has now come back to test that area.

Fundamentals

By this time, we all know the story on this sector. The fundamentals are nothing short of horrific.

Just in case there’s someone new to this site and they’ve not yet got the memo, we’ll add two more to ‘The List‘

Contentious COVID-19 Drugs Are All Anti-Malarial: May Not Be A Coincidence

UK Study Finds “No Evidence” Face Masks Protect Vulnerable Against COVID

As always, it’s the comments from the ‘ZeroHedge Guys’, that are more valuable than the article itself.

Strategy

For my corporate accounts, I’m already re-positioning short via LABD, starting during the last session (not advice, not a recommendation).

The initial entry has been quite small as this market could push a bit higher (lower for LABD) just because of momentum alone.

We see that in today’s pre-market session (LABD down about 2%).

It’s now about five minutes before the open.

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

‘Panic’ Into Gold … Reversal Risk

April 15, 2023 By in GDX, GDXJ, GLD, Gold & Silver, Gold Miners, Spring-to-Up-Thrust, Wyckoff 3 Comments

Gold Bulls Exhausted

With Friday’s downside reversal we’re now between Euphoria and Anxiety for gold.

This past week was inundated with stories of panic at the bullion dealers.

YouTube ‘content creators’ were going berserk with hyper-inflationist rants; other ‘influencers’ telling us the dollar’s about to collapse; they say the Fed’s the only reason the dollar’s not at zero right now.

Then, rumors warning of gold to $5,000/oz. and higher.

The result as you would expect, is a highly emotional, manipulated public.

Different This Time?

At this point, whether or not the dollar will collapse is probably irrelevant.

Long time visitors to this site already know, battle lines (like here and here) are being drawn and it’s not in precious metals (not advice, not a recommendation).

As always, anything can happen and gold could go higher but with Friday’s reversal, probabilities have now shifted to the downside.

With that, we now have an ominous chart of gold below.

It shows the set-up to a repeating market characteristic:

Wyckoff ‘Spring to Up-Thrust’.

Gold (GLD) Weekly Close

Gold’s momentum wanes just as it’s pushing up through resistance.

Obviously, what happens next is the important part.

Strategy

Looking at the economic calendar for the coming week, there’s a Fed speaker every single day. If we’re really at a significant reversal, next week’s likely to put the panic into unsustainable overdrive and mark the top.

For the bulls, we’re looking for the GLD, highs to be maintained. If it can’t hold, there’s reversal trouble ahead.

A Reversal?

If this is the ‘big one’ and gold reverses, a likely (medium-term) target is in the area of $1,300/oz., – $1,350/oz. (not advice, not a recommendation).

If that happens, gold’s still expensive but it’s the mining sector GDX, GDXJ, that would potentially be devastated.

Both the Seniors and Juniors are already printing an MACD bearish divergence (not yet confirmed) when looking at the weekly charts.

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