S&P500 Archives | Opportunity Identified

September 18, 2017 | Posted by David Zarling, Head of Investment Research

Simple Market Secret: Just Look Left

One of the most important jobs of a market participant is risk management. If you’re unable to identify when your position is wrong, then you shouldn’t be entering a position to begin with. Would we ever enter a crowded room without identifying where the exits are? I don’t think so. We have the same responsibility when entering a new position. At 360 Investment Research, when we enter a new position, we identify risk (and potential reward) by looking left. By looking left on a price chart, we can identify previous changes in supply and demand, which can give clues on where demand or support could appear. By looking left, we can identify when buying momentum wanes and when selling pressure has entered the market. For example, if over a certain time period, price is making a series of lower highs and lower lows, we know sellers have more urgency than buyers for that time period. There is more supply than demand and price is trying to discover where the buyers live. So by looking left, we are using economic law (not opinion) to guide our investment decisions, entries, and exits. Using price removes mystery (and emotion) from our trading process. Let’s go through this exercise with the S&P 500 on daily and weekly time frames to identify where we are with the current market.

First, here’s the daily chart of the S&P 500:

When we look left, we can see price made of series of higher highs and higher lows from November through March. On March 1st, this important index recorded a new all-time-high. A series of higher highs and higher lows is indicative of a bull market. However, for the remainder of March and most of April, the characteristics of supply and demandchanged. The S&P 500 recorded a series of lower lows and lower highs over that two-month period. This was a downtrend on the daily time frame until a new high was established in mid-May. With the exception of recording a lower high and lower low in August, the sequence of higher highs and higher lows in one the world’s most important indexes has been relentless. Relentless higher highs and higher lows are classic bull market behavior.

Now for the weekly timeframe:

When looking left at the weekly data, it’s clear the S&P 500 is currently in a series of higher highs and higher lows. So, can the market be in a downtrend on the daily timeframe and an uptrend on the weekly timeframe? Absolutely. That’s exactly what we had back in March / April. By looking left on both the daily and weekly timeframes, we can gain a better understanding of market trends. It’s not the only thing we look at, but it’s a big piece of evidence. And the current assessment has the S&P 500 in a daily uptrend within the friendly confines of a weekly uptrend. We’re not ones to argue with price. These higher highs and higher lows are normal behavior for a bull market.

With the bullish uptrend clearly outlined for both the daily and weekly time frames, we need to acknowledge trees don’t grow to the moon and markets don’t go up forever. So where would one look for clues this market is changing from an uptrend to a downtrend? You guessed it. Look left. If sellers were to drive price down from here, we can quickly identify buyers have shown up near the 2425 level. On both the daily and weekly timeframes, that’s an important level to watch. If the S&P 500 closed below that level, it would be a clue supply and demand are changing in an important way. That’s what we’ll be watching and you should too.

To conclude, as part of our every-day process as market participants, we need to identify sequences of lows and highs. This exercise provides valuable information to help us manage risk and remain on the right side of the trade.

As always, you can get real-time updates and commentary about this development and many more opportunities here: @360Research

AND, you’ve got FREE access to great tool we’ve created, The Ultimate ETF Cheat Sheet. Click this link to get your FREE easy-to-use resource guide for all your ETF needs.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this article should be construed as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell a security. You invest based on your own decisions. Everything in this post is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only. I or my affiliates may hold positions in securities mentioned in this blog. Please see our Disclosure page for full disclaimer.

October 11, 2015 | Posted by David Zarling, Head of Investment Research

Supply And Demand

Back on September 28th, we took a look at the S&P 500 (SPY) and shared the following with our readers:

We anticipate buyers should step in right here and provide a relief rally. If that takes place, any ownership should be sold until new highs are made.

9 trading days and +7% later, here we are with another update. And again, we are at an important juncture. After anticipating this rip-your-face-off rally, we’ve reached a level of resistance that is worth watching. As you might remember, price is simply the interaction of supply and demand. More demand than supply, price goes up. More supply than demand, price goes down. This is economic law. Price moves to equilibrium — where there is a balance between supply and demand — until one outbalances the other and a new equilibrium must be discovered. In liquid markets, such as the S&P 500, this is an ongoing and fluid process.

As we study price (aka technical analysis), we can identify those areas where supply (selling) and demand (buying) are greatest just by watching price itself. As of Friday’s closing price, the S&P 500 (using ETF SPY as our proxy), has hit an area of resistance we find significant. In the past, the 201-203 area was an area of support, where buyers would step in and send price upward. This characteristic changed on August 21st, when SPY dropped through this important level without buyers stepping in. Using the chart from September 28, let’s zoom in a bit so you can see what we’re referring to:

We see price is currently up against an area of resistance. Looking left , we find this area of resistance was previously an area of support, where buyers stepped in to create demand. But on August 21st, this changed. On that date, there were not enough buyers to keep price from descending through this level. Accordingly, this area of support became an area of resistance, which was confirmed on September 17th, when increasing prices were met with significant supply (selling) at the 202 level, sending price downward in search of new demand.

Because of the aforementioned, we will be watching price closely. Those long SPY want to see buyers increase and drive price through this level and on to new highs. Those short want to see resistance hold and price turn downward again. We anticipate that sellers will step in at this level. However, we’ll let price determine our next step.

Trade safe.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this article should be construed as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell a security. Simply put, you are an adult. You invest based on your own decisions.

September 28, 2015 | Posted by David Zarling, Head of Investment Research

Should You Own U.S. Stocks Right Now?

As you know, at 360 Investment Research, we’re big proponents of price. Price is the manifestation of opinion and final arbiter of value. When we visualize price on a chart, all we need to do is look left to identify important characteristics of the security we’re observing. We like to look for evidence to support our investment decisions. The best and most important piece of evidence is price. What is it doing? What’s its direction? If price is making higher highs and higher lows, the trend is up. If price is making lower highs and lower lows, the trend is down. By analyzing price itself, we can determine the general trend and the potential change thereof.

When observing a popular U.S. equity market, such as the S&P 500, we can grasp the current state of that market by looking at its price action. To summarize what we’re seeing currently, the price behavior of the S&P 500 indicates there is no reason to own U.S. equities (as a whole) right now.

Using the ETF SPY as our proxy for the S&P 500, you can see that our concerns dating back to 01/17/15 were warranted. Here is the chart of SPY we shared on that day back in January:

[click to enlarge]

And, here is the same chart updated through today’s prices:

[click to enlarge]

As you can clearly see, price moved to new highs in early February, but could not hold them. The lower green trendline proved to be a significant resistance point, that when broken, brought in new supply (aka selling). Accordingly, a new lower low was established, indicating a major change in trend could be upon us. Subsequently, we noticed a new lower high recently, where sellers stepped in near the 200.00 level, causing the price to fall again. Bringing us to today. See the re-annotated chart below:

[click to enlarge]

As a reminder, in an uptrending market, we want to see higher highs and higher lows. As of right now, a new lower low and lower high have been established. If buyers do not step in at this junction, price will fall rapidly again to find demand. Though it is possible that a rip-your-face-off rally could take place from this price point, we want nothing to do with this (as a long trade) until new highs are established (a close above 212.00). Each gray area indicates where previous demand, now turned to supply, will be at its greatest. And if the lower green tramline (aka parallel line equidistant from previous trendlines) breaks, the next area of support / demand near 177.00 will be tested.

Nothing is guaranteed and our opinions, no matter how strong they are, don’t matter. Only price matters. We’ll continue to watch price to identify our next move and find our next opportunity.

Trade safe.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this article should be construed as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell a security. Simply put, you are an adult. You invest based on your own decisions.

October 8, 2014 | Posted by David Zarling, Head of Investment Research

Watch the S&P 500 closely

With Small Caps and Mid Caps looking increasingly weak, not to mention stock markets across the globe (FTSE, DAX, CAC), we’re keeping a close eye on the S&P 500’s price action. If this major US index does not hold/bounce from this level, the next area of support would be around 1900, a confluence of previous resistance (now turned support) and a parallel trend line running from the November 2012 low. Monitor this situation closely, curious investor. Price tells us everything.