From the Desk of Steve Strazza

The largest insider transaction on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filed by Kevin Stein, director of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd $AXTA.

Stein reported a purchase of 36,600 AXTA shares, equivalent to $1 million.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The market is riding a thin line.

There’s potential for $SPY to drop down to 440 if we can’t rally above 446.

He had it coming.

But this isn't really about Philip and his cancer sticks.

Instead, I'm going to sell premium in his Philip Morris stock options, betting on the company going nowhere for at least the next month.

First up, look at this chart:

We can clearly see the range contracting all year in $PM. Given what the broader stock market is doing, my bet is this range contraction continues.

Now the wrinkle we have to deal with is that Philip Morris is slated to release their next quarterly earnings statement on October 19, which is ONE DAY before October monthly options expire! That makes it tricky to be selling premium in the regular monthly options.

But the good news is, we can select the October 13 WEEKLY expiration options to express our trade.

Here's the Play:

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The S&P 500 dropped right down to the breakout level from last week.

Question is, do we hold or head down to 4,430, then 4415?

This index needs to hold above 4,475 to head back up hill.

The next new position in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is:

The largest insider transaction on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filed by Sylebra Capital Ltd, which revealed an additional purchase of $5.2 million in Impinj Inc $PI.

Patrick J. Heron, director of Mirum Pharmaceuticals $MIRM, revealed a purchase of 147,991 shares, equivalent to $3,884,763.

How was your summer?

Ready to make some money this Fall?

Last night was our LIVE Monthly Charts Strategy Session for Premium Members of Allstarcharts.

This is where we go over everything happening in the current markets.

The chart of the S&P500 is a great representation of the circumstances right now.

Stocks are correcting and stuck in a range during a perfectly normal time to be digesting their historic gains.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It's slim pickings with stock selection. Not a ton of things looking great right now.

The indices are pulling in, and I'm watching the eight-day moving average on $SPY at 447.48.

This is the video recording of our September 5th Monthly Charts Live Strategy Session

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

It was do or die for the yellow metal a couple of weeks ago.

Gold chose “do.”

Buyers sprang into action, defending a critical former support level while driving prices higher. 

That valiant effort may have only prolonged the inevitable: a period of sustained weakness.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not playing the role of a Debbie Downer this week.

I still believe gold is in the early innings of a new secular bull run.

Why?

It’s pretty simple. All we have to do is switch the denominator to any other global currency.

Gold has already broken out versus every currency in the world – except the US dollar. 

And that, folks, is the crux of the problem.

The US dollar!

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The market was pretty much range-bound most of the day.

There were nice opportunities in certain stocks.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

“Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” blared the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek less than a week after the US Dollar Index $DXY peaked last September.

Unbelievable timing.

We can’t make this stuff up!

While the DXY has undergone a significant correction since, the message is just as appropriate today as it was then.

The dollar can’t stop.

It’s ripping higher this morning, breaking to fresh six-month highs as it nears a key area of former resistance.

Those mounting breakouts and breakdowns favoring the USD from mid-August are sticking their moves. 

Have no fear, or "FOMO," if you missed any of those trades.

These next two dollar pairs offer well-defined entries using one of my favorite short-duration chart patterns…

The flag.

Before I outline the trade setups, here’s a quick reminder of what constitutes a flag or pennant (triangular version), according to Robert D. Edwards and John Magee’s classic...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza

The largest insider transaction on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filed by Sylebra Capital Ltd, which revealed an additional purchase of $5.2 million in Impinj Inc $PI.

Patrick J. Heron, director of Mirum Pharmaceuticals $MIRM, revealed a purchase of 147,991 shares, equivalent to $3,884,763.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It’s slim pickings with stock selection. Not a ton of things looking great right now.

The indices are pulling in, and I’m watching the eight-day moving average on $SPY at 447.48.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

It was do or die for the yellow metal a couple of weeks ago.

Gold chose “do.”

Buyers sprang into action, defending a critical former support level while driving prices higher. 

That valiant effort may have only prolonged the inevitable: a period of sustained weakness.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not playing the role of a Debbie Downer this week.

I still believe gold is in the early innings of a new secular bull run.

Why?

It’s pretty simple. All we have to do is switch the denominator to any other global currency.

Gold has already broken out versus every currency in the world – except the US dollar. 

And that, folks, is the crux of the problem.

The US dollar!

Yes, overhead supply remains intact for these shiny rocks and their associated stocks. 

Demand for gold must absorb supply before we witness new all-time highs, no question.

I just can’t envision that happening if the dollar continues to rise – which it is.

Check out the overlay chart of gold futures and the US Dollar Index $DXY inverted:

I flip the DXY chart to...

We had a resting GTC order filled at our profit target in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

The next new position in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is:

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The market was pretty much range-bound most of the day.

There were nice opportunities in certain stocks.

The largest insider transaction on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filed by Sylebra Capital Ltd, which revealed a purchase of $8 million in Impinj Inc $PI.

The hedge fund now owns 3,869,196 shares, representing an ownership stake of roughly 14%.