Today's standout insider transaction comes from Ally Financial $ALLY CEO Michael G. Rhodes, who just made a bold move, buying 25,634 shares worth roughly $1 million.

When a CEO puts their own money on the line, it's always worth paying attention.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from January 29, 2025:

Last but not least, John C. Malone is back at it, adding to his stake in The Liberty Braves Group $BATRA with a fresh $935,450 buy.

Today's number is... 808

Small-caps are currently experiencing their third-longest period without reaching all-time highs. So far, it has lasted 808 trading days, and they are still in a 6.7% drawdown.

Here’s the chart:

(right-click and open image in new tab to zoom in)

Let's break down what the chart shows:

• The dark blue line in the top is the S&P 500 index price.
• The gray line in the top panel is the all-time high level.
• The red line in the middle shows the all-time high drawdown in small caps.
• The light blue line in the bottom shows the consecutive trading days since we last saw an all-time high in small caps.

The Takeaway: Is 2025 the year we see all-time highs in small caps? Maybe.

But right now, Small-caps are currently trading below their previous cycle highs from 2021 and have been for the past 808 trading days.

Small-cap stocks are often under-owned and underappreciated, leading to low overall expectations for...

Talk about a bull market of wide participation!

Technology isn't even in the top 10 ETFs, and it's Equal Weight Technology $RSPT over Large Cap Technology $XLK.

Sectors like industrials, utilities, and financials are well into the green further solidifying the broad participation on a sector level.

And despite the headlines about DeepSeek impacting semiconductors, look at the action in sectors like Communications $XLC. Tremendously optimistic behavior.

We're in New York City for the Portfolio Accelerator this week, which has been tremendous.

This morning, we led a discussion about metals, bonds, economic data, and much more. Paul Ciena, the chief technical strategist at Bank of America, overlayed momentum with the unemployment rate (such a junky thing to do haha).

The technical analysis and conversations have been off the charts here. 

We recorded an extra special episode of Gold Rush for you all LIVE from New York City. 

Yesterday was unreal. We visited the NYSE with Jay Woods and got a full tour of the place.

Walking the trading floor during market hours was an incredible experience—watching the action and how things work, staying until the closing bell, and taking in that iconic moment firsthand. I’ll never forget it.

Afterward, we hung out and had some drinks right there on the floor. I feel like I just lived through the classic NYSE traders routine.

Then it was right back to work. We woke up this morning and hit it hard.

We just ended the first day of presentations, and everyone absolutely crushed it.

JC kicked things off with a state of the markets talking about sector rotation and why it is the lifeblood of a bull market.

We discussed a ton of ideas and finally made some trades.

Jason did a deep dive on Gold and Precious Metals.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for today's Hot Corner Insider Weekly Strategy Session.

Last week, I joined my friend Michael Batnick on “What Are Your Thoughts.”

The guys over at Ritholtz Wealth and the Compound are the absolute best at what they do. For that reason, doing their shows is always an honor. 

But, it’s also a blast. They make talking markets fun.

We talked about a number of topics from breadth, to short-sellers, and even Nancy Pelosi’s latest trades.

Make sure to check out the replay if you missed it.

Anyways, it is on my mind because Batnick brought up the Dollar Tree chart and I’ve been watching it ever since. We both really like the setup. 

Today, I’m pulling the trigger as it looks to be finishing the right shoulder of this inverse head and...

I'm at the All Star Charts Portfolio Accelerator event in New York City. 

One topic I discussed this morning with everyone is a volatility-triggered setup I'm seeing in the iShares Bitcoin ETF $IBIT. We have a short history to work with, but this bears attention.

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. New position in XLY.
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

In this scan, we look to identify the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega cap status (over $200B).

Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.

But the scan doesn't just end there.

We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.

Some of the best performers in recent decades – stocks like Priceline, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, and myriad others – would have been on this list at some point during their journey to becoming the market behemoths they are today.

When you look at the stocks in our table, you'll notice we're only focused on Technology and Growth industry groups such as Software, Semiconductors, Online...

Today’s standout insider transaction comes from Robert W. Stallings, director of Texas Capital Bancshares $TCBI.

Stallings just made a bold move, scooping up 7,676 TCBI shares for a total of $146,705.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from January 28, 2025:

Meanwhile, institutions are making waves too.

Victory Capital Management just increased its stake in Genpact Limited $G, filing a 13G that reveals a bump from 4.72% to 5.19%.

Today's number is... 22

My Fear or Strength Model was in a bearish mode for the last 22 trading days. However, as of Monday, the model has switched to bullish mode.

Here’s the chart:

(right-click and open image in new tab to zoom in)

Let's break down what the chart shows:

• The black line in the top panel is the S&P 500 index price.
• The green shading highlights the model is in bullish mode.
• The red shading highlights the model is in bearish mode.
• The black line in the middle panel is the 10-day average of the NYSE+NASDAQ net new high advance-decline line - The model's “strength” component. The gray shading represents the AD line is rising.
• The black line in the bottom panel is the Volatility index, which is the model's “fear” component. The gray shading represents the VIX reading above 28.5.

The Takeaway: For the past 22 days...

Growth sold off yesterday on headlines following the release of the new Chinese artificial system, DeepSeek.

But in spite of this weakness, many key growth names still closed the day positive and at new highs.

Large Cap Growth $IWF is still solidly green; nothing has changed here.

We're all in New York City for another regular of our Portfolio Accelerator events, and tomorrow we'll all be at the NYSE.

It's a fantastic event with an intimate gathering of our team and Portfolio Accelerator members.
If you want to apply, you can click here.

Europe has come a really long way in just a short while

The Euro STOXX 50, an index of the largest blue-chip companies in the Eurozone, is up about 10% in less than a month. 

I remember a time not long ago when I was worrying about the potential tops that had formed in Europe.

They never completed. Instead, we hooked higher like we’ve seen so many times before.

This is what the STOXX 50 $FEZ chart looked like coming into the year (in USD).

What a nasty distribution pattern, right?

But here's what it looks like today.

Buyers showed up and defended this key support zone again in December. 

For now this top is nothing like the top from the prior cycle. It's likely just another continuation pattern. It completes on a breakout above 54.

So what is next for Europe?

Considering the messy, rangebound action for...

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. New position in SMH.
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. Exited IGV at Profit Target.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

Today’s standout insider transaction comes from Russ Hutchinson, chief financial officer of Ally Financial Inc $ALLY.

Hutchinson made a significant purchase of 19,100 ALLY shares, totaling $753,473.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from January 27, 2025:

CFOs are often the secret sauce of insider trading.

They have unparalleled insight into the company’s financial health and future prospects—they know the numbers better than anyone else.

When a CFO puts their own money on the line, it can signal strong confidence in the stock.

Today's number is... 351

On Monday, the S&P 500 closed down by 1.46%. However, if you look deeper, you will actually see that 351 (69%) S&P 500 stocks advanced while only 152 declined for the day.

Here's the data:

(right-click and open image in new tab to zoom in)

Let's break down what the table shows:

The first row represents the advancing stocks of the S&P 500, while the second row shows the declining stocks. Each column corresponds to a trading day, starting with the current day on the left and moving to the right through the past ten days.

The Takeaway: The breadth of the S&P 500 has improved over the past two weeks. In 9 of the last 11 trading days, more stocks have advanced than declined. Even on days when the index showed weakness, breadth continued to improve. 

But let's take a closer look at yesterday's scenario: When the S&P 500 index drops by over 1% and more than half of the stocks (over 50%) advance.

I found that this scenario hasn't happened too often. In fact, this has only happened twice in...

Just landed in NYC for our Portfolio Accelerator event, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Every few months, the whole All Star Charts crew gets together with program members and some of our closest friends in the industry for an exclusive gathering of the brightest minds in finance.

It’s the perfect opportunity to connect with incredible people and dive deep into what’s working in the markets right now.

Last year was amazing, but I already know this one’s going to take it to another level.

It’s my third time in the city, and I feel so fortunate to be part of something like this.

Being around some of the sharpest traders, portfolio managers, and technicians isn’t just inspiring—it’s a massive chance to learn and grow.

Everyone’s here—JC, Sean, Sam, Patrick. These are my people. And every time we come...