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

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled XME to February options.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

We're in the heart of whipsaw hunting season.

Now is the time.

Every year we see an extended trend, going into late December, that extends just a bit too much, and then completely unwinds once the new year begins and the big portfolio managers are back at their desks.

Look at what happened to US Treasury Bonds at the end of 2013. Look at what happened to Gold and precious metals at the end of 2015. And look at Large-cap Growth stocks at the end of 2022. 

These are just a few examples, just to give you an idea of the power of the end-of-year whipsaw.

So because of experiences like these throughout my investing career, I've made it a point to look for the leading candidates for this end-of-year period that I call "Whipsaw Hunting Season".

We're hunting for this year's epic whipsaw, like the bond ripper in 2014, the Rally in Precious metals in early 2016 and the historic returns of Large-cap Growth stocks in early 2023.

We don't know for sure until after the fact, but this year's leading candidate, to me, has to be the US Dollar.

We have an extended trend. The dumbest money in the world is betting on a stronger...

Today’s most notable transaction comes from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which purchased an additional $15.5 million in VeriSign $VRSN shares, increasing its ownership stake to 13.80%.

This transaction reflects confidence in VeriSign’s ability to maintain its leadership in internet security and stability while benefiting from long-term digital growth trends.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 30, 2024:

Point72 Asset Management filed a 13G for StoneCo Ltd $STNE revealing an initial 13G for 5.10% stake.

Jay Monroe, executive chairman of the board of directors of Globalstar Inc $GSAT revealed a purchase of 1,500,000 shares.

Silver relative to gold is the best intermarket ratio for precious metal investors to track.

The line goes up when the animal spirits are alive in the industry.

Earlier this year, the ratio broke a multi-year downtrend line. 

It looked poised to retest the neckline of a massive head and shoulders bottoming formation.

Instead, it's been a choppy mess in recent months, disappointing the gold bugs (including ourselves).

You need to see this zoomed-out chart of silver relative to gold:

With the year coming to an end, I want to share what I believe is the most important chart to consider in 2025.

When it comes to the most critical stocks, it's all about tech. This has been the case for at least 15 years.

Mega-cap tech not only dominates U.S. indexes, but these stocks also play a major role in most investors' portfolios.

The same is true for semiconductors, which serve as both a benchmark for the technology sector and a barometer for the broader market. They are also the posterchild of the ongoing AI revolution.

By evaluating relative trends, we gain insight into leadership and can also assess the market's overall health.

Take a look at the long-term view of Technology $XLK and Semiconductors $SOX relative to the S&P 500 $SPX.

Both ratios...

This post has been made public after the trade was closed and is no longer active. All information shared is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

As long as the pattern in today's trade holds up high, then we can profit in today's trade.

If it follows through on the upside, all the better and we'll achieve our profit target all the sooner. But as long as it doesn't falter, that's all we need to profit.

Either way, we're leveraging what the options market is offering us to increase our odds of success.

Here's a one-year chart of YPF Sociedad Anonima $YPF:

This is a $17B integrated oil & gas company from Argentina.

Here's what my analysts had to say about it in a recent Junior Hall of Famers report:

YPF recently completed a structural trend reversal on both absolute and relative basis.

Price is pressing against a critical resistance level at the 2014 cycle highs.

While some consolidation is more than welcome at current levels, if and...

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

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled XLV to Feb7 (WEEKLY) options.
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 Minor Leaguers.

We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.

For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.

That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.

We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.

Nowadays, to make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.

And it doesn't have to be a Russell component — it can be any US-listed equity. With participation expanding around the globe, we want all those ADRs in our universe.

The same price and liquidity filters are applied. Then, as always, we sort by proximity to new...

I've learned a lot of lessons over many years in the market and I've got war stories for days. 

But with what we do today, I just like to cut right to the chase. I'm going to share my worst defeats and hardest lessons so you can learn from them, just like I did, and hopefully sooner., 

We all have to learn one way or another. 

Today we're talking about the most important companies in America. But what exactly does that mean? Most important? 

It's so open ended and subjective. 

When I was a lot younger, call it 15-18 years ago, I hadn't learned to recognize the sum of the parts of the market. It hadn't hit me yet that it's a market of stocks. It's not just a "stock market". 

This really set me back at the time. I was being too narrow minded and focused on what the media was pointing me to. I wasn't running those numbers myself deciding what actually mattered and what was just noise. 

And when I finally understood that it takes stocks going up in prices to drive the indexes higher, I started to pay more attention to the prices of those stocks. 

But which stocks do we focus more of our...

It's been a historic bull market for stocks - One of the best periods to own equities in American history. I hope you participated along with us.

But believe it or not, the U.S. was not the biggest winner. There are other parts of the world that have actually outperformed U.S. equities - both the S&P500 and the Nasdaq100 returns. 

Look at the Tel Aviv 125 Index, for example, breaking out of this multi-year base to new all-time highs:

You may have heard by now. The so called, "Buffett Indicator" is flashing what we're being told are "warning signals" of an imminent market collapse.

It is the "Buffett Indicator" after all. And Warren Buffett is one of the all-time greats.

But let me fill you in on a little secret. The only people who actually care about this ridiculous excuse for a "market gauge" are journalists writing their glorified gossip columns and charlatans trying to do their best to scare you. 

That's it.

They claim that the "Buffett Indicator" is this magical signal based on a ratio between the total market-cap of U.S. stocks relative to U.S. GDP. 

It's so hilarious that even Charlie Munger came out and said that, "Just because Warren thought of something 20 years ago doesn't make it a law of nature. There is no natural correlation between GDP & Corporate Profits"
 

The "Buffett Indicator" is not a thing. Not even the guy who it's named after thinks it's relevant. 

Meanwhile, here's a chart of Berkshire Hathaway chugging along in a strong uptrend making higher highs and...

Prospect Capital Corporation $PSEC CEO John F. Barry III made another splash, this time with a massive $8.58 million buy. He reported this 2,000,000 share purchase in a Form 4 filing on Friday.

When the top exec puts this kind of skin in the game, it’s time to sit up and pay attention.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 27, 2024:

And that’s not all! Hedge fund heavyweight EcoR1 Capital LLC is doubling down on biotech.

The firm added $1.8 million worth of Zymeworks Inc $ZYME to its portfolio, upping its stake to 21.5%. ZYME is now EcoR1’s fifth-largest holding.

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

Higher highs and higher lows are what make an uptrend. When that stops being the case, it's time to reassess.

Let's step back and take a look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The diverse mega-cap index makes a great benchmark for the broader market.

Right now, the Dow is sitting at a critical Fibonacci extension level, around 42,000. That also lines up with the July highs, adding more weight to this key area.

If the Dow stays above 42,000, the uptrend is alive and well and there's nothing to be overly concerned about.

But if it slips below that level, things could get messy and it'll be time to prioritize strategies that thrive in that kind of environment.

This would also send the Dow toward a lower low on short-term timeframes, calling the ...

Crude oil is setting up for a big move, and almost nobody is paying attention. In fact, sentiment in the energy trade couldn’t be more bearish right now. Everyone hates it, everyone. 

As Strazza said on our call yesterday, “Even Warren Buffett is losing money on this one.” That’s the vibe.

XLE keeps dropping, the bearish sentiment intensifies, yet producers are stepping in and buying. That’s a bullish signal if I’ve ever seen one.

There are plenty of reasons to start liking energy here, especially when headlines like these are flying under the radar of most U.S. investors. 

Sure, this crisis might trigger a short term pop, but I’m not in it for a flash move, I’m looking for a trend. 

And the pieces for a sustainable breakout are falling into place.

Let’s talk about seasonality. Most people think energy’s best season is summer. Makes sense, right? But the data tells a different story. Energy peaks in the summer, then drifts into bearish seasonals, until now.

The sweet spot for energy? It’s right...

Here's the replay and chartbook from the December 27 Weekly Strategy Session. We made this week's video a recording rather than a live session due to holiday travel. I expect to be back to the regular schedule next week. 

Be sure to join us Thursday at 11 am ET and maximize your return potential.

Below is the 11th ASC Mastermind  Course. In this video, I dive into the world of mega-caps.

Mega-cap stocks are, by definition, the best stocks. You can't have a stock be worth hundreds of billions of dollars without it going up a lot. 

And yet, this does not mean that all mega-cap stocks go up consistently, or that once a stock reaches mega-cap status it stays there. 

We know this is not true. So we use our technical analysis framework to identify the best ones. This video will show you how we do it. 

Enjoy.

During this time of the year, I find myself thinking back on the prior 12 months. It's hard not to right?

I wanted to send a short note today reminding everyone to look around. Understand what is happening out there and why it's been happening. 

This year more than ever, we are grateful for the permabears, who are so darn good at convincing all those gullible sheep to fight a perfectly good bull market, that it's helped the rest of us make so much more money.

The S&P500 is up 28% this year. The Nasdaq100 is up 30%. This is after the 2023 returns of 26% for the S&P500 and 54% for the Nasdaq100. 

They cried and cried about a recession. But all we got was the Nasdaq literally doubling in total value.

These are historic returns that have rarely ever been seen in American history. 

But I have to say, if it wasn't for these angry permabears promising you a crisis every day the past 2+ years, our returns would not have been as good.

If Wall Street sell side analysts weren't so bad at their jobs, these gains would likely not be anywhere near what they've been.

If economists didn't put on blindfolds when walking into...