From the Desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @Alfcharts

This is one of our favorite bottom-up scans: Follow the Flow.

In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish, but not both.

We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients.

Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.

We also weed out hedging activity and ensure there are no offsetting trades that either neutralize or cap the risk on these unusual options trades.

What remains is a list of stocks that large financial institutions are putting big money behind.

And they’re doing so for one reason only: because they think...

Last week’s 5.9% rally in the S&P 500 was the best single-week gain since June but it was not enough to shift any of the criteria on our Bull Market Re-Birth Checklist.

More Context: Big weekly moves in either direction have been relatively common this year. The S&P 500 has gained or lost 3% (or more) nineteen times so far this year. The average year since 1945 has seen 6 weekly moves of 3% or more. The record (held by 1974 and 2008) is 21. As I mentioned in last week’s Townhall Takeaways, volatility and strength have tended to be inversely correlated. Our Bull Market Re-Birth Checklist helps cut through the noise of big price swings and looks for evidence that strength could be sustainable. It's close but no cigar for several of the checklist criteria, suggesting the jury is still out on the current move. And after getting to 4 out 5 criteria met during the rally into the August peak, we are looking for 5 out 5 for evidence of a...

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The indices consolidated most of the day.

And that's healthy.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Top 10 Charts Report was just published.

In this weekly note, we highlight 10 of the most important charts or themes we're currently seeing in asset classes around the world.

Dollar Strength Erodes

Sentiment, volatility, and momentum thrusts have all suggested an end to the US dollar wrecking ball. Now price action is confirming the data as the DXY resolves lower from a pennant formation to fresh multi-month lows. From a weight of the evidence standpoint, the dollar is done, and so are the accompanying headwinds for risk assets.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the big picture context and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

We've got an oil stock on the doorstep of multi-year highs, a recent shakeout that probably rinsed out the hot-money crowd that came into the stock following their latest earnings report, and implied volatility plumbing new yearly depths.

This sets up an excellent opportunity to take a flyer on a simple long calls trade.

Let's dig in!

We've adjusted a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

Our process is defined by the power of simplicity.

We don't need a complicated macro thesis to position ourselves appropriately in crypto markets. We find our edge in stepping back and identifying inflection points where we want to define our risk.

Risk should be front and center, considering recent events.

One of the takeaways from this entire FTX/Alameda mess is the necessity of risk management. Sam Bankman-Fried lost an empire in the space of a week.

If this isn't a great reminder to manage risk and position size accordingly, I don't know what it is...

A hilarious video made the rounds on Twitter showing Caroline Ellison, the 28-year-old CEO of Alameda Research, arguing against the use of stop losses.

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She also said that technical analysis is voodoo in the same interview...

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Last week was pretty powerful. The indices moved like they were being chased by a bull.

We did hit $SPX 4,000. A slight pause with support at 3,973 would be healthy. Should this level hold, then we can see 4,037. 

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.

The list keeps on growing.

A month ago there was only 1 sector trading above its 200 day moving average.

Then a couple of weeks ago, there was a second.

And now there are 5:

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.

The Outperformers.

The Outperformers is our custom-made scan that pinpoints the very best stocks in the market. It’s the fastest, easiest way to find quality names that are primed for significant moves.

The goal is that as the market rally progresses, the sector rotation within the market will reflect in this scan. So while our Top/Down Analysis helps us with the broader view of the market, this Bottom/Up scan makes sure that we catch the slightest change in sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up over 5000 points in less than a month. That's almost an 18% ripper in your face.

How's it feel?

Was it as good for you as it was for me?

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

For weeks, evidence has pointed to a top in the US Dollar Index $DXY.

Sentiment, volatility, and momentum thrusts have each suggested an end to the US dollar wrecking ball.

Despite the mounting evidence, price hadn’t indicated any significant weakness in the structural trend – until yesterday!

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Well over a month ago, J.C. and I talked in the live trading room about a "W" pattern forming in $SPY.

This pattern is still intact. The measured move I have on SPY, should this pattern hold, is roughly at the 407 to 410 level.

I only made one trade today, but I called out multiple setups in the room.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The bulls are dropping the US dollar like it's hot – and risk assets worldwide love it! 

Few areas are enjoying the newfound dollar weakness quite like the metals space. It’s not just precious or base metals catching higher. It’s both.

So if you shelved those shiny rocks months ago, it’s time to pull them out and take a look.

Copper futures are up first:

Dr. Copper went out with a bang last week, posting its largest single-day return since 2009. We call these types of strong directional moves momentum thrusts. 

They often indicate either the exhaustion of an ongoing trend or the initiation of a new trend. Our money is on the latter when it comes to copper.

Yesterday it took out its summer pivot highs. Those former highs are a great level to define our risk.

I like copper futures long if and only if...

From the Desk of Willie Delwiche.

Time for A New Driver

Priced in their own currencies, more than half of the countries in the world are trading above their 200-day averages. The US is not among them. 

Why It Matters: The US has been in an uptrend versus the rest of the world for 235 weeks in a row, the longest continuous stretch of US leadership in the past 50 years. More broadly, the past decade has taught US investors that global diversification means lower returns and higher risk. But that trend is long in the tooth. If the dollar continues to fade, the opportunity for new leadership will become more apparent. Emerging Market central banks led the way into the tightening cycle and they could lead the way out of it. Remove currency factors and improving global rally participation can more readily be seen. And right now the US is not in the driver’s seat.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts

Our International Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs.

We’ve also sprinkled in some of the largest ADRs from countries that did not make the market cap cut. 

These stocks range from some well-known mega-cap multinationals such as Toyota Motor and Royal Dutch Shell to some large-cap global disruptors such as Sea Ltd and Shopify.

It’s got all the big names and more--but only those that are based outside the US. You can find all the largest US stocks on our Hall of Famers list.

The beauty of these scans is really in their simplicity.

We take the largest names each week and then apply technical filters in a way that the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Based on the market environment, we can also flip the scan on its head and filter for weakness.

Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the most important stocks from around the world.

Here’s this week’s list:

...

We've adjusted a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today: