From the desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

We've talked at length about the correlations between macro markets and Bitcoin.

A critical element underlying our crypto thesis is heavily driven by how price action is trading alongside equity markets.

In the case of the US dollar, it's the exact same, but the opposite.

Recently, there's been a notable negative correlation between Bitcoin and the dollar.

Key Takeaway:

• Bear market story playing out beneath the surface.
• Contrarian play is in bonds not stocks.
• Challenges ahead, but commodity trends remain robust.

If you joined JC and the guys on our live twitter spaces session today, towards the end you heard me venting my current frustration in finding good opportunities to make directional bets in either direction right now. It's tough sticking our neck out here.

But of course, as options traders, we are not limited to just directional bets. We can attempt to pull profits from sideways markets as well. And when volatility is still elevated in most areas, there are plenty of places to look to sell premium. And the best place to do that is in an instrument that we feel is likely to continue trading in a sideways range for a period of time.

Today's idea is one such ETF that has been mired in a nice juicy range for nearly a year now.

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

ValueAct Partners revealed an additional purchase of roughly $10 million in Insight Enterprises $NSIT, as the activist hedge fund continues to build a position in the enterprise cloud company.

The firm now owns more than 3.8 million shares for a total ownership interest of just under 11%.

The average stock listed on the NYSE is down over 34% off its highs.

The new 52-week highs list peaked in February of last year - that was over 15 months ago!

We've now seen more stocks hitting new lows than new highs for the most consecutive weeks since the Great Financial Crisis.

The Technology, Communications and Consumer Discretionary sectors combined make up almost half of the stocks in the entire S&P500. They're each now down 26%, 33% and 35%, respectively.

In fact, almost half the stocks on the Nasdaq have seen their prices get cut in half.

And people keep asking me if we're going into a bear market?

What the hell do you call that?

If you define all that as a bull market, then I think you need to check yourself into a mental hospital.

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.

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.

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

Markets trend. Trends persist. 

Those crucial Dow Theory tenets form the foundational premises of technical analysis.

As technicians, identifying trends is a central component of our work.

But, most of the time, markets remain range-bound, as we experienced during the choppy mess that dominated the stock market and so many risk assets last year.

However, during that time, commodities continued to rip higher.

Now that the rally in raw materials is reaching significant areas of overhead supply, it would make sense for this leadership space to follow stocks and enter a corrective period.

In other words, the uptrend in commodities that has persisted since 2020 is likely to take a breather and turn into a sideways trend.

Let's talk about it.

Here’s a weekly chart of the CRB Index running into...

This is the video recording of our May 20, 2022, All Star Charts Crypto Weekly Strategy Session.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 150 largest US-based stocks.

These stocks range from the mega-cap growth behemoths like Apple and Microsoft – with market caps in excess of $2T – to some of the new-age large-cap disruptors such as Moderna, Square, and Snap.

It has all the big names and more.

It doesn’t include ADRs or any stock not domiciled in the US. But don’t worry; we developed a separate universe for that, which you can check out here.

The Hall of Famers is simple.

We take our list of 150 names and then apply our technical filters so the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Let’s dive right in and check out what these big boys are up to.

Here’s this week’s list:

And here’s how we arrived at it:

• We filtered out any stocks that are below their May 10, 2021, high, which is when new 52-week highs peaked...

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

The S&P 500 has now declined for seven consecutive weeks and on Friday passed the 20% pullback threshold (and on cue “Bear Market” headlines sprouted like dandelions in Spring). This is the index and its so-called “generals” (the mega-cap stocks that have the greatest weighting) catching down to what has been happening beneath the surface for months. Coming into this week, the average NYSE stock was down over 30% from its high, with the average NASDAQ stock down more than 45%. This week brings us to 26 consecutive weeks of more stocks making new lows than new highs. 

The mega-cap S&P 100 (OEF) is making new lows while the small-cap S&P 600 (IJR) is not. Even more dramatic is the ratio between IJR and OEF (small-caps / mega-caps). Here, the May low was above the April low, which in turn was above the February low. The pattern of higher lows is established and the ratio is testing its March highs. While the headlines are about weakness in the index, the story is that relative strength is being established beneath the surface.                    

...

From a directional standpoint, there currently aren't any stock ideas on the board that are getting me excited to get involved in either direction. Bear markets can do that.

However, from an options premium selling point of view, there are some good opportunities out there. But best to stick with instruments that are showing signs of at least some near-term support and resistance.

One such instrument is in the interest rates space.

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

The largest insider transaction on today's Hot List is a Form 4 filing by the co-founder and director of Coinbase Global $COIN, Fred Ehrsam, who reported an additional $25 million purchase of his own stock.

This is the video recording of the May 2022 Mid-month Conference Call.

We discussed:

• The average stock down 30-45% depending on the exchange
• Most consecutive weeks of more new lows than new highs since 2008
• How will US Dollar near former highs impact stocks
• Energy Stocks & Commodities at a Critical Juncture
• Major Bond Futures Contracts at Key Support: 2s, 5, 10s & 30s
• Consumer Discretionary the worst performing sector
• New Short Ideas in Growth
• Stocks Showing Relative Strength bucking the trend
• International weakness - stocks are below overhead supply
• Commercial Hedgers continue to buy Energy Futures
• Precious metals underperforming stocks and commodities
• Chilean Lithium continues to shine
• Agriculture stocks and commodities still trending higher
• A look into some recent insider transactions
• Crypto at key support levels, similar to the bond market

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

Bonds are digging in at some familiar levels.

For years now, we’ve pounded the table about the importance of the 2018 highs for various risk assets.

That’s because those former highs marked significant peaks for both the stock market and certain procyclical commodities and currencies during the last cycle.

As far as the bond market is concerned, 2018 was also when yields peaked. Benchmark rates in the US are testing these old highs.

As such, it’s not the 2018 highs but the 2018 lows that we’re paying attention to when analyzing the prices of Treasuries.

A handful of bonds and bond funds are trying to find a bottom at these key former lows right now. 

Let’s take a look.

Here’s a chart of the 20+yr T-Bond ETF $TLT:

After completing a multi-year head-...

This is the video recording of the May 19th Weekly Town Hall w/ Willie Delwiche.

05/19/22 2:00 PM ET

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

“It isn’t even a bear market yet.” 

I heard that from someone earlier this week. I also read it somewhere else earlier today. 

I know what they mean, but the comment left me shaking my head anyway. 

Many are reluctant to call a bear a bear until the pullback exceeds 20%. I wrote about the shortcomings with this approach a few weeks ago. But old habits die hard. For now, with the S&P 500 down “only” 18% from its January peak, this current period is still being labeled a correction.