I was actually a customer of All Star Charts Premium research before ever meeting or working with JC.

When I was just finding my way into technical analysis, guys like Brian Shannon, Frank Cappelleri, and JC really resonated with me.

Their charts, their analysis, the way they viewed and discussed markets… They were speaking my language. 

I wanted to do what these guys were doing. End of story.

Without them as my early mentors, I never would have had the faith and courage to make the big career change I did.

Over time, JC and I got to know each other over email. We found out we went to the same college and both liked food, sports, and charts… a lot. 

We met at a CMT symposium later that year. 

I started doing some project work for him while I was still consulting for the Big 4. I begged him to hire me for a while. He finally did, and the rest is history.

I joke with him sometimes that I’m the best investment he ever made.

Welcome back to the Growth Chronicles.

Growth is the largest area of the market, and betting on these stocks has become one of the primary strategies for US investors. 

As such, the question of “which growth stocks” always lingers.

And these companies come in all different shapes and sizes.

For example, we all know about the mature, high-quality growth names like Nvidia, Meta, and Netflix…. Think Magnificent 7. The best stocks.

And then there are some real offensive, high-beta growth names. I’m talking about companies that are still pre-revenue, or just turning the corner in terms of profitability. 

I like to boil it down to two broad baskets… 

There is large-cap/quality growth.

And there is speculative growth.

So far, the current bull market has been dominated by the largest growth companies in the world. They have been the clear leaders. It hasn’t been close.

But that is finally changing.

If you’ve been following along, you already know. We want our offense on the field. We’re going long.

For baseball folks, we’re putting the pinch hitter in. We’re looking to go yard.

Welcome to the growth chronicles.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be doing a series of posts on the most risk-on areas of the market.

The list of industry groups that are in uptrends continues to grow, fueled in large part by the speculative growth theme.

I’m going to cover the ones I’m most interested in and talk about the specific stocks I’m buying.

This week, it’s all about space and exploration.

While the market awaits the much-anticipated SpaceX IPO, I think many investors will be surprised at just how many options we already have to play this theme.

There is even an index for it. Here’s the ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF:

I’ve been pounding the table on speculative growth.

And I’ve received a good deal of pushback on it. Some peers, customers, and even members of our analyst team don't love the idea.

But that’s ok. Recency bias is real. These have been the worst stocks in the market this cycle.

But let me bring you back to a time when they were the best…

It was early fall of 2020.

The flagship ARK fund had already tripled off the pandemic lows. It would double again from there.

2020 set a record for new IPO issuances, only to top it with another 1,000 new offerings in 2021.

Retail trading was experiencing a modern-day renaissance driven by young traders and hot stocks. 

Start-ups like Robinhood and eToro were thriving. Everyone was stuck at home, YOLO’ing to pass the time.

It’s been a crazy two days.

The reaction to both the election and the FOMC was overwhelmingly positive for risk assets across the board.

A long list of stock market indexes and individual issues just had their best day since the pandemic lows almost 5 years ago.

NYSE new highs just hit its highest reading in years, telling us the rally is supported by the broadest level of participation this cycle.

The election ended up being the catalyst to break out prolonged ranges in things like regional banks, biotechs, speculative growth, industrial metals, and even bitcoin.

These groups are finally joining the bull market party, and they are kicking it off in a big way.

So, what’s the big takeaway from all this? 

The chart that illustrates it best is the Russell 2000 Micro-Cap Index $IWC:

Happy election day, everybody!

I’m excited for tonight. Know why?

I am so ready to put this election behind us.

Last week, I did an interview with Nerd Wallet about investing around the election. You can read the article on their site. 

I brought a bunch of charts along for it so figured I’d share some with you.

As we prepare for the voting booths to close and brace for the market's reaction tonight, here are some things I’m thinking about.

I think the uptrends that are already in place, will remain in place. Maybe some post-election volatility will give us the opportunity to get into these trends at a discount.

With everyone trying to find a cute election trade, my plan is to keep doing what I always do.

Whether it is Trump or Harris come Tuesday night… or even some sort of contested, disaster scenario… I want to be positioned with the primary trend.

The best piece of advice for investors right now is that reactions to political events - like reactions to most events, tend to occur in the direction of the underlying trend.

In other words, once the election volatility comes and goes… I bet the same trends remain in place.

Things that have already been trending higher will probably keep heading higher.

And things that have been trending lower will probably keep falling.

Elections happen. Presidents come and go. But trends persist. 

One of the big trends we’ve been riding higher this year is the bull market in precious metals.

Let’s recap…

First, it was Gold:

We need to talk about SoundHound.

This setup was so nice that we bought the calls twice.

As it turns out, it was the right move. We sold the double yesterday.

But, we’ve got a lot of questions about this one along the way. And the truth is, nothing we did here was out of the ordinary. This sort of scenario will happen a lot with the Breakout Multiplier system, so it’s important we discuss it.

I put on trades that go to zero all the time. 

I am unaffected by these losers. In fact, when I see zeros stacking up, I get excited. I know I’m that much closer to a big winner. 

It’s a game of numbers. I’ve been doing this for a long time.

But the way I lose is even more blatant sometimes.

I will put on the same exact trade over and over again, until it works, or the setup is invalidated.

I think it’s really important to own the junkiest stuff right now.

Risk appetite is improving across the board.

We’re seeing a growing list of speculative assets break out from consolidations.

I took a quick break from the Morning Show today to buy this textbook reversal in Dogecoin.

All things Elon are working. I think Tesla is a good buy here, too. 

As it turns out, $44B was an absolute steal for Twitter. He bought himself the best seat in the White House and will be laughing all the way to the bank for the next four years.

I also put another risk reversal on Coinbase and bought some short-dated calls in a beat-up Bitcoin miner this morning.

While I was doing this, Mike Antonelli was on the show telling JC how he’s seeing the same thing.

For the past several years, China has been uninvestable.

Then we got one of the most epic rallies in China’s stock market history…

And then we were so extended that it still felt uninvestable. But for a very different reason.

Earlier this month on the morning show, Spencer asked: “how do you even buy these stocks here?”

I understood his frustration. Sometimes, the best trends are the hardest to get into.

If you took a shot and bought China earlier this month, you’re already in a significant drawdown. 

If you have the right timeframe, I think you’ll be fine, but you never want to chase in these situations. After a momentum thrust, always expect a little backing and filling, or corrective action. And be prepared to pounce on it.

Everything was working today.

US indexes all booked nice gains, with the Dow and S&P achieving another new all-time high.

There was a synchronized global rally led by China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen, both up over 2%.

Software, financials, industrials, General Electric, Nvidia, Goldman Sachs… 

They all had one thing in common to start the week: new highs.

But it was the crypto market, more than anything, that was giving me the risk-on feel.

Alts are waking up here. Our custom altcoin index was up over 6% today.

More importantly, it looks like Bitcoin is about to break out of this range we’ve all been waiting for.

Here’s how I know:

In bull markets, you gotta go for it. 

Tops fail, continuation patterns resolve higher, and a growing list of stocks complete reversals. This is what bull markets are made of.

It’s also what’s happening now. 

So, I’m looking to add exposure to the best setups.

Over the years, I’ve developed a system for this. It’s more of a portfolio sleeve than anything.

I call them kickers. I think of these trades like the cherry on top of a perfect carvel sundae. You don’t need it, but it makes it that much sweeter.

Let’s talk about what I’m talking about…

Robinhood completed a textbook trend reversal earlier this year. It hit a target or two, and then it started ranging.