As our Premium Members already know, we have a laundry list of scans that we run internally on an almost daily basis.
Different market environments, naturally, are more conducive to certain scans and less so to others.
We think our “Freshly Squeezed” scan is perfect for the current market. With so many individual issues in massive drawdowns as the broader market begins to turn a corner, there are going to be some serious short-covering rallies in some of the most beaten-down names.
In fact, it’s already starting to happen. Infamous meme stock, AMC Entertainment $AMC was up 25% at its highs today (not on a closing basis).
Our scan is quite simple. It is designed to identify stocks with heavy short positions. When a stock is heavily shorted, it means there are natural incremental buyers. Bulls need incremental buyers, as this is the only way price can move higher. When shorts are proven wrong, they have to buy their shares back to close out their position.
From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has rallied 19.60% since its September 30 closing low. On Friday, the large-cap blue-chip index notched another major achievement by reclaiming its pivot highs from August.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 haven't fared nearly as well, as both are only up a little more than 10% from their respective lows.
However, when we look outside the US, countries like Germany and the UK are enjoying their biggest win streaks since early 2018.
For risk assets to finally put in a durable low, we need participation from stocks outside the US. We're finally getting it.
Amid all the bullish developments, we want to give the Nasdaq and S&P some time to get things in gear and play catch up.
In the meantime, we're starting to find more and more long opportunities in individual issues. This speaks to improving market internals.
We're also seeing more and more insiders and institutions buy into the rally over the past two months. This speaks to improving sentiment.