Daily Market Newsletter

December 29, 2016
Non-Directional Strategies
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Semi-Directional Strategies
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Directional Strategies
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Market Commentary

Looks like we’re going to finish out the year with a whimper, as Santa has thus far failed to call this week. Little wonder after an epic rally after the election led stocks with no room. Tomorrow’s price action should be fairly muted after the first hour or so as traders swivel-chair out of their offices and head for the hills. I’ll be back this weekend to put a bow on 2016 and start to plan for the 2017 trading year. Be safe this weekend!

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Offensive Actions

Offensive Actions for the next trading day:

  • No new positions tomorrow. I’ll look for additional candidates this weekend.

Defensive Actions

Defensive actions for the next trading day:

  • Any vertical, butterfly, or diagonal debit spreads that we set up are risk-managed from day one, and no defense is really required.
  • I will either close or let expire the 30DEC vertical spread tomorrow.
  • The new SPX LP Condor is risk-managed from day one and there is no defense other than early exit

Strategy Summary Graphs

Each graph below represents a summary of the current performance of a strategy category. For an explanation of what the graphs mean, watch this video.

Non-Directional Strategies

Semi-Directional Strategies

Directional Strategies

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Technical Analysis Section

Market Internals:  Volume was about average today. Breadth was mixed with +33 advancers minus decliners.

SPX Market Timer : The Intermediate line flattened within the Upper Reversal Zone, showing a bullish bias. The two weakest timeframes formed a Weak Bullish Cluster in the lower reversal zone; this can be a leading signal for a bounce.

DOW Theory: The SPX is in a long term uptrend, an intermediate uptrend, and a short-term downtrend. The RUT is in a long-term uptrend, an intermediate uptrend, and a short-term downtrend. The Dow is in an intermediate uptrend and short-term downtrend.

VIX: The VIX rose 3.24% to 13.37, inside the bollinger bands. The RVX rose 1.77% to 19.02 and is inside the bollinger bands.

Fibonacci Retracements: Fibs (retracements and extensions) are not in play right now.

Support/Resistance: For the SPX, support is at 2188 … with overhead resistance at 2277. The RUT has support at RUT 1300 with overhead resistance at 1393. All three major index charts that we follow are now showing a Golden Cross with the 50 day moving average crossing above the 200 day average.

Fractal Energies: The major timeframe (Monthly) is still charged with a reading of 44. The Weekly chart is declining with an energy reading of 40, due to the recent breakout. The Daily chart is showing a level of 66 which is completely recharged again; we are seeing the expected short consolidation at this level but it’s not going to last much longer as the daily energy must go somewhere.

Other Technicals: The SPX Stochastics indicator fell to 65, mid-scale. The RUT Stochastics indicator fell to 57. mid-scale. The SPX MACD histogram fell below the signal line, showing a loss of upside momentum. The SPX is inside the Bollinger Bands with Bollinger Band support at 2197 and resistance at the upper band at 2297 and is below the upper band. The RUT is back inside the Bollinger Bands with its boundaries at 1323 to 1403 and price is below the upper band. The Bollinger Bands are starting to squeeze.

We are seeing the market pricing in a shift in character out of the recent lifeless Fed-driven economy, and into an unrestrained one. I think this will bring about a big shift in how the market behaves. 

SPX chart

 

 

 

 

Position Management – NonDirectional Trades

I have no positions in play; I will wait on the first significant pullback to allow me to secure put spreads below support.

Offense:  I still do not want to set up OTM credit spreads in this low-vol environment until we see real movement to the downside. If and when we get this movement we’ll need to identify levels that we want our credit spreads to be “below.” This is the same type of price action that was so perilous to HP condors back in 2013, so let’s not fight it.

I have the following position:

  •  20JAN SPX 2215/2220*2285/2290 LP Iron Condor (12/29) was entered for a $2.50 credit. I have already set my GTC debit exit at $2.00. I will set my risk from day one on this trade and there is no adjustment. .

I have no current positions:

I will look for new candidates this weekend.

Please note: If you trade these positions please keep the size small, to the point where you “do not care” about the success or failure of this position.

 

I have the following positions in play:

 

  • SDS Stock – I still own 100 shares of this stock from 2011 and will continue to write calls against this position with every correction/pullback.
  • VXX Stock – I own 12 shares of this stock and will hold until Armageddon occurs.
  • SLV Stock – I have 1000 shares of the SLV that was assigned at the $15 level, and will continue to write time against these shares on every rally. I will look to sell more calls in the next bounce higher in SLV. If the price continues pulling back, I will likely sell more puts against the $13 level.
  • GE JAN17 30 puts (11/28) – I sold five contracts of $30 puts for $.39 credit
  • TWTR JAN17 $15 puts (11/30) I sold ten contracts of $15 puts for $.22 credit. I don’t care about the recent bad press
  • RIG JAN17 $12 puts (12/8) I sold ten contracts of $12 puts for $.18 credit.

I am going to hold off selling any more put positions until the new year; it would be a big edge to patiently wait on the first material pullback after the Trump rally.

Nothing to do at this time with current positions. I will be continuing to “bottom fish” in the subsequent weeks to identify stock candidates that I would want to own long-term. On the next decent pullback I will be fairly active; I don’t want to “chase” prices right now.

 

 

Position Management – Directional Trades

Thoughts on current swing strategies:

 

 

 

  • 8/21 EMA Crossover -This one is gone. Looking for the next crossover. .
  • RSI(2) CounterTrend – Awaiting the next signal; it should be very powerful and worth the wait..
  • Daily S&P Advancers – if I see the number of daily S&P500 advancers drop into single digits near the close of any trading day, I will go long shares of the SSO.
Looking for the next edge. Price has been so choppy that it’s been difficult to identify the next edge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No positions at this time. Once the S&P hits an exhaustion level on the weekly chart, I will consider a vertical debit put spread to catch any volatility to the downside.

I have the following positions:

 

  • SPY 30DEC 228/230 Call Vertical (12/19)-  I entered this position for a $.31 debit. I will look to close this position tomorrow. If it’s too far out of the money I will let it expire.

 

The “Hindenburg Strategy” is meant to capture “value” from successive corrections that lead up to the final “death spiral” with a Bear Market. The basic principle is to buy 3-month out long puts on the SPY, and to finance those puts by the sale of credit spreads.

 

Quite honestly, selling the “financing” trades has been a huge challenge in this low-vol environment. I will only sell put spreads on decent pullbacks that allow me to secure put spreads 10% OTM

We currently have the following positions in play with this strategy:

  • SPY JAN17 193 Long Puts – I entered this position (10/24) for a $1.33 debit.
  • SPY FEB17 200 long puts – I entered this position (12/7) for a $.95 debit.
  • SPY MAR17 203 long puts – I entered this position (12/28) for a $1.07 debit.