Tackle Today: 3 Ways to Track Indexes
September 13, 2021
ack market movements. But did you know there are three ways to chart them? You can use a futures contract, an Index, and an ETF. Let’s use the S&P 500 Index, for example.
September 13, 2021
ack market movements. But did you know there are three ways to chart them? You can use a futures contract, an Index, and an ETF. Let’s use the S&P 500 Index, for example.
August 30, 2021
Once upon a time, I thought low volume up days were a sign that strength was waning, that momentum was petering out. I’ve since been disabused of the notion, and the chart below tells you everything you need to know about just how bullish those low volume rallies can be.
August 23, 2021
Another weekend has come and gone, and Bitcoin scored a major breakout. This is the third weekend in a row that the crypto king zipped through significant resistance for those who haven’t been paying attention.
August 16, 2021
Stop losses are used to mitigate risk and avoid unnecessarily large drawdowns. Using them seems smart and entirely appropriate. But the devil is in the details.
July 26, 2021
The naked put strategy is a favorite for many traders. It carries a high probability of profit and adds positive theta to your portfolio. Check out the video on it in the Tackle Trading Playbook if you’re in need of a refresher.
If there’s a drawback, it’s the cost. If you’re using a margin account, it may not matter much, but the margin required for those wielding retirement accounts is equal to the max loss. And that can be a lot. As a result, your return on investment is tiny.
July 19, 2021
Equities limped into the weekend and based on Sunday night’s movement in the futures market, the weakness will continue into Monday morning. Bearish evidence is beginning to mount. To help keep your wits about you, let’s review a few critical points regarding corrections.
June 28, 2021
Market breadth is a secondary indicator used by technicians that measures the participation in a bull move. When a stock market index like the S&P 500 pushes to a new record, you prefer to see most stocks also notching all-time highs. It’s a healthy sign.
June 21, 2021
Friday saw the S&P 500 close below the 50-day moving average for only the third time this year. It’s an unsettling development that had bulls cowering throughout the weekend. Many chart watchers use the 50-day moving average as a proxy for the intermediate trend. When prices are trending above it, the path of least resistance is higher. When prices tumble below it, however, the path of least resistance turns lower.
June 14, 2021
Price action in the broad markets is muted again as the market continues to struggle to take a leg up as it battles the current resistance zone. Perhaps due to valuation, worries about inflation or the Fed or perhaps just the “heading into summer doldrums” price movement (in either direction) has gone into hibernation in recent weeks.
June 7, 2021
Real estate is one of the most popular asset classes to invest in. But it’s not easy to purchase. It’s expensive, undiversified, subject to renters not paying and requires property management. A long time ago, Wall Street created a vehicle to fix all of these issues – the Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT for short. Think of it as a basket of companies that own and operate real estate.
May 24, 2021
If you’ve ever wondered what the downside to trading with borrowed money looks like, cast your eyes on the latest bitcoin crash. Part of the selling pressure came from leveraged traders who bailed, not because they wanted too, but because they HAD to.
May 17, 2021
Markets are down to start the week after a very volatile week last week. However not everything is down in a broad-based selloff. Sectors such as Energy, Health Care, Staples and Utilities are all holding their own. We have seen this pattern in recent weeks. The broad market sells off led by tech, but other areas of the market show relative strength and even rise in the face of market downward pressure.
May 10, 2021
Corporate revenues were way better than expected, especially among the four horsemen of the tech boom (Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft). And yet, their share prices shrugged. What gives?
May 3, 2021
Volume measures the number of shares changing hands and reflects the level of participation. There is a wide variety of participants in the stock market, but ultimately, we can narrow them down into two groups: institutions and retail. Institutions include banks, hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, and the like. They are pooled money and have deep pockets.
April 26, 2021
Stories such as capital gains taxes, 10-year yields, inflation, seasonality shifts and market valuation are going to have to take a back seat this week in the news cycle as we have no shortage of known news events this week. We are in the heart of earnings season this week with huge names such as Alphabet (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Starbucks (SBUX), Amazon (AMZN), Caterpillar (CAT) and Chevron (CVX) highlighting a full slate of earnings announcements.
April 19, 2021
Markets down a smidge to start the week after a very strong start to the month of April. Fed support, lower yields helping tech, stimulus checks, a potential infrastructure bill, retail sales, successful vaccine distribution in the US and solid earnings reports so far have all have helped play their part in adding to the bullish sentiment creating a monster three-week rally.
April 12, 2021
Markets are hesitating to start the week after an extremely strong start to the month of April. This type of hesitation is normal after a strong run and we certainly have a number of catalysts this week to help potentially kick start the action again. Seasonality and sentiment remain very strong as we head into the official kick start of earnings season.
April 5, 2021
The Dow and S&P 500 start the week at all-time highs as April has started off with a bang. April tends to be one of the best performing months in the stock market and it hasn’t disappointed us so far. Aside from seasonality, sentiment has shifted favorably over the last week.
March 29, 2021
Futures are down slightly at the start of the week as market headlines concerning the collapse of Archegos Capital are weighing on market sentiment. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and other banks forced the hedge fund Archegos Capital to liquidate positions through large block trades on Friday after the hedge fund, which was using extreme leverage, was issued margin calls.
March 22, 2021
Tech is leading the way to start the week as yields pull back to start the week. The market has been on a choppy roller coaster over the last few weeks as yields and rates continue to capture the headlines. This could continue for the weeks ahead as the market continues to analyze inflation and interest rates against the backdrop of what is expected to be a very strong economy moving forward.
