RWB patterns in $QQQ across time periods; $PTLA and $STZ; See you in July?

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GMI-27/9
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I have written before that an RWB pattern, where short term averages (red lines) are well above rising longer term averages (blue lines) such that there is a white space in between them, is typical of rocket stocks.   I decided to create these modified GMMA charts for four time periods to get an idea of how the QQQ is likely to behave.

The first chart shows the longer term weekly chart, which is exhibiting a classic RWB pattern. It looks like the QQQ has emerged from a nice consolidation period where the red lines converged into a tight pattern (indicating little price change) well above the blue lines: (click on charts to enlarge)

QQQGMMAwkly06202014

The daily chart shows a similar RWB pattern and the emergence of QQQ from a base at the end of May:

GMMAQQQdaily06202014The hourly chart shows very recent congestion, but it looks like the red lines are back above the blue lines and are turning up.   Thus the QQQ ended Friday with a small show of strength, but the QQQ needs to break the 93 level to come out of this short term consolidation.

QQQGMMAhourly06202014Finally, the 5 minute chart shows more clearly the end of day strength on Friday, with the red lines breaking above the blue lines in a RWB pattern.

GMMAQQQ5minute06202014

So what does all of this mean to me?   Consistent with the GMI and its Buy signal from April 22nd, the market, as measured by QQQ, looks like it remains in a strong up-trend.   As a longer term swing trader I   focus on the weekly and daily charts.   The hourly and 5 minute charts are useful only if I want to pinpoint areas for   entries or where to put sell stops.   I sometimes have TC2000 send me an automatic email alert when the price of the index I am following crosses below or above one of these key moving averages…..

By the way, my stock buddy, Judy, alerted me to a new drug stock she is excited about and I bought a small number of shares. (Judy had bought the stock much lower because if she likes a concept she is willing to buy early and wait for a rise.) It may be worth researching this very speculative stock, PTLA, especially if it can break above its green line top, around $31. PTLA is developing some promising new drugs. Here is PTLA’s weekly chart. I think it to be an important technical signal when a recent IPO forms a multi-month base and then breaks to a new all-time high. I am watching PTLA very closely for signs of a high volume break-out above 31.

PTLAweekly

I also took a small position last week   in STZ, as it broke out of a cup and handle consolidation on high volume. Check out this weekly chart.

STZweekly06202014

If you are interested in learning more about my strategies for tracking the market, you may want to attend the July AAII work shop that Alan Ellman and I are presenting in Virginia on July 19.   Alan is very skilled at teaching people how to sell covered call options on their stocks to earn income.   He makes the process relatively easy to understand. For those of you who cringe at the mention of the word “options,” you need to know that writing covered calls is considered a very conservative way to use options.   Anyone who keeps a portfolio of stocks and does not sell covered calls on them is potentially missing an opportunity to earn $$$ from their stocks at the same time as they lower potential losses if their stock declines. Check out Allan’s books on the lower right of this page. I hope to see many of you there.   Here is the link to register for the meeting……

And here is the weekly GMI table.   Let me know if you find any errors, Rick   🙂

GMI06202014

 

What a market top looks like

I teach my students to let the action of the market reveal its true nature.   Ignore the interpretations of the media pundits, who are typically most interested in selling their advice. Many of these pundits have been warning of an imminent market top.   They have their many logical scenarios and use fundamentals and statisitcs   to back up their   prophesies.

I prefer to use my technical tools to characterize market tops and to compare them to the current market. Below are some GMMA monthly charts of the SPY (S&P500 index ETF) at the 2000 and 2008 market tops.   These monthly charts display 12 exponential moving averages plus the monthly close of the index (dotted line).   The red lines are shorter term averages and the blue lines are longer term averages.   As long as the red lines are rising above the blue lines so that there is a white space between them, we have the powerful RWB (red white and blue) pattern and the market is advancing.   When the red lines converge with and fall below the blue lines leaving a white space between them we have the BWR pattern and the potential for a significant decline.

Market tops take months to develop, leaving plenty of time for the watchful investor to exit the market. Note the pattern of the SPY as it formed a top in 2000-1:

GMMASPYmonthly

And again in 2007-8:

GMMASPYmonthly2008

Compare these patterns to the current pattern of the SPY:

SPYGMMAmonthly2014

I see nothing resembling a topping pattern.   Do you????? (The red arrows show the month of May from a prior Sell in May analysis.) To the contrary, the market looks like full speed ahead……

And the GMI, with all components positive, is still on the Buy signal flashed on April 22nd.   Since April 22nd, SPY is up +3.9%, the QQQ is up +6.0%, and the DIA is up +2.6%. In addition,     the 3x leveraged ETF, TQQQ is up +18.3%,   AAPL is up 21.4% and GMCR is up +23.7%.   I see again proof   that if I do not want to spend time searching for the rare individual stock that will greatly out perform the indexes, the best bet is for me to wade into the TQQQ during an up-trend. That is what I have been doing…..

GMI06062014