Gold/Silver Ratio Shows S&P 500 Is On The Edge

It’s time to update the S&P 500 index chart as it emerged inch-perfect since the last update in July.

SP500 Weekly Chart

Source: TradingView

To refresh your memory, I kept the main paths untouched and added new crucial highlights.

The idea of the upcoming breakout of the Falling Wedge pattern (blue converging trendlines) was posted right on time on the Blog as it played out instantly. Indeed, the Bullish Divergence of the RSI indicator with the price chart played out as planned supporting the breakup of the pattern’s resistance.

The majority of readers got it right choosing the red path as a primary scenario. The price action has been amazingly accurate in the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement area where the price failed to overcome the barrier and reversed to the downside from the minor top of $4,325 following the red zigzag.

I added the 52-week simple moving average (purple) to show you how strong the double resistance was at the $4,347-$4,349 level.

The next support is located in the valley in June at $3,637. Continue reading "Gold/Silver Ratio Shows S&P 500 Is On The Edge"

Bears Smashed Silver, Is Gold Next?

Last month I was wondering “Is It A Trap?” for the top precious metals, referring to the short term bounce that we have been observing.

Bears have smashed the silver price badly below the former valley. Hence, I would start the update with its monthly chart below.

Silver Futures Monthly

Source: TradingView

Silver futures topped around the $21 mark the same day the previous update was posted in the middle of August and then it dropped like a rock to the downside.

The price already drills down the largest Volume Profile (orange) support as it entered the $16-$18 range. The peak volume was registered at the $17 level in the monthly chart. Below $16 the support weakens and further down below $14 there is a volume support gap.

I built the black downtrend with a red mid-channel in this big chart above. We could visually distinguish the first drop (large left red down arrow) from 2011 to 2015. The following huge corrective structure emerged during 2015-2021. Now the market could build the second leg down. The mid-channel support is located at $13.5, right below the above mentioned lower volume area.

We can mark the lower supports for the future. The Flash-Crash valley is at $11.6 fortified with the all-in sustaining costs located at $10.9. The valley of the distant 1991 at $3.5 is the next possible support.

Bulls should push the price outside of the downtrend beyond $27 to turn the tables. Continue reading "Bears Smashed Silver, Is Gold Next?"

Bitcoin and Ethereum: No Safety Net

Earlier this month, I updated on the crypto market with a title, 'It Ain't Over Yet". I considered the recent strength in the main cryptocurrencies a "dead-cat bounce" within a classic sideways consolidation with a high probability of resuming collapse.

This time, I spotted new signals as the chart moves to the right building new bars over time. Let us start with the main coin in the weekly chart below.

Bitcoin Weekly Chart

Source: TradingView

The price of Bitcoin moves within large bearish trend channel (black). The top of above-mentioned sideways consolidation within red trendlines did not even approach the resistance, it stays intact.

The RSI indicator could not raise its head to test the “waterline” of 50 level. This means that the market has considered this short-term strength as a "dead-cat bounce" as well.

The chart bar of last week has punctured below the red support. This is a harbinger of another drop. The main coin indeed is looking into the abyss as the strong support appears only after the price halves down. The largest area of the Volume Profile histogram (orange) is located between $9k and $10k. The mid-channel (red dashed) fortifies that support with its intersection.

Your biggest bet last time was the drop of the Bitcoin down to $12.2k, where the second leg down is equal to the first one. It almost coincides with the above-mentioned double support.
The next volume area is located at the $4k level and this option was your least favorite.

This time I added the simple moving average (purple) covering the preceding 52 weeks (1 year). It has been offering a strong support to the price starting from 2020. This year it has flipped to become a strong resistance after the price has dropped below it. The $40k level is the barrier to break to confirm the new bullish cycle.

A rather interesting situation has developed for the main coin. The price should either half down to find support or it should double up from this level to crack the bearish cycle. Continue reading "Bitcoin and Ethereum: No Safety Net"

The Excess Phase Peak Pattern

The Excess Phase Peak pattern is a very common transitional phase for the markets where psychology and economic trends shift over time. Global markets typically require periods of pause, reversion, or a reset/revaluation event to wash away excesses.

We’ve seen these types of setups happen near the DOT COM and 2007-08 market peaks. What happens is traders are slow to catch onto the shifting phases of the Excess Phase Peak and sometimes get trapped thinking, “this is the bottom – time to buy.”

The reality is that as long as the individual phases of the Excess Phase Peak continue to validate (or confirm), then we should continue to expect the next phase to execute as well. In other words, unless the Excess Phase Peak pattern is invalidated somehow, it is very likely to continue to execute, resulting in an ultimate bottom in price many months from now.

The 5-Phases Of The Excess Phase Peak Pattern

The Excess Phase Peak Pattern starts off in a very strong rally phase. This rally phase normally lasts well over 12 to 24 months and is usually driven by an extreme speculative phase in the markets.

Once a price peak is reached and the markets roll downward by more than 7~10%, that’s when we should start to apply the five unique phases of the Excess Phase Peak Pattern. If each subsequent phase validates after the peak, then the Excess Phase Peak Pattern is continuing. If any phase is invalidated, then the pattern has likely ended.

For example, if we start by completing Phase #1 & #2, then the market rallies to a new all-time high – that would invalidate the Excess Phase Peak Pattern.

Here are the Phases of the Excess Phase Peak Pattern:

  1. The Excess Phase Rally Peak
  2. A breakdown from the Excess Phase Peak sets up a FLAG/Pennant recovery phase.
  3. Sets up the Intermediate support level – the last line of defense for price.
  4. Price retests #3 support & breaches the support level – starting a new downtrend.
  5. The final breakdown of the price is below the Phase 4 support level. This usually starts a broad market selling phase to an ultimate bottom.

Continue reading "The Excess Phase Peak Pattern"

Dollar Ran Out of Time, Not Ammo

More than three years ago in my post titled, “Don't Get Trapped By Recent Dollar Weakness”, I shared with you a monthly chart of the dollar index (DX) futures with a map of large two-leg complex sideways consolidation. It was an experiment to try guessing the time target for the second blue leg to the upside based on the time it took second red leg to emerge.

Below is the updated chart with the same drawings enriched with the new highlights.

DX Futures Monthly

Source: TradingView

The time target was set on November 2020 when 33 bars in the second blue leg up emerge. The price had established the new top of $104 in March 2020 within those 33 bars. However, the minimum target of $114.2 on the price scale had not been reached and now 54 monthly bars appear on the chart.

If we divide 54 by 33 we will have the ratio of 1.64, which means the time period extended over the 1.618 Fibonacci ratio. This is a crucial time mark and last month the dollar index futures were really close to hitting the price target as it topped $109.1.

The next extension of doubling the time period with 66 bars to emerge falls on August 2023. It is enough time space for reaching both preset targets of $114.2 and $121.3.

I added two indicators on this updated chart. The purple one is the Volume Profile. It clearly has shown the strong barrier at the $98 level with the large volume traded there. When the price broke above that resistance, the speed of growth accelerated. It is the resistance being the strong support now. We should watch it closely in case the price drops there during correction.

The Simple Moving Average for the past year period is the blue line on the chart. It had accurately shown the reversal to the upside last year. The moving average confirms the support area of the Volume Profile indicator around $99.6 making it a double barrier for bears.

Three years ago the majority of readers misread the direction of the price as they bet on the drop of the dollar. Continue reading "Dollar Ran Out of Time, Not Ammo"