Currency Analysis Report 8/9/19 – The Kiwi Got Squashed

The New Zealand dollar is known in the forex world after its national icon, the flightless bird called the Kiwi, which is also pictured on the country’s $1 coin.

Image result for new zealand $1 coin

The Kiwi remains under pressure as lingering U.S.-China trade tensions continue to weigh on sentiment.  The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has already cut interests rate twice this year and Bearish traders were betting on another ¼ point cut this earlier this week. But the news that came out this week, even shock the Bears.

The New Zealand Dollar was crushed Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) slashed its interest rate further than markets expected and gave guidance that was more ‘dovish’ than anticipated, but analysts say there’s more losses ahead because the bank is likely to cut again before long.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its interest rate by 50 basis points to a new record low of 1.25% Wednesday when financial markets had looked for only a 25 basis point reduction, taking the market by surprise and prompting traders to dump the Kiwi currency by the bucketload.

Image result for Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr

Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr hinted at further easing by any means necessary in order to hit their inflation rate targets.   Based on where I think the global economy is headed over the coming 12-24 months, I’m personally bearish as well on the Kiwi.

On the monthly chart, there is a nice head and shoulder pattern.

So based on a measured move, price could go sub .5000, which is an extreme.

So I will settle for distance that is half the measured move, but at the moment, on a smaller time frame, I can find a level to enter to go short.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Crypto Contest August 9: Algorand

Algorand (Binance: ALGOBTC) has broken out of the triangle pattern in the four-hour chart.

(Chart courtesy of Tradingview.com (log scale))

Elliott Wave Analysis

In Elliott Wave terms, Algorand began a wave one advance on August 1. The red wave one (blue sub-waves i-ii-iii-iv-v) finished on August 2, and the red wave two (blue sub-waves a-b-c) correction ended on August 8. If this wave count is correct, Algorand should be heading next towards the August 2 peak in the red wave three.

(Chart courtesy of Tradingview.com (log scale))

Funnymentals

Algorand is a public, permissionless, pure proof of stake blockchain that ensures full participation, protection and speed within a truly decentralized network. Boxmining covered the project earlier this week.

(Sources: Algorand and YouTube)

How can I vote? Where is the contest?

You can vote by following this link.

Gasoline Analysis Report 8/9/19 – More Declines To Come

The last time I posted about gasoline was in late June,

Gasoline Analysis Report 6/27/19 – Will Prices Continue To Rise???

The refinery was the largest and oldest on the East Coast went up in flames, removing 25% of the refining capacity in the Northeast in the process.

The chart suggests if gasoline can rise a bit higher to short (due to gasoline supply concern) price at the daily supply at $2.015. 

In the article I talked indirectly about gasoline being a derivative of oil, which means that if oil rises/falls, gasoline will follow suit.

Retail gasoline prices tend to rise in the spring and peak in the Summer when people drive more frequently.  So the set-up had the seasonality going for it as well since the accident was a month past Memorial Day.

Unleaded Gasoline miNY Futures (QU) Seasonal Chart

Needless to say price hit the daily supply at $2.015 and fell.

According to AAA, the national average is about $2.69 per gallon now, down from a couple of cents from last week.  I anticipate retail gasoline prices continue to decline in the coming months.   The  gasoline futures’ chart suggests price is heading down to $1.4500

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Looking For a Cryptocurrency to Buy – Coming Up Empty

Just spent time scanning through the charts looking for a top 50 coin to buy on a trade.  Struggled to find anything that was giving me a buy single – UGH.

Indecision and selling pressure

Bitcoin has pushed higher of late and the alts have not followed at all.  However, I’m not buying bitcoin after it ripped 2,000 points the past week.

I do like the consolidation it is doing now, as if it actually wants to leg up again.   I’ll believe it when I see it and for now will just hold my long-term bag.   I buy coin on pullbacks for the most part.

LTC and ETH – nothing says buy at the moment

As you can see litecoin looks rather indecisive after retreating from that head and shoulders topping pattern.  I like that it is atleast hanging on here in the middle of the range as that is less bearish, but price action certainly isn’t bullish.

Ethereum looks like it just failed at the 230 level again so not a time to get long.  Ideally we see some unexpected buying and it pushes through that level, but that is just a gamble.

And I could continue on.  EOS doesn’t look much different nor many other coins.  There is some strength here and there, such as BNB past couple days, but that trade entry is long gone.

I’m sitting on my long-term bag with my active trading capital idle on the sidelines for now.

Stay patience my friends!

 

Dr. Copper Approaching A “The Line In The Sand” Level

The only channel I seldom have on is either CNBC or Bloomberg.  While the financial talking heads are talking about the 800 point decline in the DOW, the 10 yr and 30 yr interest rate hitting multi-year lows, the VIX and the impending currency war, nobody is talking about Dr. Copper.

The term Doctor Copper is market lingo for the copper’s ability to predict turning points in the global economy. Rising copper prices imply demand or a growing global economy and declining copper prices imply lack of demand or a slowing global economy.

The focus is increasingly on the damage caused by the havoc of a trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies. The broad applications for copper mean it’s particularly vulnerable to the synchronized tailspin being seen in everything from car-making and earth-moving equipment to commercial property and advanced electronic components.

“What the hard data is telling us is that end-use demand is slow and in many places getting kicked quite hard,” Oliver Nugent, a metals strategist at Citigroup Inc., said by phone from London. “China’s commodity-intensive economy is as weak as it’s been in recent history.”

Source

From a macro perspective, copper stalled out in Jan of 2018 and when trade tariff became a huge topic of discussion, the momentum in copper turned which was confirmed by the trendline break.

Fast forward almost two years later and trade talk is still being discussed and in recent days it’s a matter of who has the bigger stick. However, what’s different today is Germany is pretty much in a recession, global interest rates are at multi year lows and the US just cut rates for the first time in 10 years. Thus, copper is at a level that I’m deeming, “the line in the sand.”

If copper closes below 2.5000 on the monthly chart, look for copper to make its way down to 2.0000.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

The Only Reason Why The US Equity Markets Reversed Where It Did

Arthur D. Cashin, Jr. is a managing director of UBS Financial Services Inc. and the Director of Floor Operations for UBS Financial Services at the New York Stock Exchange is a well-respected figure on Wall Street. 

Traders are trying to remain positive as stocks came off their sharp morning lows, veteran trader Art Cashin told CNBC on Wednesday.

“If we rolled over here and violated the morning lows, then it would really begin to be a problem,” said Cashin, UBS director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange. “For now, everybody is kind of crossing their fingers and whistling past the graveyard, saying, ‘OK, we tested Monday’s lows,’” he added, around midmorning as the worst of the sell-off was abating.

“The S&P held, so I guess we can be in good shape,” said Cashin, who predicted rocky markets for the next few weeks as global trade tensions mount. “I think volatility is here to stay.”

Source

However, there is one reason and one reason only why the US equity markets are off the Monday lows.

The moving average is the most ubiquitous and simplest technical analysis tool used by discretionary and system traders, market analysts and those pestering algos. The 200 moving average, the king of moving averages is used on a daily chart to determining the overall long-term market trend over the last 40 weeks.

Discretionary and system traders, market analysts and those pestering algos also use moving averages for support and resistance. For example, in February and April of 2018, the 200 moving avg. (yellow line) served as support for the Market.

In October of 2018, the same thing happened.

And again this week,

Whether you trade cryptos, stocks, forex, but don’t have the 200 moving average on your daily chart, consider plotting it on your daily chart as it might offer you an additional edge to accompany your trading strategy.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Crypto Contest August 8: Huobi Token

Huobi Token (Huobi: HTBTC) has broken out of the triangle pattern in the daily chart.

(Chart courtesy of Tradingview.com (log scale))

Elliott Wave Analysis

In Elliott Wave terms, Huobi Token began a wave one advance in November 2018. The red wave one (blue sub-waves i-ii-iii-iv-v) finished in April this year, and the red wave two (blue sub-waves a-b-c) correction ended in June. If this wave count is correct, Huobi Token should be heading next towards the April peak in the red wave three.

(Chart courtesy of Tradingview.com (log scale))

Looking at the weekly chart, I believe Huobi Token is currently in the red wave three (blue sub-wave iii). The red wave three began in November 2018. 

(Chart courtesy of Tradingview.com (log scale))

Funnymentals

Huobi Token is an exchange based token and native currency of the Huobi crypto exchange. You can watch their intro video below.

(Sources: Huobi Token and YouTube)

How can I vote? Where is the contest?

You can vote by following this link.

Silver Gets No Love…Until Now

Silver prices on surged more than 4% on Wednesday, this highest one day return in three years and in the process breached the key psychological $17 level.

although I’m very bullish on Gold,

but I think the red headed step child, Silver will perform better than Gold over the next several years.    The gold/silver ratio is simply the amount of silver it takes to purchase one ounce of gold.  And when this ratio hits 80, it reverses. 

Since the mid-1990s, the ration has hit 80 four times.  And when it reversed, silver outperformed gold over the next several years. 

The Smart Money is recognizing what’s going on.  They just bought over 85, 000 of the September call options, $17 strike price in SLV. 

SLV is the iShares Silver Trust which seeks to reflect the performance of the price of silver. However, I think SLV is just beginning.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

The SPDR Gold Trust ETF, GLD…Broke Out

This past Monday, while the DOW dropped over 800 points, gold rose 1.5% and in the process hit a six year high.  The gain yesterday is on top of the 15%+ gain since December.  Gold has a lot going for itself these days.  We are on the brink of a currency war between the US and China, the British pound may collapse if England leaves the EU and the addition tariffs imposed by Trump isn’t helping the global economy which is slowing down.

The best thing to do in these trying times is to obtain some hard assets if possible in form of gold / silver coins. The next best alternative, besides bitcoin is to invest in funds that mimic the performance of gold.

The 800 lb gorilla gold electronic traded fund is GLD.  It’s the largest fund in the space with over $32 billion in assets under management.

Five month ago I talked about GLD and laid out my projected price action for GLD.

Gold…The “Trade Of The Century”

Source

Although gold hasn’t broken out yet, from its recent consolidation,

the GLD has broken out.

But don’t chase price, usually breakouts return to origin of the break out. So for those who don’t have any exposure to gold, the chart suggests to go long on the pull back.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

The Oil Exploration & Production Companies Continue To Decline Too

When oil dip to a low of sub $30 in 2016 and came back from the dead, I assumed all the derivative play would follow, kind of like the tide rises all boats. 

It was only when I started analyzing the relative strength of the SPDR sectors against the SPY, that I notice the energy sector didn’t follow oil and has been on this steady decline. 

This means Wall Street is saying the valuation of energy companies today at $50 barrel oil is lower than the valuation of energy companies years ago at $30 barrel oil.  This is a really big deal if one can connect the dots.  One theme is cheap credit / junk bonds funding the expansion of the shale companies, who are having a hard time paying their debt back…this one theme has enormous consequence to the state economies of Texas, the Dakotas, etc.  However, that’s another post for a different time.

Last month, I spoke about VanEck Vectors® Oil Services ETF (OIH®) which seeks to track the overall performance of U.S.-listed companies involved in oil services to the upstream oil sector, which include oil equipment, oil services, or oil drilling and how the chart suggest OIH is headed lower over time.

The Oil Service Companies Continue To Decline

OIH ONE MONTH AGO

OIH NOW

I have another ETF that I think is worth shorting is the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP).  XOP seeks to provide investment results corresponding to the total return performance of an index derived from the oil and gas exploration and production segment of a U.S. total market composite index.  Top holdings include: HollyFrontier Corp, Phillips 66, Marathon Petroleum Corp, Hess Corp, Valero Energy Corp and Marathon Oil Corp.

XOP looks very similar to OIH, with one exception.  XOP breached the monthly demand and is now at all-time lows.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.