Lots of bark, but no bite in the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY)


Commentary:

As we have seen several times over the past week, confusion and indecision were the dominant themes of yesterday’s trading session. Overall intraday market action was a tug-of-war between the bulls and bears, as stocks jumped higher on the open, reversed and fell into negative territory by early afternoon, then climbed off their lows in the final 30 minutes of trading. When the dust had settled, it was basically a draw. Both the S&P 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out gains of 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite edged lower by 0.1%. The S&P MidCap 400 Index was unchanged, but the small-cap Russell 2000 lost 0.7%. All the main stock market indexes closed near the bottom third of their intraday trading ranges.

Total volume in the NYSE eased 7%. In the Nasdaq, turnover similarly dipped 9% below the previous day’s level. In both exchanges, volume was below 50-day average levels. Market internals were also indicative of a session that was noncommittal. In the NYSE and Nasdaq, advancing volume nearly matched declining volume. Understandably, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other institutions have been demonstrating minimal activity ahead of today’s midterm elections, which coincides with the start of a two-day Fed meeting on economic policy.

Over the past two weeks, we have pointed out and analyzed a substantial number of solid technical ETF trade setups for traders to consider. However, due to a general lack of price momentum in recent days, we have passed on “officially” entering many of these setups in our model ETF portfolio. Because most of these setups we discussed have simply been spinning their wheels since triggering their valid entry prices, the subjective decision to lay low was apparently the right decision. A quick look at recent price action of the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY), a broad-based ETF proxy for the overall equities markets, clearly shows the apathetic environment the stock market is stuck in. Below is an hourly chart of SPY that shows the market’s confusion over the past two weeks:

SPY

As shown on the chart above, SPY has been little changed over the past two weeks (up approximately 0.4%). However, there has been a lot of intraday and day-to-day volatility throughout that period. The pink rectangles inserted on the chart above are used to highlight the numerous instances of large opening “gaps” in the broad market, both up and down, that have led nowhere or reversed intraday. Notice that a majority of days over the past two weeks demonstrated this indecisive and erratic behavior. Yesterday was only the latest example of such action, as SPY began the day sharply higher, then reversed and began selling off an hour later.

Considering what’s been happening to SPY, it’s not surprising that most ETFs, even in strong sectors such as emerging markets, have lacked momentum over the past two weeks. The danger in such a market environment, particularly for novice investors and traders, is the temptation to overtrade. This happens because many newer traders feel they need to be in the markets every day, lest they “miss out” on potential opportunities. But the reality is it’s very easy to lose money by “churning” one’s account through overtrading when there’s really not much happening in the markets.

There are times when cash (either US dollars or foreign currency ETF) is one of the best positions to hold. Perhaps we are entering one such period. But for individuals who are unwilling or unable to substantially reduce their trading activity, for whatever reason, there are two things that can be done to reduce overall risk in the current market environment. The first is to reduce position size. If, for example, your normal maximum risk per trade is $500, consider temporarily reducing that number by 25 to 50%.

Another strategy to reduce risk is to require new trade entries to be profitable by the end of the day, or not take them overnight. We utilized the strategy yesterday, when we bought iShares US Telecom Sector (IYZ) on yesterday morning’s opening gap above resistance, but subsequently made a judgment call to scratch the position (via Intraday Trade Alert) when broad market selling pressure caused IYZ to fall back to a few cents below our entry point. If the market would’ve followed through on yesterday morning’s strength, the position probably would have been showing an unrealized gain by the close. But since that didn’t happen, we eliminated all risk by simply closing the trade near our entry point instead. No harm done.

With a bit of luck, trend conditions may improve after the conclusion of two big events this week: US midterm elections (today) and a 2-day Fed meeting on economic policy (today and tomorrow). A favorable reaction to these events could attract big money from the sidelines, which could spark a tradeable resumption of the current, intermediate-term uptrend. Conversely, a negative reaction could lead to a substantial price correction in the broad market. For the longer-term health of the stock market, a substantial pullback would not actually be a bad thing, as it would subsequently create new bullish setups with a better chance for profitability than many of the patterns we are seeing right now. Regardless of what occurs, remember one thing: the actual outcome of today’s elections or the specific verbiage of tomorrow’s Fed announcement does not matter. Rather, the only thing that matters is the market’s reaction to those two events. As always, remember to trade what you see, not what you think!


Today’s Watchlist:

There are no new setups in the premarket today, as we prefer to see the market’s reaction to two big news events over the next two days before entering new positions. As always, we will promptly send an Intraday Trade Alert with details if we come across any new trades we decide to enter.


Daily Performance Report:

Below is an overview of all open positions, as well as a performance report on all positions that were closed only since the previous day’s newsletter. Net P/L figures are based on the $50,000 Wagner Daily model account size. Changes to open positions since the previous report are listed in red text below. Please review the Wagner Daily Subscriber Guide for important, automatic rules on trigger and stop prices.

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    Notes:

  • We did a bit of housekeeping with our portfolio yesterday, making for an active day. We sent several alerts to do the following: add 100 shares to USO on the open (due to opening gap above resistance), scratch the IYZ trade that triggered in the morning (due to lack of intraday follow-through in an indecisive market), and tighten stops in both IBB and RSX (due to lack of momentum and also relative strength). Both IBB and RSX stops triggered, enabling us to lock in a solid gain on IBB. RSX was closed with a small loss. Additionally, our original DXD stop was triggered, unfortunately getting hit by just a few cents before the market reversed and sold off.
  • Reminder to subscribers – Intraday Trade Alerts to your e-mail and/or mobile phone are normally only sent to indicate a CHANGE to the pre-market plan that is detailed in each morning’s Wagner Daily. We sometimes send a courtesy alert just to confirm action that was already detailed in the pre-market newsletter, but this is not always the case. If no alert is received to the contrary, one should always assume we’re honoring all stops and trigger prices listed in each morning’s Wagner Daily. But whenever CHANGES to the pre-market stops or trigger prices are necessary, alerts are sent on an AS-NEEDED basis. Just a reminder of the purpose of Intraday Trade Alerts.
  • For those of you whose ISPs occasionally deliver your e-mail with a delay, make sure you’re signed up to receive our free text message alerts sent to your mobile phone. This provides a great way to have redundancy on all Intraday Trade Alerts. Send your request to [email protected] if not already set up for this value-added feature we provide to subscribers.
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      Edited by Deron Wagner,
      MTG Founder and
      Head Trader