Recent Posts from Chart Trader and System Trader:

Trend-Followers Get the Whip, while Swing Traders Catch the Ride (Free)
2022 has been a tough market for trend-followers, but swing traders have been able to catch a few rides. Trend-followers are suffering because whipsaws are above average this year. A whipsaw occurs when an uptrend cannot extend after a bullish trend signal and the trade results in a loss.
Before looking at some trend-following stats,

How to Find the True Market Leaders (Free)
Stocks surged this week with the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) advancing over 5% and nearing its falling 200-day SMA. The big trend is still down because SPY recorded a 52-week low a month ago and a lower low

Copper Breaks with an Outsized Move (Free)
The S&P 500 moved to a new low from June to October, but copper held up better with a higher low and broke short-term resistance with an outsized move this week. A breakout with an outsized move shows above-average strength and it looks like the downtrend in copper is reversing.

Tape and Fed Outweigh Seasonality (Free)
The seasonal patterns for October and yearend are quite positive, but seasonality is just one aspect of broad market analysis and the weight of the evidence remains bearish.

The Pickings are Slim, but one Metal Stands Out (Free)
The pickings are extremely thin in the markets because the vast majority of groups are in downtrends. TrendInvestorPro tracks trend signals in 274 ETFs. This list include 170 stock-based ETFs, 18 fixed income ETFs

Bear Markets and the 20% Threshold (Free)
Technical analysts often scoff at the notion that a 20% decline marks a bear market. However, a look back shows that further losses are certainly possible after a 20% decline. Over the last 25 years, the last two bear markets started with declines in excess of

Correlations Rise as Bear Extends its Grip (Free)
Despite the bear market environment, a handful of stock-based ETFs were showing leadership with bullish Trend Composite signals. Representatives from dirty energy (XLE), clean energy (TAN) and utilities (XLU) were covered over

Coming Up Aces in Clean Energy (Free)
The broad market environment remains bearish, but one group stood out in early August and continues to stand out. The Solar Energy ETF (TAN) was featured on August 1st as the Trend Composite turned bullish and clean energy

Energy-based ETFs Hold Up Despite Weakness in Stocks and Oil (Free)
It has been a rough four weeks for stocks and oil, but the energy-related ETFs held up relatively well and remain in uptrends. The PerfChart below shows performance for SPY, oil, the DB Energy ETF (DBE) and

So-called Defensive ETFs are Not Immune to Broad Market Swings (Free)
The short-term trends for the big three are down (SPY, QQQ, IWM) and we are in a bear market. Over the last two weeks, the short-term trend (down) aligned with the long-term trend (down). This is a powerful combination

Improving Odds by Focusing on ETFs with Leading Uptrends (Free)
Traders can improve the odds of success by focusing on ETFs in leading uptrends. TrendInvestorPro identifies such ETFs with a table that shows Trend Composite signals and the 52-week range

Quantifying the Battle for the 200-day – It’s Elementary (Free)
The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) surged to its falling 200-day SMA here in August and even edged above this key level intraday on Tuesday. Even though the ETF is close to crossing above the 200-day, chartists would be better off

Overbought and Staying Overbought (Free)
The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) is in the midst of a strong advance since mid July as it became “overbought” on July 20th and remains overbought. Today’s article will show how to measure overbought and oversold levels using StochClose, which is a version of the Stochastic Oscillator that uses closing prices.

A Theme Emerges as One Group Pops within a Bear Market (Free)
The Composite Breadth Model at TrendInvestorPro has been bearish since April 11th and remains bearish, which suggests that the current bounce in SPY is a counter-trend advance within a bigger downtrend. Also note that

TAN Follows Trend Composite Signal with Breakout (Free)
Led by its top two components, Enphase (ENPH) and Solar Edge (SEDG), the Solar Energy ETF (TAN) followed a bullish

Base Metals ETF Survives Onslaught and Makes a Turn (Free)
The DB Base Metals ETF (DBB) is reversing its downswing after becoming oversold within an uptrend. This analysis will cover the long-term trend using the chart and Trend Composite, the oversold conditions using the Momentum Composite and the short-term breakout over the last few days.

A Key Factor in the Trading Puzzle (Free)
The bigger trend is one of the most important factors to consider when trading stocks or ETFs. We can use trend signals as part of a trend-following strategy or to dictate our trading bias. I look for bullish setups and pullback opportunities

A Defensive Picture No Matter How you Slice It (Free)
Sector PerfCharts provide clear performance snapshots of the market mood and the market mood is defensive. The PerfCharts below show the percentage change for the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) and the eleven sectors. These sectors can be divided into three groups: offensive sectors, defensive sectors and other.

Using Sentiment to Measure Short-term Extremes (Free)
After a big surge in the second half of March, stocks fell back this week as the S&P 500 declined around 2%. This modest decline is warranted after the March surge, but it was not enough to push sentiment to an extreme. The AAII Bears are back above 40%, but two other sentiment indicators barely budged.

Wild Swings and a Classic Setup for Palladium (Free)
Volatility is through the roof for many commodities and commodity-related ETFs, but this does not mean we have to abandon technical analysis and classic setups. High volatility does, however, imply higher risk and we probably need to give setups a little more wiggle room.

Trading Themes to Watch Going Forward (Free)
Several trading themes emerged over the past month and these themes could have legs. Russia invaded Ukraine a month ago and the broader market is significantly higher since the invasion. The Russell 2000 ETF is up

SPY Gets its Biggest Surge since November 2020. Is it Enough? (Free)
The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) surged 5.77% from Tuesday to Thursday and this is the biggest 3-day surge since the 6.07% advance on November 5th, 2020. This early November surge led to a breakout and the advance extended until January 2022

The Damage is Done with the Expansion of New Lows (Free)
The broad market environment is the single most important factor to consider when investing in stocks or stock-related ETFs. Are we in a bull market or a bear market? The recent expansion of new lows and the 5/200 cross in the S&P 500 suggest that we are in a bear market environment.

Silver Plays Catchup with the other Commodities (Free)
The pickings are rather slim with just 61 of the 276 ETFs in the TrendInvestorPro Master List in uptrends. Unsurprisingly, most of the ETFs in uptrends are related to commodities (energy, metals, agriculture). Outside of commodities, we are seeing