SPY Recaptures 200-day – Tips to Reduce Whipsaws and Improve Performance

SPY and QQQ crossed above their 200-day SMAs with big moves on Monday, and held above these long-term moving averages the entire week. The V-Reversal was extraordinary and SPY seems short-term overbought, but this cross above the 200 day SMA cross is a bullish signal for the most important market benchmark. Despite a bullish signal, long-term moving averages are

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V Reversals – Capitulation – The V – Interesting Levels vs Bull Markets – Relative Risk

Stocks plunged into early April and surged into early May, suggesting that a “V” reversal is in the making. With the recent gains, SPY is back near the 200-day SMA and 61.8% retracement, which puts this key benchmark at an “interesting” juncture. Interesting? Yes. Bull market? No. What does it take to go from an interesting juncture to a bull market?

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Bottoming Process – Capitulation, Short and Medium Term Thrusts, Regime Change

The market does not always follow the same script or sequence, but bear markets end with a bottoming process that often goes in stages. First, there is the capitulation phase, which suggests that selling pressure reached extremes and a bottom may be close. There was a capitulation setup in early April. Second, short-term thrust indicators mark a sharp recovery after an

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Zweig Breadth Thrust – NYSE Original – Modern Version AD%

Developed by the late great Marty Zweig, the Zweig Breadth Thrust uses advance-decline data to identify material shifts in participation. This indicator sets up with when the advance-decline data becomes oversold and triggers when there is a sharp broadening in upside participation (advancing stocks). It is a time sensitive indicator that must trigger within a 10 day window.

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Defining Oversold Extremes – Capitulation Index Sets Up, but Bearish Until Thrust Signal ($)

Price and breadth indicators are hitting panic levels as investors indiscriminately dump stocks. Several key indicators already reached extremes that could foreshadow a bounce. However, these extremes result from strong selling pressure and increasing downside momentum, which is bearish. The vast majority of stocks moved into long-term downtrends and new lows surging. Such serious technical damage is unlikely to be reversed with the first bounce.

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Beginning in the Midst of a Bull Run and Dealing with Drawdowns

Not all pullbacks result in long-term trend changes and not all drawdowns lead to bear markets. The odds favor the bulls as long as the bull market signal is valid and drawdowns provide opportunities during bull markets. Today’s report will analyze the drawdowns in the Rotation Investor strategies. We will show the Maximum Drawdown, Median Drawdown and a drawdown range for putting money to work.

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Revisiting Overbought Filters for Rotation Strategies – Can we Improve Performance with a Tweak?

Momentum-Rotation strategies get their edge from upward momentum. More often than not, this means there will be entry signals for stocks that seem overbought. Not all overbought stocks continue higher and some correct hard after becoming overbought. Can we improve performance by avoiding stocks that are extremely overbought? Today’s report will discuss the recency bias, show some overbought examples and puts an overbought filter to the test.

Revisiting Overbought Filters for Rotation Strategies – Can we Improve Performance with a Tweak? Read More »

Understanding Equity Curve Performance and Setting Realistic Expectation (Premium)

It is important to understand the ebb and flow of the equity curve when trading a strategy. How long is the strategy flat or down? How often do we see strong momentum runs? How often does the strategy experience double-digit drawdowns? How can we take advantage of drawdown? We will answer these questions and more.

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Do Overbought Filters Improve Performance for Momentum Rotation Strategies? (Premium)

Buying stocks that seem overbought is difficult, but this is often required when trading a momentum-rotation strategy. By design, these strategies buy the strongest stocks and many seem “overbought”. Momentum is all about buying high and selling higher. This report will test the original Rotation Investor strategies with the addition of an overbought filter. In other words, we will avoid stocks that are overbought. Does this filter help or hurt performance?

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Diversification Benefits – Recency Bias – Dealing with Drawdowns – Tweaks

The Dual Momentum Rotation Strategies started out with a bang this year and produced big gains in the first three months. Market action then turned mixed with tech-related stocks falling sharply. The Nasdaq 100 strategy moved into a deep drawdown the last five weeks (NDX update here). The S&P 500 strategy is holding up well because

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Finding Bullish Setup Zones within Bigger Uptrends – Requirements, Considerations, Conditions, Setups and Signals

This report will show how to find bullish setup zones for trading pullbacks within the bigger uptrend. This is trading in the direction of the bigger uptrend. We are only focused on uptrends and bullish setups. In addition, there are two requirements: the broad market trend must be up and the stock must be

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8 Trend-Following Indicators – Impulse/In-State Signals -Thresholds – Combining with Momentum (Premium)

This report/video covers eight trend-following indicators: BBands, Keltner Channels, Donchian Channels, StochClose, %Difference betw SMAs, ROC of SMA, CCI-Close and eSlope. We show how to reduce whipsaws with smoothing and signal thresholds. Each indicator is explained with chart examples. These samples include good trades and bad trades because whipsaws are guaranteed.

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Testing the Zweig Breadth Thrust using other Indexes – Adding Beta and Diversification to the Strategy

Today’s report will put the Zweig Breadth Thrust indicators for the various indexes to the test. My default breadth index is the S&P 1500 because it covers all bases and represents a broad swath of the US stock market. We can also generate ZBT signals using

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Breadth Charts and ChartList – Get an Edge with Inside Information

Breadth indicators are also referred to as market internals. As the “vital signs” for an index or sector, breadth indicators reflect aggregate performance for the individual components. As such, breadth indicators can provide leading signals by strengthening before a bottom or weakening ahead of a top. After all, the whole is only as good as the sum of the parts

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Zweig Breadth Thrust is Missing Something – Adding Nasdaq Stocks, Testing with an Exit Strategy (Parts 1&2)

Today’s report features the Zweig Breadth Thrust, which was developed by the late, and great, Marty Zweig. We will show how it works and look at some recent signals. Despite a long history, the indicator is missing something and we will propose a modern day alternative.

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Skip the Noise, Focus on the Signal, Effectively Use the 200-day SMA with $SPX & $NDX (Parts 1&2)

The S&P 500 is battling the 200-day SMA with four crosses over the last eleven days. We are also seeing a rise in volatility as this market benchmark plunged 5.86% in nine days (18-27 October) and then surged 5.85% the last five days. With such conditions, it is a good time to step back and look for ways to filter the noise.

Skip the Noise, Focus on the Signal, Effectively Use the 200-day SMA with $SPX & $NDX (Parts 1&2) Read More »

Why Use Market Filters?, Indicator Settings Are Double-Edged Swords, the Best Performing Market Filter

Today’s report will dive into the market filter, which is used to define bull and bear markets. Market filters are an important part of trend-following and momentum strategies that trade stocks and stock-based ETFs. The Composite Breadth Model has not worked well over the last 15 months, but this is a relatively short timeframe in the grand scheme

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