Here's the replay and chartbook from the March 13 Weekly Strategy Session.

Be sure to join us on Thursdays at 11 am ET and maximize your return potential.

The selling in US Growth stocks continues. 

But why have European stocks and China done so well? 

They don't have any US Growth stocks in their indexes.

While the selling pressure in these stocks has accelerated recently, the underperformance has been there since last summer. We've been pointing out that High Beta never broke out relative to Low Volatility stocks while the major indexes were making new highs.

And now they're making new lows. Look at the underperformance from Tech along with the underperformance in High Beta:

And I'll be the first to tell you that it affects me too. Remember, that on a personal level, my wife and I have retirement accounts and we have 3 kids with college funds. I'm not immune to the selling in US Growth stocks.

I'm right in there with you guys, regardless of what I do for my day job.

Now, this is a great example of why we don't want to limit ourselves to a long only strategy in U.S. stocks.

I've already got plenty of that stuff. Too much, if you ask me. So I need to go out of my way to find additional sources of income and returns. 

This is strictly on a personal level,...

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. New position in XLB.
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

It's been a rough tape for U.S. equities these days.

When you look around, nothing is working.

There are fewer and fewer stocks in uptrends, Staples are outperforming, and the big boys are failing to hold the line.

There are times to be aggressive and times to be cautious. Right now, it's about protecting capital.

However, there are always pockets of strength that we can lean on. 

Metals continue to stand out.

Nobody is talking about them.

Gold just hit 3,000 for the first time in history.

Silver is ...

While the U.S. equity markets have been under pressure, we've been hunting for pockets of relative strength.

These are the areas that will perform best once the selling subsides.

If a stock can buck the trend now, imagine how well it can do once the bulls regain control of the tape.

On Wednesday, we heard from the $2.4B customer experience management (CXM) solutions company, Sprinklr $CXM.

For the 2nd consecutive quarter, the company reported a double beat and rallied. 

The company increased its number of $1M customers by 18% year-over-year. This growth in high-value customers underscores the platform's value and potential for future revenue expansion.

As a cherry on top, the management team believes this growth will continue. They issued much better-than-expected forward guidance.

The market loved everything about this report, and the stock was rewarded for it.

This was the stock's 3rd best earnings reaction ever. We tend to see big earnings reactions before big trends in the stock price.

Sprinklr is on the cusp of resolving a textbook...

When CEOs put their own money on the line, it’s worth paying attention. Insiders sell for all kinds of reasons—taxes, diversification, personal expenses. 

But there’s only one reason to buy: They think the stock is going higher.

Today’s standout moves come from top executives making sizable bets on their own companies.

New Fortress Energy $NFE CEO Wes Edens just bought 100,000 shares.

First Citizens $FCNCA Chairman and CEO Frank Holding reported an $824,000 buy.

Funko $FNKO CEO Cynthia Williams filed a Form 4 revealing the purchase of $106,877 worth of shares—small in size but still a bullish statement from leadership.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from March 12, 2025:

Click the table to enlarge it.

Outside of direct CEO buys, Victoria’s Secret $VSCO saw BBRC International PTE LTD...

Today's number is... 100%

Whether you're looking at short, intermediate, or long-term trends, 100% of the major indices are currently trading below their key moving averages.

Here’s the table:

Let's break down what the table shows:

The first column of the table lists several major indexes. Each subsequent column represents a different moving average, ranging from the 5-day average to the 200-day average. A green box indicates that the index price is above the particular moving average, and a red box shows that the index price is below that moving average.

The Takeaway: The way I learned it was not to fight the trend… Also, nothing good happens when price is below moving averages.

And right now, all I can see is red... Every major index is below its 5-day moving average all the way to its 200-day moving average.

When prices fall below their moving averages, they are not in uptrends. They may not necessarily be in downtrends, but they certainly are not trending higher.

If stocks continue to decline, uptrends cannot persist....

When I look at what’s working in this market, precious metals—specifically gold—stand out.

Gold isn’t just a few dollars off all-time highs—it’s breaking out of a base relative to stocks.

And when I see this, I can’t help but wonder… When does silver get its turn?

History tells us how this usually plays out. Gold moves first, then silver comes to life.

Right now, silver is sitting where gold was last year, just before it started an epic run.

If there’s a moment and place for a catch-up trade, this is it.

And with silver’s higher beta, when it moves, it really moves.

I think we’re heading back to 50.

The miners are already on the move, setting up nicely.

Sellers have dominated the tape for the past several weeks.

Any bid for stocks since we rolled over in February has been weak and short-lived.

At the same time, we are more than due for a serious bounce.

Some sentiment metrics are at wash-out levels. 

Put volume is at record highs.

US stock indexes are deeply oversold. 

In the case of Nasdaq 100 futures, this is worse than the pandemic lows from 2020. 

But oversold can always get more oversold.

And when it comes to sentiment data, there is simply no signal without confirmation from price.

So, I just gotta see it at this point. 

A rebound rally is surely coming, but how much selling will happen first? And how good will it be?

There definitely won’t be a meaningful bounce until we string together some consecutive up days. We haven’t seen back-to-back green candles in the S&P since its peak in February. 

Literally, zero bullish follow-through in almost a month. That needs to change for markets to make a...

There’s no sugar-coating it—recent weeks have been rough in my account.

Call it a pullback, a correction, or a bear market—whatever label you prefer, the selloff in U.S. growth stocks hasn’t spared me. And let’s be honest: Watching account equity shrink isn’t fun. Not even a little.

But one thing that helps me stay grounded through market swings—both up and down—is tracking my Closed Trades Performance. It’s nothing fancy, just a simple spreadsheet with four columns:

• Date Closed

• Ticker

• Net Gain/Loss

• Running Total

That last column, “Running Total,” continuously adds up my net dollar gains and losses as I close trades.

The key benefit? It shifts my focus away from open equity swings in positions I haven’t closed yet. Any old-school futures trend follower will tell you: open profits aren’t yours until you close the trade. I learned this trick from my friend Peter Brandt, and it has been invaluable for my mindset.

Why This Helps My Trading Psychology

By focusing only on closed trades, two...

Thanks to everyone who joined us for today's Hot Corner Insider Weekly Strategy Session.

Today's trade is one of those setups where if the bulls can't stick this landing (making it a good buy), then it's goodbye and good night.

I'm betting on the latter. But being mindful that it could in fact be a good time to buy for those brave enough to step in, I'll be getting short with a defined risk put debit spread.

This post explains what members of my Retail Roundup+ get with their membership.

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled ITB to April options
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

This post was originally for paid members only. It has since been unlocked for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice.

If you're not a member, sign up here.

Crude oil has been trading in lock-step with the US Dollar Index all cycle. 

And believe it or not, the dollar has been hit even harder than the stock market lately. DXY is down about 7% in two months.

I want to bet on an oversold bounce in US dollars, and I don’t think there is a better way to do it than getting long oil.

Here’s crude oil futures catching a bid at the lower bounds of a multi-year range:

And here’s our vehicle, the United States Oil Fund $USO:

Notice our volatility squeeze indicator crossing up in the bottom pane.

I think we’re in for a killer rebound...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

In this scan, we look to identify the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega cap status (over $200B).

Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.

But the scan doesn't just end there.

We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.

Some of the best performers in recent decades – stocks like Priceline, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, and myriad others – would have been on this list at some point during their journey to becoming the market behemoths they are today.

When you look at the stocks in our table, you'll notice we're only focused on Technology and Growth industry groups such as Software, Semiconductors, Online...

Oracle $ORCL, one of this cycle's AI darlings, reported earnings on Monday after the market closed.

It didn't go well...

The company reported a 6% year-over-year revenue increase. This was led by an astonishing 51% increase in its infrastructure as a service segment revenue.

Despite this tremendous growth, the market has already priced it in, and the reported numbers weren't enough to appease investors.

In addition, they issued weaker-than-expected forward guidance. This was like adding fuel to a forest fire.

*click the image to enlarge it

Oracle reported a double miss for the 2nd consecutive quarter and was punished for it. Shares fell 3.10%, with a reaction score of -0.28.

Intra-day, the stock was down more than 7%. It was nasty!

The market has consistently been punishing the stock for its earnings reports. 7 of the last 11 earnings reports have resulted in lower share prices.

This company is doing something wrong...

If ORCL is below 146, the path of least resistance is lower for the foreseeable future...

Activity in Washington, D.C., tops today’s list.

📌 The standout insider move comes from MicroStrategy $MSTR, where Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida disclosed a purchase in an amount between $15,000 and $50,000.

With governments eyeing Bitcoin for strategic reserves, this could be a long-term play—regardless of the near-term chop in crypto.

This marks the second MSTR purchase we’ve seen by lawmakers in recent days. Rep. Jefferson Shreve of Indiana reported a MSTR purchase of $15,000 to $50,000 on March 10.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from March 11, 2025:

Click the table to enlarge it.

📌 New Fortress Energy $NFE CEO Wes Edens filed a Form 4 filing revealing a purchase of $1.75 million.

When top brass invests that heavily, it’s a sign of...

Today's number is... -2.3%

The average stock in the S&P 500 has dropped by -2.3% year-to-date.

Here’s the chart:

Let's break down what the chart shows:

• The gray bar illustrates the average stock in the S&P 500 year-to-date return.
• The green and red bars represent the average year-to-date stock returns by sector for the S&P 500.

The Takeaway: In just 14 trading days, the S&P 500 has declined by 9.31% from its all-time highs and is now down 5.26% year-to-date. Along with this correction, the average stock in the S&P 500 is currently showing a negative year-to-date return - which is down -2.3%.

Given the recent increase in market volatility, there are still pockets of strength, with 217 stocks in the S&P 500 outperforming the index with a positive return year-to-date.

However, most of these outperforming stocks come from sectors typically categorized as defensive. These defensive sectors are where money rotates into when stocks are under...