Crude oil is setting up for a big move, and almost nobody is paying attention. In fact, sentiment in the energy trade couldn’t be more bearish right now. Everyone hates it, everyone. 

As Strazza said on our call yesterday, “Even Warren Buffett is losing money on this one.” That’s the vibe.

XLE keeps dropping, the bearish sentiment intensifies, yet producers are stepping in and buying. That’s a bullish signal if I’ve ever seen one.

There are plenty of reasons to start liking energy here, especially when headlines like these are flying under the radar of most U.S. investors. 

Sure, this crisis might trigger a short term pop, but I’m not in it for a flash move, I’m looking for a trend. 

And the pieces for a sustainable breakout are falling into place.

Let’s talk about seasonality. Most people think energy’s best season is summer. Makes sense, right? But the data tells a different story. Energy peaks in the summer, then drifts into bearish seasonals, until now.

The sweet spot for energy? It’s right...

Here's the replay and chartbook from the December 27 Weekly Strategy Session. We made this week's video a recording rather than a live session due to holiday travel. I expect to be back to the regular schedule next week. 

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

Below is the 11th ASC Mastermind  Course. In this video, I dive into the world of mega-caps.

Mega-cap stocks are, by definition, the best stocks. You can't have a stock be worth hundreds of billions of dollars without it going up a lot. 

And yet, this does not mean that all mega-cap stocks go up consistently, or that once a stock reaches mega-cap status it stays there. 

We know this is not true. So we use our technical analysis framework to identify the best ones. This video will show you how we do it. 

Enjoy.

During this time of the year, I find myself thinking back on the prior 12 months. It's hard not to right?

I wanted to send a short note today reminding everyone to look around. Understand what is happening out there and why it's been happening. 

This year more than ever, we are grateful for the permabears, who are so darn good at convincing all those gullible sheep to fight a perfectly good bull market, that it's helped the rest of us make so much more money.

The S&P500 is up 28% this year. The Nasdaq100 is up 30%. This is after the 2023 returns of 26% for the S&P500 and 54% for the Nasdaq100. 

They cried and cried about a recession. But all we got was the Nasdaq literally doubling in total value.

These are historic returns that have rarely ever been seen in American history. 

But I have to say, if it wasn't for these angry permabears promising you a crisis every day the past 2+ years, our returns would not have been as good.

If Wall Street sell side analysts weren't so bad at their jobs, these gains would likely not be anywhere near what they've been.

If economists didn't put on blindfolds when walking into...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts

Welcome to the Hot Corner Insider Weekly Report!

As you know, we spend a lot of time tracking insider activity to come up with this universe.

But that’s only half the battle!

Once we identify the names insiders are targeting, we overlay our expert technical analysis to see if the market agrees with their actions.

While we track some of the most powerful and well-informed market participants… we aren’t just going to follow them blindly into their trades.

We want to see that the insider activity is confirmed by the trend before we get involved. 

When we can check both of these boxes, we identify asymmetric risk/reward setups, and then jump in and ride these trends higher alongside the smart money.

Let’...

Last month the S&P500 and Nasdaq100 both closed at the highest levels in history. December is now on pace for another new all-time monthly closing high, for the 10th time this cycle.

The trend here for stocks is NOT down.

This is a bull market. And sector rotation continues to drive it higher.

We discussed this all and what we're looking for come the new year during our LIVE Video Conference Call this week. 

I really encourage you to give this video a watch to prepare you for what 2025 will bring. You'll...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The Junior International Hall of Famers.

With the goal of finding more bullish setups, we have decided to expand one of our favorite scans and broaden our regular coverage of the largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs.

This scan is composed of the next 100 largest stocks by market cap, those that come after the top 100 and are thus covered by the International Hall of Famers universe.

Many of these names will someday graduate and join our original International Hall Of Famers list. The idea here is to catch these big trends as early on as possible.

Let’s dive right in and check out what these future big boys are up to.

This is our Junior International Hall of Famers list:

Click table to enlarge view

And here’s how we arrived at it…

We removed laggards which are down 5% or more relative to the ACWI Ex. U.S. Index $ACWX over the trailing...

If the bull market is going to resume higher, we think the semiconductors will lead the way. 

We positioned in a bellwether last week. Today, we're going to get into a name that'll give us a little more juice if we're right.

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

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled IGV to Feb7 (weekly) options.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

Today’s standout insider activity comes with plenty to unpack.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is back at it, revealing a fresh $28.5 million purchase in VeriSign $VRSN.

When Uncle Warren makes a move, it’s always worth watching.

Over at Progyny $PGNY, both the CEO and the Executive Chairman stepped in to buy their own stock.

Seeing top leadership align like this is a rare and notable signal.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 26, 2024:

Meanwhile, Third Point disclosed a 13G filing for Telephone and Data Systems $TDS, revealing an original stake of 5.70%.

Finally, executives from several other companies also made significant purchases:

• Agree Realty Corporation $ADC;
• ...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 150 largest US-based stocks.

These stocks range from the mega-cap growth behemoths like Apple and Microsoft – with market caps in excess of $2T – to some of the new-age large-cap disruptors such as Moderna, Square, and Snap.

It has all the big names and more.

It doesn’t include ADRs or any stock not domiciled in the US. But don’t worry; we developed a separate universe for that. Click here to check it out.

The Hall of Famers is simple.

We take our list of 150 names and then apply our technical filters so the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Let’s dive right in and check out what these big boys are up to.

Here’s this week’s list:

*Click table to enlarge view

We filter out any laggards that are down -5% or more relative to the S&P 500 over the trailing month.

Then, we...

As the year comes to a close, the relative strength in space and exploration stocks is absolutely off the charts.

Steve did a great job covering them last month—make sure to check it out if you haven't already.

These stocks have been on my watchlist for weeks, and I think their time has come to continue their upward path.

Let me walk you through my two top picks that are offering an astronomical risk versus reward opportunity at current levels.

First up, we have Rocket Lab $RKLB:

After a near-vertical rally off its summer lows, RKLB has been consolidating its gains above a major polarity level, in the form of a flag pattern.

These formations tend to resolve in the direction of the underlying trend and I don't think this time will be any different.

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

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

Let’s dig in!

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Dividend Aristocrats are easily some of the most desirable investments on Wall Street. These are the names that have increased dividends for at least 25 years, providing steadily increasing income to long-term-minded shareholders.

As you can imagine, the companies making up this prestigious list are some of the most recognizable brands in the world. Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Johnson & Johnson are just a few of the household names making the cut.

Here at All Star Charts, we like to stay ahead of the curve. That's why we're turning our attention to the future aristocrats. In an effort to seek out the next generation of the cream-of-the-crop dividend plays, we're curating a list of stocks that have raised their payouts every year for five to nine years.

We call them the Young Aristocrats, and the idea is that these are "stocks that pay you to make money." Imagine if years of consistent dividend growth and high momentum and relative strength had a baby, leaving you with the best of the emerging dividend giants that are outperforming the averages.

By...

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...

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

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled KRE to February options.
3. Exited ARKK for Profit.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

Do you remember when Tesla was on the brink of failure? Some of the most well-known bears on Wall Street were betting heavily against the stock.

This changed in May 2013 when the company reported its first-ever quarterly profit. They also became the first U.S. car company to repay a U.S. Department of Energy loan fully, and they did it 9 years early.

It was a total game-changer.

Since then, it has grown to be an auto-manufacturing powerhouse. What's more, it's the global leader in robotics.

The growth isn't slowing down. It's accelerating.

$TSLA just had its second-best earnings reaction ever. The only other quarter that exceeds it is (you guessed it) Q2 2013.

It wasn't about top or bottom-line results. The real story was in the guidance.

Elon Musk, the CEO, confirmed plans to introduce more affordable EVs in 2025 to expand the customer base.

Moreover, the company is on the cusp of launching ride-hailing services via a robotaxi.

The market rewarded $TSLA with...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

When investing in the stock market, we always want to approach it as "a market of stocks."

Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks showing leadership and trending higher.

We may have to look harder to identify them depending on current market conditions. But there are always stocks that are going up.

The same can be said for weak stocks. Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks that are going down, too. 

We already have multiple scans focusing on stocks making all-time highs, such as Hall of Famers, Minor Leaguers, and the 2 to 100 Club.

We filter these universes for stocks that are exhibiting the best momentum and relative strength characteristics. 

Clearly, we spend a lot of time identifying and writing about leading stocks every week, via multiple reports.

...

Today’s standout insider activity features some intriguing moves across key players.

Director Neil de Crescenzo made waves with a Form 4 filing, snapping up 100,000 shares of CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings $CCCS—a significant bet on the company’s future. 

Meanwhile, at Ardelyx $ARDX, director David Mott—on the board since 2009—dropped a cool $1 million on shares, a bold show of conviction.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 23, 2024:

Over at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co $AJG, the COO joined the action, purchasing 1,115 shares—a subtle but telling vote of confidence from the executive suite.

Rounding out the action, insider buying also surfaced at Lowe’s Companies $LOW, The Lovesac Company $LOVE, and FB Financial Corporation $FBK, hinting at optimism in a diverse set of industries.

If you've been paying attention this year, you've likely heard about failed tops. They've been everywhere, teasing traders with bearish setups that never materialize. 

Here's how it usually plays out. When support breaks, short-sellers rush to pile on, driving prices lower. But then, the market pulls a fast one. Prices creep back above those broken supports, squeezing shorts and forcing them to cover. Meanwhile, the longs panic, rushing to re-enter.

The latest chatter has been about a potential head-and-shoulders top in Nvidia $NVDA. But let's be real—the bulls are taking back control, and this setup is looking more and more like another false alarm.

Here are three key levels I’m watching in the coming days:

• The VWAP from the August 5th lows at $126.50: This level is the bulls' final line of defense. Prices rebounded from it last week, but a clear break below could trigger a much sharper decline.
• The neckline of the pattern at $132: Price is currently holding above this level, keeping the bias to the upside and the bulls in the...