From the desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza

This is one of our favorite bottom-up scans: Follow the Flow. In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish, but not both.

We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients.

Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.

We also weed out hedging activity and ensure there are no offsetting trades that either neutralize or cap the risk on these unusual options trades.

What remains is a list of stocks that large financial institutions are putting big money behind.

And they're doing so for one reason only: because they think the stock is about to move in their...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to our latest Under the Hood column, where we'll cover all the action for the week ended June 24, 2022. This report is published bi-weekly and rotated with our Minor Leaguers column.

What we do here is analyze the most popular stocks during the week and find opportunities to either join in and ride these momentum names higher, or fade the crowd and bet against them.

We use a variety of sources to generate the list of most popular names.

There are so many new data sources available that all we need to do is organize and curate them in a way that shows us exactly what we want: a list of stocks that are seeing an unusual increase in investor interest.

Watch this video for a behind-the-scenes look at our process.

Whether we’re measuring increasing interest based on large...

Last week the US Healthcare Sector hit new multi-year highs relative to the S&P500.

The Relative Strength has already been there under the surface.

And when you look at Healthcare on an absolute basis you can see the sideways digestion of prior gains during a period where most stocks and indexes were falling:

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

Dr. Copper is in the hot seat again this week!

I know we just covered copper and the copper/gold ratio. But this is a major development, so let’s dive in a little deeper.

When one of the most important procyclical assets breaks to fresh 52-week lows, it takes center stage. It also has major implications across a variety of markets.

But what about energy? What about grains and softs and the rest of the commodity space?

Well, most of those contracts have already been in correction mode.

And, based on the recent selloff in energy and other commodity-related stocks, a much deeper correction could be in store for these raw materials.

It’s definitely something we’re monitoring. And that’s where copper and today’s chart in focus come into play.  

Let’s take a look.

Here’s an overlay chart of copper futures and the five-year breakeven inflation rate:

These two charts look almost identical. That's because copper and commodities, in...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our International Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs. We’ve also sprinkled in some of the largest ADRs from countries that did not make the market-cap cut. 

These stocks range from some well-known mega-cap multinationals such as Toyota Motor and Royal Dutch Shell to some large-cap global disruptors such as Sea Ltd and Shopify.

It’s got all the big names and more--but only those that are based outside the US. You can find all the largest US stocks on our original Hall of Famers list.

The beauty of these scans is really in their simplicity.

We take the largest names each week and then apply technical filters in a way that the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Based on the market environment, we can also flip the scan on its head and filter for weakness.

Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the most important stocks from around the world.

Here’s this week’s list:

...

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley  

Bonds are off to their worst start in the past 40 years, possibly ever! 

It’s not even close. 

As we near the end of Q2, the US Treasury Bond ETF $TLT is down almost 22% year to date. And that’s after its recent bounce higher.

There's been nowhere to hide, as these traditional safe-haven assets have been an absolute dumpster fire along with stocks.

But we’re starting to see some of those flames extinguished.

Some of the worst-performing stocks tipped the bond market’s hand ahead of the recent lows. That’s right: Those Big Tech names and Chinese internet stocks stopped going down months ago and now bonds are following higher.

Believe it or not, bonds and high-duration equities have a lot in common. The Growth $IWF versus Value $IWD ratio really tells the story.

Let’s take a look.

Here’s an overlay chart of the TLT and the IWF/IWD ratio:

While bonds have sold off throughout the year, growth stocks have suffered a similar fate...

Monday night we held our June Monthly Conference Call, which Premium Members can access and rewatch here.

In this post, we’ll do our best to summarize it by highlighting five of the most important charts and/or themes we covered, along with commentary on each.

Let’s get right into it!

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to the 2 to 100 Club.

As many of you know, something we've been working on internally is using various bottom-up tools and scans to complement our top-down approach. It's really been working for us!

One way we're doing this is by identifying 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...

From the desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

There's a lot of pain out there.

It's not just retail. Some of the most sophisticated crypto funds on the planet are blowing up. Lives are getting destroyed.

But here's a quick reminder: The best trades come when others are forced to exit and are at their lowest points.

Is it a nice way to make a living?

No. But you have to deal with it. Otherwise, you end up being on the wrong side.

The ETF providers in their infinite wisdom seem to be feeding on this sentiment, with the first short Bitcoin ETF being launched in the US this week. This feels awfully reminiscent of October, when the first Bitcoin futures ETF was launched.

Weeks after, the market put in its last top.

There is probably a certain segment of the investing population that would look askance at me if I mentioned we're seeing "strength in China." They wouldn't believe that is possible. According to the news media they consume, China is "a mess." Perhaps that is true? But we only follow price here at our shop, and price is beginning to tell a different story.

Today's trade idea comes from TWO seemingly unlikely places: China and Internet! (what??????)

And when you see this chart of the Chinese Internet ETF $KWEB, you'll see why:

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley

Whatever we’re looking for, the market has it.

If we’re searching for large topping patterns and strong downtrends, there’s plenty to go around, especially in the bond and stock markets right now.

Some people love taking the short side, feeding on the doom and gloom narratives accompanying the selling pressure.

But if that’s not your cup of tea, plenty of markets are trending higher. If you’re more interested in assets making new highs and like buying high and selling higher, look no further than the currency market.

When it comes to forex crosses these days, it’s simple.

All we have to do is put the US dollar in the numerator or place the Japanese yen in the denominator, and we get big bases that have either broken out or are on the verge of breaking out.

It’s that easy.

We’ve highlighted the yen in recent posts, so today we’ll switch gears and focus on a couple USD crosses from northern Europe.

Let’s dive in!

Here’s the US dollar/Swedish krona cross:...