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Possible $200 Gold Rally - The Financial Tap

Possible $200 Gold Rally

 

Gold Rally

In my opinion, gold’s Cycle is setup well for a surprise, $200 Gold rally.  Gold has reached an interesting crossroads and based on the Cycle position, some significant volatility lies ahead.  The Gold sector is doing well, and has held up after impressive gains.  It has seen a couple of weeks of price consolidation, but no serious selling.  This points to a strong underlying bid, and is reflective of a bull market.

After bouncing off the 20dma, Gold has been jammed between the 10dma and 20dma.  It has yet to resume the uptrend, and the remainder of this week, into early next week, should reveal whether the short term bullish case for a Gold rally will play out.  But whether it does or not, Gold is out of excuses.  If it cannot resume its move higher, the bears will likely take control and drive significant selling on the backside of the current Investor Cycle (IC).

 

gold rally daily cycle pennant pattern

The precious metals Miners have also held their huge gains. Normally, once the Miners top, the trip to the next Daily Cycle Low (DCL) is quick and severe.  But not so this time.  The lack of any real retracement in the Miners is indicative of a Gold Cycle ready to move higher.

The sky above the Miners is not completely clear, however; there are warning signs that should not be ignored.  The Gold Miners Bullish Percent Index is a reliable indicator of a Gold Cycle top, and as shown below, appears to have topped and turned lower.  The Miners are leveraged to Gold, so if Gold has topped, the over-stretched Miners will suffer far greater losses than will Gold.  So any current Longs should be in the metal itself this time around.

 

5-14 miners bullish percent index

Nevertheless, markets often fool traders, and commodity bull markets especially so.  History shows that once a Gold bull market has begun, standard technical indicators can be ignored for the first 6 to 12 months.  Gold can be so relentless and unpredictable in rising off of a long term bottom that technical indicators don’t work well for a period of time.  And if you’re still unsure whether Gold is in a bull market, take a look at the price action in the Miners.  Or look at the level of Gold bullion buying, shown below.

 

5-14 gold accumulation

Looking at the weekly chart, I still believe that a $200 surprise, Gold rally is in the cards.  Few others believe such a move is possible, but I still see the setup clearly, and have good skin in the game to capture such a move.

Despite my being positioned for upside, there are still reasons to be skeptical of Gold’s immediate prospects.  Chief among them is the lack of a clear ICL when one was due.  If Gold were to lose the 20-day moving average or the 10-week moving average, the near term bullish case would be negated and I would brace for a more traditional Investor Cycle price decline.

The lack of an IC price decline is a primary reason that I see the potential for a $200 rally.  And the presence of a (bullish) pennant consolidation, followed by a new high, provides fuel and a target for a move higher.  All of that said, seeing the upside scenario is exciting, and we can’t be so blinded that we forget that it is only one of several possible outcomes.

 

gold rally weekly cycle

 

Trading Strategy Ideas

I prefer the Gold ETF rather than the Miners as a precaution.  If Gold breaks down from here, the stops are set tight and offer a very nice risk/reward setup.  I also believe that in any second leg Gold rally, it’s gold that needs to play serious catch-up to the precious metals miners, Silver and Platinum.   On the other hand, to give the trade the room it would need, a position in the Miners at current levels would need a huge, 20-25% Stop cushion, far too wide (and risky) to justify a position.

Above all, remember to define your risk clearly before entering into a trade, understand your target/objective, and of course, always use stops.  I see the May 10th, $1,258 as an important level, closing below that has me cutting Long exposure.  Then below that, $1,228 is the ultimate stopping point.

 

The Financial Tap publishes two member reports per week, a weekly premium report and a midweek market update report. The reports cover the movements and trading opportunities of the Gold, S&P, Oil, $USD, US Bond’s, and Natural Gas Cycles. Along with these reports, members enjoy access to two different portfolios and trade alerts. Both portfolios trade on varying time-frames (from days, weeks, to months), there is a portfolio to suit all member preferences.

 

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The Next Crude Spill

 

 

An important caveat to my Crude Oil outlook is that I continue to believe that Crude is in a bear market, and that its long term trend is down.  The past 12 months clearly support my position, but if that no longer applies, if Crude is no longer in a bear market, my subsequent analysis will be incorrect.  Some analysts attempt to predict major cyclical turns before they occur, but I believe it is more prudent to wait for evidence and confirmation before reacting.

If Crude is in a bear market, the current advance has gone about as far as it can; since the last major low in February, Crude has risen substantially.  And enough weeks have passed that another bear market decline that blindsides the bulls would not be a surprise here.

4-23 crude daily

As with equities, the Crude market’s fundamentals seem to be on vacation for now.  And this creates an ideal environment for trapping unsuspecting Long speculators.  Greed has taken over, and traders seem determined to drive Crude higher in a speculative rally.  In the short term, fundamentals are often swamped by emotion.  And in the case of Crude, the amount of excess Oil flooding the markets has become immaterial in the face of substantial, emotion-driven speculation.

With Crude at such an important week 13 crossroads, it’s important to note that speculative Longs are near a record high again.  The COT report shows that Longs are making leveraged bets on higher prices at exactly the point in the Cycle where we would expect a downturn.  Considering the normal ebb and flow of markets, excessive Long speculation near a potential top is not surprising.

 

4-22 crude COT

 

Of course, if a new bull market for Crude is underway, the above observations are pointless.  The Investor Cycle rally would likely extend higher by another 3-4 weeks to a likely week 16 to 18 top.

That said, we need to remember that bear markets, especially in the energy sector, are rarely just a 12-month event.  The fundamentals of supply and demand, the underlying reason for the original price collapse, are nowhere near the level needed to launch a new bull market.  This idea is supported by the fact that the most speculative corner of the energy market, US shale producers, has not seen a significant downturn yet.

We know that Venezuela, Russia, and Iran, all major Crude producers, are struggling to balance their budgets.  As such, none are in a position to reduce production to support manipulating price higher.  The only producer with the ability to potentially reduce production is Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis are bleeding economically, and simply can’t sustain further cuts in revenues.  They are churning through some $10-$20 billion per month in foreign reserves to balance their budget, so do not have the ability to cut production by the 2 million+ barrels per day needed to stabilize supply and demand.

 

4-23 saudi arabia blowing through cash

 

Crude’s advance in the face of poor market dynamics leaves it with an Investor Cycle in a precarious position.  As outlined earlier, a bear market Investor Cycle making a new high in week 13 is certainly in the topping zone, so Crude could turn over at any time.  The previous IC top was near $50, so, in theory, we could still see another surge higher in the coming week or two.  In any event, I fully expect Crude to turn down and to begin to sell-off with relentless ferocity.

 

4-23 crude weekly

 

 

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