Posts

August 8th
I find it amazing how many traders do not use volume as a factor in their trading decisions. I believe it’s always important to track the volume no matter which time frame you are trading simply because it tell you how much interest there is for that investment at that given time and price level. If you use volume and understand how to read it when located at the bottom of the chart which is the standard way of reading it then your well ahead of many traders and just may find this little volume indicator helpful.

Price and volume are the two most important aspects of trading in my opinion. While news and geopolitical events cause daily blips and in rare occasions change the overall trend of an investment, more times than not its better to just trade the underlying trend. Most news and events cannot be predicted so focusing on the price action and volume helps tell us if investors are bullish or bearish for any given investment.

Below are a few charts showing the volume by price indicator in use. Reading this indicator is simple, the longer the blue bars the more volume had traded at that point. High volume levels become key support and resistance levels.

SPY – SP500 Exchange Traded Fund

As you can see on the chart below and I have pointed out key support and resistance levels using the volume by price indicator. The thin red resistance levels would be areas which I would be tightening my stops and or pulling some money off the table.

The SP500 is currently trading at the apex of this wedge. The market internals as of Friday were still giving a bullish bias which should bring the index up to resistance once more on Monday or Tuesday. From there we will have to see if we get another wave of heavy selling or a breakout to the upside.

GLD – Gold Exchange Traded Fund

Gold has the opposite volume to price action as the SP500. We are seeing a lot more over head resistance and that’s going to make it tough for gold to make a new high any time soon.

USO – Crude Oil Trading Fund

Crude oil broke out of is rising wedge last week and has started to drift back down as traders take profits. Many times after a breakout we will see prices dip down and test that breakout level before continuing in the trend of the breakout. I should point out that there is a large gap to be filled from last Monday’s pop in price and we all know most gaps tend to get filled.

UUP – US Dollar Exchange Traded Fund

The dollar has been sliding the past 2 months and it’s now trading at the bottom of a major support level. If the dollar starts to bounce it will put some downward pressure on stocks and commodities.

Weekend ETF Trend Conclusion:

In short, I feel the market has a little more life left in it. I’m expecting 1-2 more days of bullish/sideways price action, after that we could see the market roll over hard. It’s very likely the US dollar starts a significant rally which will pull stocks and commodities down.

With the major indices and gold trading at key resistance levels, traders/investors ready to hit the sell button, and the dollar at a key support level I think its only a matter of time before we see a sharp snapback. That being said there is one scenario which is bullish and could still play out. That would be if the US dollar starts to flag and drift sideways for a week or so, and for stocks and commodities to also move sideways before taking another run higher. Watching the intraday price and volume action will help us figure out if buyers are sellers are in control this week. Anyways that’s it for now.

If you would like to receive my ETF Trading Alerts visit my website at: http://www.thegoldandoilguy.com/specialoffer/signup.html

Chris Vermeulen

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June 30th, 2010
What a nutty week for the equities market! The bleeding has not led up with almost 2 weeks of straight selling. Also we are seeing oil break down with a rather large bear flag and if that happens, which it looks like it will… then hold on tight or cash out of the market!

There has been nothing but negative news for the past month and its not looking like there is much light at the end of the tunnel for a long time still… The only places which people feel some safety is in gold and silver. That being said the market is way over sold here and we could get a bounce lasting a couple days soon. But that bounce will be sold and pulled back down as it looks like a new bear market is starting.

Here are few charts of how I am seeing things in general.

Gold ETF GLD – Daily Chart
Gold has formed a large cup & handle pattern. It has held up well during the recent weakness. But zooming into the intraday charts I do have some concerns about a sharp sell off in the very near future. We recently bought gold at $1226 and sold out between $1255-1260 a couple days later because it’s not just screaming at me as a great buy. I am not a gold bug, I’m a trader who finds low risk opportunities, gets in and out with maximum profits and minimal draw downs spending most of my time in cash. They way I see things is that there is always another trade just around the corner.

Silver ETF SLV – Weekly Chart
This is a weekly chart and goes all the way back to 2008 showing a very large cup & Handle. We could technically still see silver trade sideways for several months before it reaches the apex and is forced to breakout in either direction. The up side potential for a cup and handle pattern is 100- 300% of the height of the cup. So this means $1450 gold and $29 silver using the minimum potential. Now you can see why so many people are buying precious metals… they want a big move… All that excitement and greed could catch up to them if we see a complete market melt down again which will pull EVERYTHING down with it including gold and silver. This is one of the reasons why I cashed out this week near the high.

Crude Oil Fund – Weekly Chart
Oil formed a triple top over the past 10 months and has started to head south. We have seen selling volume drop during the test of resistance which is not a good thing. A heavy sell off from resistance as everyone bailed out of the investment sent oil tumbling and just this week oil started to break down from its bear flag. We are looking at USO to possibly drop to the $25-27 area and oil to drop to the $60-62 level over the coming 2-3 months.

SP500 ETF SPY – Weekly Chart
The SP500 along with several other indexes have formed a head & shoulders patter and appear to be in the process of breaking down through the necklines. If this unfolds then we are looking at much lower prices for stocks. It is important to buy some protection on the down side or get into cash until the dust settles as we can always buy back in, but we cannot get back lost money as easily.

Mid-Week ETF Trading Conclusion:
In short, I really hate to be negative on the market and economic outlook. I know if the market crashes again the majority of individuals who have worked hard, saved money and invested using mutual funds will lose most of their money in a fraction of the time it took to create the wealth, and that is a uncomfortable thought. Nothing worse than just getting to retire then seeing half of your money vanish.

Anyways, the good news is that we can avoid these market crashes and actually take advantage of them using inverse ETFs which go up 2 or 3 times faster than what the market is declining. These powerful trading tools if used correctly can make us a fortune while others are losing their shirts.

Currently I am in cash and have taken a couple scalp short trades taking advantage of the market falling on Tuesday and again today. These trades only last about 10 minutes but generate some fast profits. You can see the short I did yesterday which explains what I saw and when I put on the trade: http://www.futurestradingsignals.com/trading-education/es-mini-scalp-trade-video/

On another note, Tomorrow is Canada Day and I am Canadian so… I will be done around 10:30am ET once the jobs numbers come out and the market trades for an hour incase there is a nice short or long trade for some quick money – eh!

If you would like to get my trading alerts please check out my websites at www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com or www.FuturesTradingSignals.com

Chris Vermeulen

In my last report I showed some cycles for the price of gold and how they were starting to roll over which would in turn put some selling pressure on both gold and silver this week.

Last Monday we saw gold and silver open higher but both were met with selling for the entire trading session. Since then gold and silver have been drifting higher on light volume with some occasional waves of selling on higher volume. It looks as though gold and silver have started a 5-14 day pause or pullback.

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GLD – Gold Exchange Traded Fund

You can see from the chart below that the price of GLD looks to have bottomed after completing several typical price patterns from the breakdown we saw in December. The recent 4 months have provided a solid looking chart which should help gold take another run at the $1500 mark in the coming months.

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USO Oil Fund

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Crude Oil Futures – 120 minute chart of April 14, 2010

As the saying goes, buy on rumor (expectations) sell on the news. Well the price of oil moved up in the early morning anticipating the news (inventory numbers) at 10:30am ET would be in line with estimates. Then we saw profit taking started 2 hours before the number came out which is normal to see. But traders forecasted 1.4 million barrels as the number but the number came out at -2.2 million which was a big surprise for everyone. This sent oil sharply higher providing traders who caught the breaking news with an easy money trade. This type of action does not happen often so it’s a great little bonus for day traders.

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Mid-Week Trading Conclusion:

In short, metals have had a nice run recently and the charts are pointing to a short breather before the next upward thrust.

Oil is holding up strong on the daily chart and with today’s extra boost in price, its looking like it may want to start a new leg higher if the momentum carries over for a few more days.

We saw the major indexes surge higher on rising volume indicating buyers are in a panic to buy in fear of missing more gains. There really is no reason to be buying at these prices other than trading off emotions in fear of missing more upside. The problem for these traders is that money is made by those who buy dips in the bull markets. Buying over extended rallies is a dangerous game, especially with the market as overbought as this one. The trend is our friend and if we do get a 1-2 day pullback in stocks we could take small position to buy on a dip.

If you would like to receive my ETF Trading Signals please visit my website: www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com

Chris Vermeulen

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Also, I have been following Neil at http://www.traderreview.net . He’s an ex-broker, gone rogue and running his own newsletter advisory for several years now. And now, his free commentary even gives away currency analysis.

With his free DAILY newsletter, he gives away commentary and insight that most people pay for.

I’d highly recommend you sign up for his free newsletter right now, and you’ll automatically get the report, “What Your Broker Doesn’t Want You to Know”  part of his old broker training. S super fun entertaining read. His daily newsletter has a wealth of information.

March 11th 2010
So far this week has been pretty slow. Large cap stocks continue to lag the market which can be observed by looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average which still has room to move higher before breaking the January high.

One important thing to note is that volume has picked up this week considerably – particularly on the SP500 and OEX. It’s difficult to say if this volume is a good sign or not.

A lot of stocks and sectors are trading near their January high and this gives traders a reason to unload shares. On the flip side, the several sectors and indexes have broken their January high and this triggers a surge in volume as breakout traders try to take advantage of the new high and momentum. So you can see how the surge of volume is not a useful indicator right now.

Here are some charts of what I think we could see in the coming weeks.

US Dollar Index – Daily Trading Chart
I follow the US dollar index very closely simply because it affects the prices of stocks and commodities. I used a line chart below in order to take out the daily candle stick noise which made it very difficult for our eyes to pick up this pattern.

The chart shows a possible head & shoulders pattern and if that is the case then we should see the dollar start to slide lower. In turn, this would boost stocks and commodities. This is the fuel that I think could really move the market sharply higher in the coming weeks.

GLD Gold ETF – Daily Trading Chart
The price of gold looks to be setup for a nice bounce off support and the timing could just work out if the US Dollar starts to drop over the next few days. There could be a low risk setup just around the corner.

SLV Silver ETF – Daily Trading Chart
Silver has held up well but today’s reversal candle to the downside scares me a little. The odds are that silver will carry this strong momentum selling down for another 1-2 days. Again, with any luck, it will test support and the US Dollar will start to slide lower.

Crude Oil – Daily Trading Chart
Oil has had a great run the past month but as you can see it’s currently trading at the top of a large trading range. I would like to see a sideways move before it takes another run at the $84 level, but the 7 day bull flag that formed two weeks ago may have been enough to maintain the upward momentum. Again, if the Dollar drops we will see oil rally.

Natural Gas – Daily Trading Chart
This chart is actually very attractive looking. Even if you do not understand how to read charts I think it’s safe to say this one is a no brainer.

I will be closely watching for a potential low risk setup in the coming days.

Mid-Week Trading Conclusion:
In short, stocks and indexes are trading at resistance levels with many of them making new highs and that is great to see.

A lot of things are trading in limbo waiting to see what the US Dollar is going to do. Several months ago I posted some charts showing that 81 would be a key resistance level for the dollar. If it broke above that then 84 would be the next key level to watch. So we just have to wait and see… the hardest part of trading is the waiting.

Gold, silver, oil and natural gas all look like they could continue higher in the next few days if things unfold that quickly. But the market always finds a way to drag out moves so we could still be a 2-3 weeks away.

I hope this report helps give you an idea of where things are at in the market.

If you would like to receive my Free Trading Reports and Analysis be sure to visit my website:















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Chris Vermeulen
www.GoldAndOilGuy.com

Jan 18th, 2010

Whether you are trading stocks, ETFs or futures, technical analysis is the preferred choice for short term traders. Technical analysis in short is the study of price and volume movements on charts. It can be used for studying charts in any time frame whether you are a 1 minute chartist or a long term investor using monthly charts.

Using technical analysis in my opinion really opens the door for a trader to lower his/her overall risk when investing money. I always like to know if the investments I am watching are trading near a critical price level (support or resistance). During these times you can take positions that have very clear entry and exit points for trading. Also it puts the odds in your favor when a position is entered in the same direction of the underlying trend.

Price action is how we make money in the market, so I strictly follow price and volume when trading as they are the least lagging indicator on what the market it doing.

I have put together a few charts using commodity ETFs to show you what I am seeing in the market and what we should expect to see in the coming days.

GLD ETF Trader – Daily Trend Chart

The gold trading chart below shows two different types of trends. The initial timeframe of the chart illustrates what I call a Normal Trend. This is a series of higher highs and lows.

This type of trend allows an investment to continue profitably for a very long period of time. For example a daily chart like the one below can continue to trend like this for 6-8 months. The reason for this is because price appreciation is increasing at a rate which investors are comfortable with. Also, the pullbacks cleanse the investment vehicle of weak traders every few weeks allowing fresh money to enter at higher price.

Now if you look at the later timeframe of this rally we observe a rally phase I call an Extended Rally. An extended rally is when price appreciates without any pullbacks.

You can make a fortune with this trend very quickly, but you must realize that reversals are fast and sharp. And that, we observe, is how GLD performed in December. While some call December’s price drop a pullback, I call it a technical breakdown. The sharp price reversal and heavy volume associated with this type of move generally provides excellent short term momentum trades. A lot of damage is done to the investment on a heavy volume breakdown taking weeks for a recovering to occur.

Normal trend rally, extended rally, predictably fast and sharp technical breakdown followed by weeks of recovery.
Trade GLD ETF

DIA Exchange Traded Fund – Daily Trend Trading

The DIA exchange traded fund shows a very similar chart as gold above. First we have a nice Normal Trend that then evolved into an Extended Trend. The trend for the DIA index fund is not nearly as steep at the gold chart, so it could trend a little longer. But once the price breaks down, everyone is going to be selling out to lock in gains and cut losses before new positions are entered.

I have several tools and stats I use for helping me in timing turning points. Some are great short term indicators only predicting 1-2 days out like following small cap stocks, or gold stocks in relation to the broad index, and others are long term things like cycles, volume analysis, market internals and the volatility index.

My point here is to keep everyone alert and ready to take profits if we see things start to roll over. Friday there was BIG selling volume across the board – so don’t blink now.
Trading DIA ETF

Silver & Gold ETF Trading – Daily Charts

Below is the chart of the silver ETF SLV and I overlaid the GLD gold fund in green so you can see how they move in sync. The blue boxes on the chart show the pattern that I think is forming and what to expect in the coming days.

From looking at gold in both other currencies and with respect to gold stocks which have been underperforming, I feel we are going to see lower prices still. At the moment I am neutral on silver and gold for the short term time frame (daily & 60 minute charts).
Exchange Traded Fund for Silver

USO Crude Oil Fund – Daily Trend Chart

Oil has slid lower the past 5 sessions and is now nearing a support level. This has me looking for an oversold bounce with the potential to rally much higher. I am keeping an eye on this for any possible low risk setup.
USO Oil fund Trader

UNG Natural Gas Fund – Daily Trading Chart

While UNG is not a great intermediate and long term fund to invest in, I do find it trades very nicely for intraday and short swing trades. I am neutral on natural gas for the time being. It could go either way from here and I’m not willing to take on a 50/50 probability trade. Let’s wait for something exciting to form.
Natural Gas UNG Trader

Commodity Trading Conclusion:
In short, gold and silver have been underperforming the market recently which is not what we want to see. They have led the market higher all year but are now taking a breather.

The way I see gold, silver, oil and natural gas is that they are trading below their recent highs and still have more room to fall before landing on a solid support level.

The stock market is now over extended and looks ready for a sharp correction. If this happens we will see commodities drop and test lower prices also.

There is not much we can do right now other than protect our current long positions by tightening our stops. Depending on the strength of the breakdown, there could be a great opportunity for short term traders (60 minute chart traders) to make some quick money. I expect a sell off which will last 3-5 days at the least.

If you would like to receive my Free Technical Trading Newsletter for ETFS  and Futures please visit my website: www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com

Chris Vermeulen

This year has been a very exiting time for traders and investors. We have seen a steady climb in prices with controlled pullbacks in the broad market and gold.

Using technical analysis we are able to quickly and accurately make informed decisions just from looking at the charts. In the charts below you will see how simple chart patterns along with support & resistance levels can provide excellent low risk entry points. Also you will see how candle stick charts can be an early indicator for prices to reverse direction.

DIA ETF – Daily
The DIA (Dow Jones Index Fund) is trending higher. By applying some basic technical analysis you are able to time your entry points having the odds in your favor.

In this chart I use two simple forms of analysis. The broadening formation (red trend lines), and horizontal support zones shown in blue.

Broadening Formations: This is when the price becomes more volatile making higher highs and lower lows. I think of it as one of those Megaphones for talking to large groups of people. So when a chart has this pattern it’s virtually yelling at me and I start taking profits or tightening my stops.

Horizontal Support Zones:
I like to focus on support or resistance zones which are a little different than most traders. I do not use the top and bottoms of previous waves for these levels. Instead I take the average price then expect the support level to be penetrated somewhat as the level is tested. This is how the market keeps you out of the good trades. I cover this in great detail in my Stock Market Trading Education Course available in January.

Analysis:
The DIA ETF looks ready for a pullback to the $99- 100 level.

DIA ETF

DIA ETF

GLD Exchange Traded Fund – Weekly
Gold has been on fire and riding this wave up has been very profitable thus far. Last week a doji candle was formed on the chart and this can signal a change in short term price action.

This chart shows some of the past doji candles and what happened to the price of gold soon after. What this candle is telling us is that the buying and selling pressure is equal. So we know momentum is slowing and we should expect a consolidation or correction.

Because gold has rocketed higher, indeed going almost straight up in the recent weeks, I expect a pullback to be very quick. A drop to the $110 or even the $100 level in the coming weeks is not out of the question, but we all know commodities can go parabolic for several months (straight up). This is why we continue to tighten our stops and keep holding out long positions.

Gold Exchange Traded Fund

Gold Exchange Traded Fund

US Dollar – Weekly
The US dollar has been up and down like a yo-yo in the past 15 months. The chart below clearly shows what has been happening with this currency and what I think we could see very soon.

The blue support zone (73-74) is a key pivot point for the dollar. That being said lets take a look at the chart.

During the time when the price is trending higher July 2008 – Feb 2009 we see lower wicks appear more often. This tells me that sellers pushed the price down early in the week but were then overcome by buyers nearer the end of the week. This is bullish price action. Also the broadening patterns during this timeframe’s tops indicate increased volatility and we know that is a sign of weakness.

From March 2009 – Sept 2009 the trend was down and there are longer upper wicks telling us buyers became over powered by sellers each time the price rallied.

In the recent 3 months we observe lower wicks meaning buyers are moving into the US dollar again. Knowing that there is major support below the current price I have to think the dollar could start to bottom around this level.

US Dollar Trading

US Dollar Trading

Trading Conclusion:
The broad market is becoming unstable and looks like it could have more of a pullback this week. I would not be adding to any long positions until we see the market trading near support. Three out of four stocks move with the market so it is crucial to understand the overall market direction when buying and selling stocks and commodities.

Gold is trading at a level which is fuzzy. The weekly chart is neutral and the daily chart is still on fire as it moves up. All we can do is ride our positions and keep raising our stop prices.

The US dollar could start to bottom over the next few weeks. Depending what happens with Dubai this week we could be in for a big bounce in the dollar as investors flock to safety as the US dollar is still the currency of choice if/when other countries start to have a financial melt down again.

If you would like to receive my free weekly trading reports join my newsletter:

Chris Vermeulen
www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com

Another fantastic week for precious metals as the US dollar continues its slide lower. Energy commodities like oil and natural gas are having some difficulty finding buyers.

When commodities start to trend they become very profitable for those riding them up or down. But when a short term trend starts to virtually go straight up (parabolic) then we must be prepared for a sharp pullback. Once the price starts to slide I figure a lot of short term traders will begin locking in profits, sending gold down.

I’ve recently discovered the Money Flows table from The Wall Street Journal and I gotta say it’s awesome. My thanks to a trading buddy for bringing this resource as well as hidden gem play – DFSH – to my attention.

The Money Flow table calculates whether money is moving in or out of a stock or ETF on a given day, and whether it is selling on strength or buying on weakness. It also tells you if there are more up or down ticks. Really powerful stuff in my opinion.

For example, the GLD gold fund continued its move higher today as it must follow the underlying commodity. And though the fund traded higher institutions were selling their positions in masse. For every 9 block trades bought there were 100 block trades on the sell side. This is strong evidence that institutions/large traders are moving out of GLD. Indeed, over $161 million dollars moved out of GLD today alone and a total of $251 million dollars in the two days preceding today.

The SPY fund was 12 buy orders for every 100 sell orders. Today alone over $675 million was flowing out of SPY which his CRAZY huge.
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Check out the table: http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-mflppg-moneyflow-20091125.html?mod=mdc_pastcalendar

GLD ETF Trading – Weekly & Daily Trading Charts
Gold continues to claw its way higher as trader’s trip over each other trying to buy this shiny investment. The weekly chart clearly shows a parabolic spike. Vertical spikes like this do not last for long, but the largest percentage of the move will be made riding this trend up with a tight stop.

Gold Trader

Gold Trader

SLV ETF Trading – Weekly & Daily Trading Charts
Silver is still trending up but lagging its big sister (yellow gold). The daily chart shows a nice mini bull flag and we could get an upside pop soon.

ETF Trading

ETF Trading

USO Fund Trading – Weekly & Daily Charts to Trade
Crude oil just does not have people participating. The dollar is dropping yet oil continues to be dormant. It has provided several intraday plays as it trades the top and bottom of the trend channel.

Oil Trader

Oil Trader

UNG Fund Trading – Trade the Weekly & Daily Charts
Natural gas really came to life today. It looks like people started to cover their shorts and it just kept running up for the entire session. I mentioned in a previous report that the $9 level could be a bottom and today’s reversal sure makes it look good to the eye. But if this is a short coving rally, prices are still headed lower yet.

Gas Trading

Gas Trading


ETF Trader Conclusion:

Gold continues its incredible rally and we love every minute of it. I keep moving our stops to lock in maximum gains while providing enough wiggle room for more growth.

Silver and precious metals stocks are lagging and that is a concern. The charts look solid but I think investors are not currently willing to pay higher prices for riskier plays which include silver and precious metal stocks.

Crude oil is just drifting lower in a controlled manner. The chart looks bullish but buyers just are not in a panic to buy it right now.

Natural Gas has put in a nice bounce this week. I expect a lot of this is short covering and it could rally to the $10.50 – $11.00 area if all goes well.

The broad market is starting to look and feel over bought. We could see the market continue higher Friday because of the holiday light trading volume which virtually always moves the markets, or whatever investment is HOT, higher. This is because the large traders take time off so there are not a lot of large sellers in the market. But be ready for next week because these nice lofty prices could start tumbling down.

I just want to wish everyone a great holiday!

Get my Economic Trading Indicator Tool and my Free Weekly Trading Reports:

Chris Vermeulen
www.GoldAndOilGuy.com