Written by Forrest Crist-Ruiz Energy plays have some of the best chart setups right now from a momentum breakout standpoint. A perfect example of this can be seen in the above chart of the United States Oil Fund (USO). Currently, USO has been consolidating within an upward trend near its key resistance area from $82 to $83. Additionally, at the bottom of the chart, we can find our RealMotion (RM) momentum indicator. Though it is

In May of 2021 I outlined a dangerous condition of excessive margin debt that looked remarkably similar to only two other periods in the last 3 decades – 2000 and 2007. You may recall that both of those periods didn’t end well for the bulls. At the time of the post, however, the rate of margin debt growth was at record levels and still growing, and as I noted at the time… While margin debt

When I was young my family in the summer used to attend the local speedway. Amateur and Pro car drivers would run around the track at fast speeds. We would also be treated to the occasional demolition derby. Beat up cars would try and destroy the other cars until they were all inoperable but one, and that was the winner! Great fun. Last week we said that there were signs that we would see a

Written by Forrest Crist-Ruiz For the moment the downward trend stays intact as the market and media embrace more negative news. News of a housing market top, increasing inflation, geopolitical stress, and more add a dampener to investor sentiment. However, when everyone becomes bearish and is calling for more decay, this could be a sign that selling is becoming temporarily exhausted. Additionally, while the Small-cap index Russell 2000 (IWM) ended the day red, it has

Attention day traders and swing traders (options traders too)... There’s a very effective calculated price level that can be used to anticipate intra-day breakouts and reversals in stocks, ETFs, and indexes when you use it correctly. For example, when you combine this price level with MarketGauge’s Opening Range trading tactics… You can easily identify the very reliable trade setup that I review in the video below. This pattern can be used as a trade setup

After a significant down move in the stock market in April (S&P down -7.6%), May did not start off much better.  The markets plunged -4.8% until Friday (May 13) and reversed course and sustained a rally up over 2%.  The immediate reaction from many of the talking heads on TV financial shows Friday afternoon and from analysts everywhere is: Did we put in the bottom? It is very typical in a deep correcting market (only

Written by Forrest Crist-Ruiz The country has been under pressure from rising gas prices for months. Even before the Ukraine war, gas was steadily increasing. While the U.S continues to look for solutions to manage prices from releasing oil reserves to increasing imports, the oil sector could be looking for another big move from a technical perspective. The above chart shows the United States Oil ETF (USO). Though it has stuck with an upward trend,

Yesterday the market gapped higher after testing important support levels the day before. With the markets sitting at very pivotal inflection points in their long-term trends, this was a perfect opportunity to use MarketGauge’s Opening Range tactics to determine whether or not the gap was an indication of a market bottom and trade it accordingly. In this video, I review how to use the Opening Range to: Anticipate the general market’s direction Use it to

This week was like a good gangster movie. It contained high drama (how much will the Fed raise rates), a love affair with the results (market rally Wednesday), a quick turn in sentiment, and then… the villain getting shot (the market on Thursday), gangsters needing new people and recruiting (the jobs, employment, and labor participation reports), and… another shooting (continued sell-off on Friday). All this weighed heavily on the markets (stocks and bonds), resulting in

Written by Forrest Crist-Ruiz The small cap-index Russell 2000 (IWM) is hanging onto support from the 200-Week moving average at $176.19. Last week it dipped below the moving average with a low of $168.90. With that said, it looks as though IWM is trying to find temporary support in this price area between $168 and 176. If so, we should be careful of taking a full bearish stance through the coming week. However, if we

Last week was a wild week in the cryptocurrency market. Sentiment has quickly changed from 50/50 bullish vs. bearish to almost entirely bullish in just the last 10 days. This is indicative of the significance that non-technical factors can have in the price action of cryptos. On the other hand, technical analysis of recent market action spells out clear trade opportunities that investor sentiment may ignore. Similar to the S&P 500 (SPY) being commonly used

For much of the country thawing out from a long winter, we all look forward to April. But April can bring with it highly volatile weather, cold rain, and sleet. This April was no exception in the weather department. If the weather matched any of the action of the stock and bond market, then this April we got SOAKED! April has historically been the best month to invest in the market, but this year was

Written by Forrest Crist-Ruiz The Rally failed to carry the major indices past key resistance levels. This can be seen in the above chart of the S&P 500 (SPY), Nasdaq 100 (QQQ), and the Russell 2000 (IWM). Lines are drawn for previous support levels that once broken turned into important resistance points for each index to clear. However, this short-term rally failed to even test these levels showing that the weakness of the market remains

When you know how to read market action with the Opening Range you can see when and how another market is influencing your trades (for better or worse)! Put another way; you can also see when inter-market relationships are “working” or changing. For example… On Friday, the QQQ got off to a very bullish start when it gapped higher out of a consolidation pattern on its 50-day moving average. It looked like a perfect setup

This is not the typical picture of a drawbridge one might conjure up. There are many different kinds. I was recently in South Florida for some time this Winter to escape the Northern cold and snow. Occasionally I got stopped at the Intracoastal drawbridge that gets raised to allow the large yachts and sailboats to keep moving. I didn’t pay attention to the schedule, and unfortunately, I’d hit it at the wrong time (they go