Market Divergence – Volume And Price Divide

You can see it nearly everywhere you look. Divergence.

Divergence in strength, divergence in price and volume – you name it ……divergence is everywhere.

Perhaps even “you yourself” –  have been “diverted” ( no kidding eh? -I bet you think things are on the “up and up”! )

A false sense of reality perhaps? A “looking away” if you will?

Lets look:

 

EEM_Emerging_Markets_July_2014

EEM_Emerging_Markets_July_2014

This is distribution. This is bearish “beyond” bearish but of course….no no….that can’t be! CNBC says it’s all gonna be fine!

I point this crap out for your own learning. You can alway look for “divergence” when price moves upward yet “volume” moves down.

 

It’s bearish as all get out

 

Correction Time – We've Finally Made The Turn

Do I dare suggest that we’ve finally come to the turn?

As per The Nikkei chart posted ( well…..again here today! ) I do hope the odd “nay sayer” out there has opened their eyes just a “touch further” to put together a clearer picture of what’s been going on these past few months.

Nikkei_Weekly_Forex_KongNikkei_Weekly_Forex_Kong

Nikkei_Weekly_Forex_KongNikkei_Weekly_Forex_Kong

With The Fed’s “supposed taper” ( which hasn’t been a taper at all…only that the money has found its way into markets via “other means” – ie….Belgium ) highly liquid “floating mounds of Japanese Yen” have continued to come ashore in the U.S seeking yield.

The U.S Dollar hasn’t done “jack squat” for The U.S, short of keeping the Wall St bankers coffers “fat” and allowing for even further risk / exposure in investing in emerging markets and NOT AMERICA.

As the Japanese stock market falls and “risk off” takes hold…..Yen is repatriated…( flowing back to Japan ) as U.S Equities are sold ( in U.S Dollar terms ) then “converted back to JPY” in order to come home to bank accounts in Japan.

All you need to watch / worry about these days is the “coming breakout in Yen” and the waterfall effect it will have on U.S Equities and global appetite for risk in general.

If you are interested in actionable trades and solid plans as to how to take advantage of this, via currency trading, options and ETF’s please come join us at the members site for real-time trading, weekly reporting and day time discussion.

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What are you gonna do then ? Just sit there and pout?

Writing Is Not My Thing – Math Is

You know….to be honest – writing’s not really my thing.

On occasion ( well…..actually – these days more often than not ) it pains me to sit here and debate / contemplate the current state of affairs.

These days, one could equally argue that “we are headed to hell in a hand basket” or the complete and total opposite – that everything is just “coming up roses”.

Could anything “really happen” in a single day….or week….or month for that matter, to truly “tip the scales”?

Short of an alien invasion ( coming soon by the way….and brought to you by the American media ) or perhaps declaration of nuclear war – I think not.

Not exactly “exciting times” sitting here watching paint dry on a market gone stale, with “sunshine and tequilla” only a few steps away.

Now…….you throw me a puzzle, or perhaps an equation….maybe “in depth discussion of the future of electrogravitics” well hey! Now we’re talking! Now we’ve got something “interesting” on our hands!

It’s the math that intrigues me.

As does the math of forex, technical analysis and the study of markets.

When you consider in your charts – that “millions of human beings” make decisions every single minute of every single day “planet wide” as to “buy or sell” a given asset at a given time….at a given price etc….

You’ve essentially got a window to humanity right there in front of you. Ticking and flashing with every single “buy order” or “sell order” you’ve got the combined data of millions of human beings making decisions every single second of the day. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Each to their own.

You’re outside throwing frizbees with your dog.

I’m “in here” toiling over humanity’s decisions to buy or sell…..eating a hot plate full of numbers.

 

Oddly……I’ll take the math any day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japan Still Leads – You Need To Look Close

We’ve all got a thesis ( or at least I hope you do ) as to how we see things moving in the future. Some base it on their knowledge of fundamentals, others purely from a technical perspective and then fewer still – those who attempt to take both disciplines into account, to formulate a picture of things to come.

When you consider that trade volume in U.S Equities has dwindled some 50% since 2008, and of the 50% remaining some “70% of that” is merely HFT ( high frequency trade algo’s ) trading back and forth amongst themselves, you’ve really got to ask yourself if looking to The SP 500 for future direction really makes any sense at all.

This isn’t your father’s market.

In the US, the wealthiest one percent captured 95 % of the “post-financial crisis growth” since 2009 – while the bottom 90 % became poorer.

Wealth_Ditribution

Wealth_Ditribution

The top the top 1 % of Americans own 40 percent of U.S. wealth, while the bottom 80% own just 7 percent of America’s wealth. This market has absolutely nothing to do with “mom n pop” anymore  – as The Fed and Wall St. are essentially the only buyers / sellers.

It’s a sad state of affairs really.

I tend to look to markets “outside” the immediate influence of such factors to formulate a “more reasonable view” of reality, our current place in things, and likely moves in the future.

I look to Japan.

The Nikkei led world markets down in 2007 by a full 6 months, and it’s my belief that this time will be no different. It’s been a full 6 months now since The Nikkei topped back in late December 2013, lining up well with the expected correction coming in the U.S.

The Japanese economy is completely hooped and The BOJ has now suggested they will stop devaluing Yen until at least early 2015 “if not” later. I’ve marked some “general” elliot type / wave type numbers ( for those of you who follow that stuff ) providing a broad stroke of where we’re headed next.

Nikkei_Weekly_Forex_KongNikkei_Weekly_Forex_Kong

Nikkei_Weekly_Forex_KongNikkei_Weekly_Forex_Kong

For further in depth analysis of The Nikkei, it’s correlation to The SP 500 as well currencies and gold – please join us our members area at: www.forexkong.net

Big Time Shake Out – Second Half Begins

You’ll have to forgive my cynicism / scepticism but……

I find an “overnight” ramp / early morning “pop” in Nikkei / SP 500 a tad suspect considering it’s “officially” the first day of the second half, and The Fed’s POMO is set to be reduced throughout July.

That means….no POMO ( permanent open market operations ) on Friday’s leaving the grand total for July around 19 BILLION Dollars. You do get that right? The Fed literally pumps 1 Billion Dollars “per trading day” into U.S markets – and that’s considered a “reduction”!

That is some serious “July 4th Weekend” pump right there now isn’t it?

Commodity related currencies “kicking my ass” as everything under the sun moves from the “low end of the range” to the “high end of the range” within hours.

Short of the “draw down” in a couple of trades / pairs I hate to say it but….I do like the action here as……..where most are looking at this as a “new high” in U.S Equities the reality of things have it that- it’s really still just a “lower high” in Japan.

The Nikkei ( as frustrating as it is ) still trading “lower” despite the blatant pump job here overnight. I don’t expect it to go any further than this…..still in range all be it….no fun here as of this morning.

Take it for what it is here today…..

Future Moves In USD – The Case For Higher

I can’t stand The U.S Dollar.

You know that…..everyone knows that. The actions of The U.S Federal Reserve with it’s complete and total disrespect for the currency and continued abuse of it’s position as the “world’s reserve currency” is enough to make anyone sick.

So when would we start looking for USD to move higher? Why would we even “consider there a chance” for this beaten down piece of junk to go anywhere but down the toilet?

Hmmmm………

What many fail to understand is that “the value of a given” currency can only be deemed in “comparison” to another currency…or another asset. The pieces of paper themselves carry no intrinsic value what so ever.

Consideration of “dollar strength or weakness” as compared to a single thing ( like The Euro for example ) is ridiculous as….it is exactly that – a “comparison” of only two given currencies.

So……..

How’s the U.S Dollar stacking up against The Canadian Dollar?

USD_CAD_June_28

Looks like a fantastic buy opportuntiy as USD has merely “pulled back” vs Cad.

 

USD_CHF_June_28

USD vs CHF looks like a pretty classic reversal over the past few months, making a higher high, breaking the series of lower lows and lower highs. A swing low “somewhere in here” would mark a fantastic entry point long.

What about Crude Oil?

Crude_Oil_June_28

Pretty straight forward. When the price of something “goes down” in can equally be argued that the “value of the money” you are using to purchase such products has “gone up”.

What many just can’t wrap their heads around ( one dumb fellow in particular ) is that “there is no blanket statement” in considering being “long or short” USD as it only depends “against what”?

Another chart “sniffing out” coming USD strength:

CNBC_Josh_Brown_Market_Call

CNBC_Josh_Brown_Market_Call

A good indication of a stonger dollar can be seen when Emerging Markets start to fall.

Imagine all that “free paper money” printed by The Fed and in turn “invested abroad” as to actually get some return ( you don’t actually think the banks invest the money they get from The Fed in “America” do you? – Please.) piling back into U.S bank accounts / converted back to U.S with concern for a possible rise in interest rates.

An absolute “sunami” of USD floods out of Emerging Markets and back into the United States, on even the smallest “hint” that interest rates may rise.

But……Interest rates ARE rising! In fact….( how soon you forget ) that interest rates on the 10 year U.S Treasury have DOUBLED in the past year and a half!

10_Year_Bond__Yield_Forex_Kong_June_22

 

Rising interest rates cramp corporate borrowing and in turn kill bottom lines. A rise in rates pushes USD up, as well equities down.

Rates have already reversed, adding more fuel to the fire if considering a stronger dollar.

The short term squiggles are more or less meaningless at this point as…..The Fed and Central Banks abroad are just doing what they can to grind this thing a little longer before shit hit’s the fan.

How much longer can they keep this propped up? Not much longer if you ask me.

 

Are We There Yet Mom? – Trading The Chop

Divergence is off the charts across any number of currency pairs, and can most certainly be seen across a number of other assets / indices.

Regardless of “price” – it’s the “strength” of the move that continues to dwindle day after day.

I remember a time some months ago, when price would hit and area of overhead resistance or underlaying support and “actually reverse” as opposed to “just sitting there” for days on end.

These days ( at least as it pertains to currencies ) it’s become common place for price to spend days, if not even “weeks” just hanging there. No reversal…..no “counter move” no nothing.

As a trader, all you can do is continue to grind through. I know it’s hard.

Perhaps today we finally get “an actual move”.

 

Negative U.S GDP – Just How Negative?

All eyes on U.S GDP numbers this morning to “once again see” if this market “finally” looks to recognize the deteriorating fundamental picture.

This is the third “revision” of first quarter GDP ( I have no idea how/why it’s the 3rd time this number is estimated but… ) it’s expected to come in around -1.8% Yes…..that’s “negative growth” for the first quarter of 2014 folks.

What’s interesting with our trading is that…..we’ve effectively “gone long USD” to a certain degree in taking profits across GBP/USD, EUR/USD as well USD/CHF now holding long USD vs NZD, AUD and CAD with the long JPY trades still in play.

I hope that members come to recognize how “fluid” this trading can be as……the fundamental landscape may change “underneath” while we move with the “swings” and keep ourselves nimble.

This can obviously go two ways here this morning….so please be very alert / numble / ready to act. Yesterday’s bizarre “late day reversal” seemed quite telling to me, as we’ve already seen the weakness in Nikkei, the commods ( AUD and NZD ) as well a pretty brutal day for U.S equity bulls so…..

A big day today or not? We should get some solid clarification on USD future movement as a decent move higher here would be quite exciting, possibly putting to rest our “concerns” for USD movement “lower” over the medium term.

Man the battle stations everyone! Today could be a whopper!

Profits Keep Coming – Trading Thru The Chop

A very interesting day here ( so far this morning ) with commodity related currencies running out of steam “just” as equities pop. Hmmmmm……

Short The Canadian Dollar is looking fantastic here via long USD/CAD as well short CAD/JPY at these levels. with the long GBP/AUD ( suggested some days ago ) now several hundred pips in profit.

We’ve exited both long EUR/USD as well short USD/CHF this morning, after taking profits in long GBP/USD ( 200 pip gain there ) some days ago.

Otherwise…..patiently waiting for AUD as well to a certain extent NZD – to make their turns.

Please pull a weekly chart of AUD/USD and have a peak at the “candle” forming as we speak – as well the continued “downward sloping RSI”.

The chop has been tough on many, but continues to provide many profitable trades…..you’ve just got to be willing to do a little extra work….and be very, very patient.

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