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GDXJ

XAUUSD DAILY CHART - MAKE IT OR BREAK ITWith all the NIRP's and ZIRP's flying around in an economy based off fraud and debt, this was expected, and now we have the start of the technical indicators to back it up :) - Just as the GDX, we have a beautiful parabola, followed by an attempt to go to 1180, which was rejected by the bulls - This creates the bull flag / pennant that was see now, which was just broken out of to the upside - By finishing this day (April 11th) above the 23% fib retracement, I believe we have invalidated any head and shoulders pattern, as the left shoulder failed to do this - This is vital, for if we drop lower from here, that is a classic Head and Shoulders pattern, which would launch us to 1180 no problem, so this is why it is a "make it or break it" time for gold ... - We are out of our 'middle tier' channel, and back into a smaller and much weaker channel - This leaves me with some concerns but the same thing applies as to the GDX; - If it can break and hold above this channel and price action of 1270, that's when we should see the confirmation of a bull market, short term at the very least Feel free to comment with questions or ideas :) Happy Trading!
FX:XAUUSDLong
by AwareBear
GDX DAILY CHART -- MINERS BREAKOUT, CASH WONT BE KING FOR LONG With all the NIRP's and ZIRP's flying around in an economy based off fraud and debt, this was expected, and now we have the start of the technical indicators to back it up :) I was expecting it to retrace down to the 17 area to "fill the gap" Instead it created a bull flag / pennant , and then in 3 days , broke out of our channel and above price action All very bullish signs, even with the 50 and 200 ma quite far behind Tomorrow (April 12th) I will be looking for a retracement of 22.16, which if it can hold, is where I buy more miners - If it doesn't retrace at all I will simply buy in before the day ends, as I'm a firm believer in price action Feel free to comment with questions or ideas :) Happy Trading!
AMEX:GDXLong
by AwareBear
GDX WEEKLY CHART -- MINERS BREAKOUT, CASH WONT BE KING FOR LONGWith all the NIRP's and ZIRP's flying around in an economy based off fraud and debt, this was expected, and now we have the start of the technical indicators to back it up :) My target area Short Term is 25-28: - We have the 23% fib retracement from our move down from our All Time Highs in 2011. - Weekly 200 ma - Solid price action (horizontal black lines) - Broke out of our channel to the upside that start in June 2013 -- If tomorrow (April 12th) holds above this channel, that's when I shoot my final bullet - The top of our bigger channel is in this area Feel free to comment with questions or ideas :) Happy Trading!
AMEX:GDXLong
by AwareBear
THE WEEK AHEAD -- FOMC, FOMC, FOMC; LONG VIX; OIL; EARNINGSHere's what I'm looking at for next week: VIX/VIX PRODUCTS . VIX finished last week at 16.50. I will look at VIX/VIX product setups early next week depending how the "horse does at the gate" (Monday). If we see a tight range in the S&P like we did pre-Draghi in prepation for FOMC, VIX could drift go a little lower Monday through Wednesday, in which case I will want to use VIX, VIX, or UVXY to go "long volatility." Index ETF's . There is little sense in selling April expiry premium here in broader index instruments with VIX the way it is. Brazil, oil/gas, and the gold space continue to have the volatility, but I'm already in all of the underlyings that have any juice in their options that are at 70+ implied volatility rank (UNG (covered call), EWZ (iron fly), GDXJ (short strangle), RIG (short strangle), GLD (credit spread), and XOP (short strangle) in those sectors. If you look at SPY implied volatility month-to-month, it doesn't approach something "regular" until the June expiry (19.9%), so I may look to set up some small premium selling play in the June expiry on the possibility that low volatility sticks around for a period of time and to have something in the queue for that event. Trying to sell 45 DTE premium in the index ETF's in a period like we had last year between mid-March and late August was a total slog ... . Oil . The 2016 high was set on 1/4 at 35.36 in USOIL. it tested the underside of that level Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week and broke through it by a whopping .20 cents on Friday, so who knows whether that'll hold. If oil caves, the S&P will follow hard (the S&P currently has a .93 correlation with USOIL). However, oil has a tendency to enter fairly lengthy consolidative periods before moving directionally forward, so be prepared for oil to taunt you with both suggestions that it's going to break significantly higher and indications that it's going to totally implode ... . If you're into trading spot forex, watch oil's effect on the petro currency USDCAD. The Loonie may get a double whammy from a cave in oil plus Fed tightening/dovish-hawkishness. The Loonie's entire strength profile from 2/11 is largely on the back of oil. EURUSD. This is the strong/weak pair to watch post-Draghi and running up into FOMC. For me, this is not a pair I would mess around with "playing in the middle" between 1.08 and 1.10. As I did last year, I would wait for it to hit 1.14 and then go short if it's inclined to react to the upside on whatever FOMC says; otherwise, stay out. The fundamentals on this pair should be telling everyone to only short on strength (ECB easing; Fed tightening), as attempting to play the 200 pips between 1.08 and 1.10 has been and is likely to continue to be somewhat discouraging as it looks to find its footing in the larger range between 1.14 and near parity. EARNINGS. Although the earnings season has been described as "over" for this quarter, there are a few issues that are still due to report that might be worth playing, assuming that the volatility is there: ORCL (Tuesday, after close), FDX (Wednesday after close), and ADBE (Thursday, after market close). As it stands right now, none of those meet my implied volatility rank rules (70th percentile plus), with all three of those having percentiles hovering around 50, but naturally that might change running up into the actual announcement.
FX:USOIL
by NaughtyPines
SOLD GDXJ APRIL 31 23/31 SHORT STRANGLEAs with the XOP play, selling premium where the volatility is and that's in gold issues (GDX, GG, GDXJ) and oil (OIH, XOP) right now. I filled this earlier today for a $98 credit. The current metrics are: Probability of Profit: 72% Max Profit: $90 per contract Buying Power Effect: Undefined Notes: At the suggestion of FractalTrader (that you very much for your ideas, by the way), I'm playing around with what I can do graphically here with options setups, so that it's easier to visualize where price has to "sit" for the duration of the setup. If you have traded options before, the vast majority of platforms display a range of prices horizontally, with prices below current price on the left, current price in the middle, and prices above current prices on the right, so it's a bit of a challenge to adapt an options platform view (which only consists of a horizontal "price axis") to a candlestick chart. In any event, this is a short strangle, so I want price to remain between my two short option strikes for the duration of the trade -- above the 23 short put and below the 31 short call ... . I'll look to take the whole setup off at 50% max profit.
AMEX:GDXJ
by NaughtyPines
THE WEEK AHEAD -- "LESS THAN SEXY" FOR PREMIUM SELLINGWith the VIX finishing the week out at 16.66, next week is setting itself up to be a less than sexy week for premium selling, particularly in broader market instruments like SPY, IWM, QQQ, and DIA. Moving to other sectors, the Brazil ETF, EWZ continues to be hot premium selling wise, with an implied volatility rank of 72. A couple of issues in the oil and gas space follow closely behind in the 70+ club (UNG (implied vol rank 72); RIG (71)); with several gold plays remaining in the 60s (GDXJ, GDX, GG). From there, volatility in individual underlyings and/or ETF's slips off somewhat dramatically, with only a few in the 50-60 range (X at 57; ORCL, 57 (one of this season's last earnings plays); CAT, 55 (earnings afterglo vol); and GLD, 52; with the remainder of most highly liquid, options playable issues slipping below 50 thereafter. Given the fact that I'm in a gold play, in EWZ, and have exposure to oil, I don't see myself putting on a heckuvalot of new trades next week. That's not all bad; these little volatility lulls make for a good time to do housekeeping on the various messes I created during the last volatility wave, clean up the earnings plays that didn't work out this past season, and/or dry out powder for the next volatility spike or whatever comes next ... . Naturally, should VIX spike to plus 25, I'll be right back in it with some new plays to take advantage of that. In the meantime, a cleaning of my trading "garage"/"basement"/"backyard" is overdue. It ain't sexy, but it's gotta be done some time.
CBOE:VIX
by NaughtyPines