SPX - SELLPrice broke key support levels. Aiming for SPX to continue the sell side momentum and fill the gap.
US500 trade ideas
SPX (S&P 500) – Double Top Rejection or Fakeout? Major BreakdownThe S&P 500 just got REJECTED at the key supply zone near 5,842, a level we’ve tested multiple times since Q1. This looks like a potential double top, and the rejection wick is no joke!
Here’s what’s cooking:
1. Strong Supply Rejection:
Price failed to break and hold above the 5,842 level – this zone has now acted as a wall for weeks. Clear signs of exhaustion from the bulls.
2. Bearish Setup in Play:
If price fails to reclaim 5,842 fast, there’s room to fall toward:
5,044.09 – Previous breakout zone
4,091.47 – Major demand (high volume node & previous consolidation base)
3. Clean Risk-to-Reward Bearish Play:
Short entries from the supply zone with stops above recent highs could offer great R:R down to the 4,000 zone.
4. Macro Context:
This rejection comes at a time when economic uncertainty is rising – a correction may already be in motion. Watch for institutional exits.
Trade Plan:
Bias: Bearish below 5,842
Confirmation: Break and close below 5,700 for momentum
Target Zones: 5,044 and 4,091
Invalidation: Daily close above 5,900
Is SPX done pumping or will bulls defend?
Drop your thoughts – Short or Long?
Like & follow for real-time updates!
A short term buy opportunity: US500AUDHello,
We are at a great level for buy opportunities for the S&P500 quoted in AUD from a technical point of view. After the Trump tariff declaration, most countries rushed and sought exemptions. However, China chose to retaliate. The focus shifted towards China and the trade war between the US and China escalated quite fast. President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145%. China responded with a 125% tax on US imports, bringing nearly $600 billion in trade to a halt. Trump continues to insist that the issue of trade deficits needs to be solved and he seems quite serious about it. However, we acknowledge that Tariffs will not solve the trade deficits in totality. Tariffs are still seen as a negotiation tactic to call stakeholders to the table for President Trump. The U.S. and China are economically interdependent. The U.S. is China’s largest export market, and China is the U.S.’s largest import market.
On 14th may, China and the Unites States called for a truce on the trade war and agreed to reduce tariffs on one another by 115 per cent for 90 days. The average U.S. tariff rate on Chinese exports will fall from 145 per cent to 30 per cent during that time, and the corresponding Chinese figure will fall from 125 per cent to 10 per cent. Additionally, the United States and the United Kingdom announced a trade deal for both countries. This two significant news excited the market and the S&P which is a market barometer was not left out. The S&P has since recovered and is currently trading at $5,886 (Above the April 2nd levels). While analysts may be concerned whether the underlying structure of the relationship between the United States and other economies remains fragile and subject to re-escalation. The long-term implications of this trade truce are still being assessed, with some anticipating renewed trade flows and market gains, while others caution that the underlying structural issues remain.
We believe the U.S. may shift its focus to accelerating Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in the near term. Just yesterday (13th May 2025), the inflation numbers came in lower than expected, the consumer price index rose by 2.3% in April, down from 2.4% in March – prompting President Trump to renew attack on Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell, demanding he cut interest rates. We believe that lower rates will add onto an already rising market and now is a perfect time for us to align our portfolio by considering adding more into the S&P 500.
Adding to the above is that we are just closing on the Quarter one 2025 results and, 90% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings, with 78% surpassing estimates, according to FactSet. This strong performance signals robust market health, particularly at current lows. Although tariffs were introduced post-Q1, the combination of solid earnings, easing inflation, and a potential Federal Reserve rate cut could drive a bullish surge toward all-time highs. We recommend a buy on the US500AUD from the current levels.
Disclosure: I am part of Trade Nation's Influencer program and receive a monthly fee for using their TradingView charts in my analysis.
SP500 BEARISH TRADE IDEA Key Observations:
Imbalance Zone Identified (Supply-Demand Gap):
The pink zone is marked as an imbalance — an area where price moved too quickly upward, leaving little trading volume in between.
These imbalances often act like magnets, drawing price back to "fill" them.
Recent Price Action:
Price recently formed a peak and has since started pulling back.
The latest candlesticks show bearish momentum (a series of red Heikin Ashi candles with increasing size).
Projected Price Movement:
A blue arrow projects a further decline into the imbalance zone, suggesting price may retest this level for liquidity or to complete a retracement.
Target Area:
The imbalance zone lies approximately between 5,680 and 5,736, with a midpoint around 5,710.
This is a logical target for a pullback before potentially resuming upward.
📉 Bearish Bias Justification:
Market Structure: A new lower high is forming, possibly signaling a short-term reversal or correction.
Heikin Ashi Candles: Smooth and elongated bearish candles indicate strength in the down move.
Volume Imbalance Theory: Price may need to fill this inefficiency before finding new direction.
✅ Possible Trading Implications:
Short Setup: Traders might look for short positions with targets inside the imbalance zone.
Buy Opportunity: Once the imbalance is filled, if bullish price action confirms, it could become a strong buy zone.
⚠️ What to Watch:
Look for confirmation (e.g., candlestick reversal or support forming) in the imbalance area before assuming reversal.
News/events (such as the economic calendar icons below) might impact price direction sharply.
Has the S&P 500 rally ended?The US stock indices saw a noticeable drop in recent trading sessions, as markets wait for President Donald Trump’s new tax plan and its implications for US debt.
The S&P 500 had surged more than 23% since April, but the rally seems to have ended from a technical point of view, reflecting rising concerns about the US economy.
A bearish divergence appeared while prices were making higher highs, the RSI (Relative Strength Index) was making lower highs. This is a negative signal, and it played out clearly, pushing the index down to a new low. This suggests that bearish momentum is still strong.
What’s the possible next move?
Any current rise in the market may just be a temporary correction in a larger downtrend. A key resistance level for the S&P 500 is 5,937.55, which is 78% of the recent move based on Fibonacci retracement. The price could react negatively there, either with a small pullback or by continuing the downward trend toward 5,850.23.
However, if the price rises above 5,971.53 and closes above it on the daily chart, the negative outlook would be invalidated, and it could signal the beginning of a new upward trend.
The Bullish view under ELLIOT WAVE top of 3 6181/6235Based On what has been happening in the structure in The SP 500 I tend to think the sp cash sees a retest at 6417 or extend the rally to 6181 alt 6230 for the top of #wave 3 or Wave B . both should see a 350 point decline back to 5830/ If 5 is equal to One a 646 point rally should be seen in wave 5
The Macro Importance of the 4.23 Breakout or Fake-outWe are at an incredibly interesting and unique point in SPX. I am fascinated to see how this ends up resolving.
Based on everything I know, these things predict extreme trend events come next.
First let's take a moment to qualify the idea the 4.23 is going to be important. The idea of using a line generated by a multiple of a swing that happened almost 20 years ago to make decision on what will happen in the next years sounds silly. I know that. But look at what happened on all of the previous fibs. Seeing is believing.
This doesn't tell me the 4.23 has to be important, but it supports the idea it may be. If you bet any of the previous fibs would not be important, you'd have been wrong. All of these did their thing in one way or another at one point. It's quite incredibly, really. Especially if you understand that these pullback/breaks levels are common any time you use these fibs in a developing trend. They tend to react to the same levels in the same ways. Then it happens on the Big Stage .It's amazing.
And if it continues, the next thing is ultra amazing.
The 4.23 head fake has disastrous forecasts. In the full play out of the 4.23 rejection we return to the 1.27 fib. In this case, that'd be a Depression style event. When a trend forms through fibs having all these pullback/break reactions and it gets to the 4.23, if the trend fails there -a massive mean reversion move happens.
When applied to a decade long rally, that would be horrific. This is the macro bear risk I have discussed at length, generally taking shorts into the fibs and covering/reversing long into supports). In the grand scheme of things the 4.23 area would be seen to have been essentially the top with some wild blow off action above it that turned into a head fake. We'd be right in the end times. A lot of nuance is needed for real trading but in a historical analysis it'd be seen that we were at the high now.
On the other hand, if the 4.23 breaks we usually see a move that is equal in size to all of the move before but happens in a fraction of the time. 4.23 breaks can be a wild with all supports/resistances being easily broken in big persistent candles. 4.23 breaks are rare, but they tend to put you into the most exceptional of price moves.
For context, when a 4.23 breaks when I am trading them on a 15 min chart prices are moving that fast I generally don't have time to do much. Even if I am sitting there watching at the exact moment it kicks off. It's like this;
"Wow! Okay I need to think what to ... WOW!".
Prices are moving too fast to process any reasonable plan. By the time you consider the situation you're in, you're in a totally different one. Nice conditions to be trailing stops. Hard to enter into.
The magnitude of a 4.23 break here would be astonishing based on the previously discussed norms. It'd predict that SPX would go into a move where it was doubling from the high. Furthermore, it was doing it in a tiny fraction of the time it took the previous rally.
For our doubling number it'd be best to take the breakout of the 4.23. Let's call it 5000 to keep it simple. Would give us an upside target of 10,000 in SPX without accounting for any stop hunting or overshoots. It would also imply that this happens in a crash up type of move. "Crash" being defined as a strong and sustained breaks of SR levels with no big reactions.
When it comes to tactical trading this is a total nightmare at this moment in time with the suggestion of massive profits (with potentially easy markets) in the coming year or so. At this point in time it's very tricky. If you accept the premise that either we're in a head fake over the 4.23 and a very aggressive rejection is coming or we're now into the start of what will become hyper over performance in the trend you have to consider this as a bit of a limbo point where there could be a chance to do well one way or the other but if you screw up something terrible will happen to you.
If it was a 4.23 fake out we'd have a super strong sell off. There could then be a big bull trap coming up to a double top/spike out and this would then turn into the most sensational of crashes down to under the 4.23- as the macro uptrend experiences what will become its first major trend failure.
The action in that move short term would be insane. There could be some late month rejection here (or next month) and then a massive monthly engulfing candle. We could see a month -20% or so and then see follow through down months. The amount the market could drop and how fast it'd be predicted to drop make it enticing to bet on this.
To bet on this, you have to bet into the rallies. There are too many times we dip and rip to try to sell after bear candles etc. They produce too many false signals. You can end up losing money even if you hit the big trade eventually. Betting on rallies allows you higher RR and when there are short term pullbacks you can get stops into even.
But that leads us to the headache ...
If we're inside a real breakout of the 4.23, we're in the foothills of what will become the most exceptional of rallies. During this, we should see massive high momentum moves up. These will generally go from one resistance level to another. Said differently, you'll see the spikes that seem ideal to fade into the levels you think are the levels to fade - and they won't be levels to fade.
Conversely, the bull strategy would have you aggressively buying all dips and breakouts. When you see momentum looking to get in one it quickly. If it pulls back, all the better. Doesn't matter if you take a string of losses because if you end up in lower at the end and it makes a new high you'll be net up on the round trip. The trend is going to be accommodating and it's only going to get better and better. You can't lose on the upside, and if you come at it in a really attacking way you could perhaps position before a massive upside move.
But you might be doing that into the very end of the trend and have all sorts of sickening gap risk/slippage risk and margin call risk.
Of course, the 4.23 thing might end up not even being important. But from the lens I see markets through, I have to think it will be. If it's not, I'll be surprised. And it makes me believe that whatever way it goes there has to be something exceptional.
When it comes to these juxtaposed outcomes watching price is not all that helpful. Because this can happen in an up move.
With this happening in a down move.
It can be really hard to tell things apart until the point where you've lost is crossed.
If we break the high and you think we're going higher, it's important to be aware of the risk of a bigger pullback. But it can just break and run, too.
Or to the downside it could break abruptly.
Breaks more commonly have traps in them and would look something like this.
So we have a unique situation where I think it's fully justifiable to expect there would be exceptional moves with the market going up 100% or down over 60% - and both of these would be expected to happen within a short period of time. Bulk of it over a couple years. But the nuances of how to go about positioning in a risk efficient way are tricky.
On the bear side, you should be fading this rally and looking to build positions into drops as they develop. But if you're doing that against a bull trend you'll get decent entries if you're good with resistances but build up a position into support and end up down/even on all your entries. And you'll lose a lot of entries with no reaction - so you'll lose overall.
On the buy side you should be aggressively accumulating and buying close to supports but in the 4.23 head fake thesis this would be literally the worst time in your life to do that.
If you're buying and we go up and breakout, you should buy more. But if it's a breakout/correction then you'll get nailed. You can buy more into the correction but you might be "Exit liquidity" in the dump. In the dump, you can short aggressively but are liable to get cut up a dozen different ways.
This set of dilemmas are always something faced when you're trading at a binary inflection point. Even on small charts when we trade at 1.61/2.61 and 4.23 levels this set of paradoxes exist and are tricky to know exactly what's best to to do - on the Big Stage, it's mindboggling the different things that may happen. And daunting knowing the different traps.
If this 4.23 thing is going to be right, the one thing that is sure is there's going to be well above average chances to make big money when the 4.23 decision is resolved.
The 4.23 rejection would be a terrible event. And with who knows what types of real world impacts/reasons. From an intellectual standpoint it is fascinating. If we went into that style of crash now we'd have done it off basic TA patterns, mirroring major crashes of the past and even the interest rates cycles would have been the same as previous bubbles. In the final analysis of it, almost all aspects of the formation and bust of the bubble would have been foreseeable with basic pattern matching ideas. All of the things that have happened in the last 50 years and then all of the crazy things that'd have to happen for a depression crash in the years to come - all foreseeable with extremely basic pattern ideas. The fact everything has matched as well as it has so far trading through the fibs is already remarkable. If it was punctured by a mean reversion fat tail ... wow! On a personal level, even just in the minor drops of 2020, 2022 and recent one it's clear to see indices going down a lot is going to really hurt people. At this point we're just seeing this in speculators but it makes me think about what this would be like on a grand scale. It'd not be nice.
The 4.23 breakout thesis is fascinating and exhilarating. A prospect of heading into the major boom section of a mega trend and having full awareness of that being what you're heading into and approximately where you can expect that to end up going. These would be conditions where someone who knows what they're doing can make insane amounts of money. Even just showing up will make money (as long as you don't end up overstaying). In this extreme doubling event we would still be predicting bad times ahead - but they'd be differed by a couple of years. From a selfish point of view this would all seem great. To benefit from a bubble and be able to bet on a spectacular reversal later. From a humanistic point of view it seems like it'd only cause greater devastation later. No one cares now because we're back at all time highs and boohoo anyone who sold the bottom, but at the lows of April there were anti suicide posts pinned in trading forums. That's how bad things are now on a 20% drop. Think how much worse they'd get if mania develops more.
It's an interesting time. For the sake of sanity and profitability I am doing my best to be as agnostic as possible about what the outcome will be. Plan for all, execute as suitable. I hope we see the 4.23 break. It's the better of the trading ops (Since it offers two massive swings) and if we can crash up or down by the same amount of points, who cares which way it goes? Trading long can be logistically easier in many ways, so it'd be the preference if all else was equal. And being a bear is tiring. It's particularly tiring having to explain to people stating a statistical observation on a SR level doesn't mean you're depressed, angry, a shill and having a different opinion about markets does not mean you hate them. So they don't have to try to fight with you. Every 5 mins...
If you're a bull and say something will go from 100 to 130. And it goes to 40 then it goes to 129 ... you were always right. That's what people say. If you're a bear at 100 and it goes to 120 then 40 you were an idiot that got lucky eventually. I always find that funny about social media.
We're in interesting times. If my 4.23 hypothesis turns out to be correct we're heading into the history books. It's just a question of "For what?.
US 500 Index – Upside Rally Facing A Ratings ChallengeThe US 500 index recorded a 2-month high of 5958 on Friday before settling back to close the week at 5922, an incredible 24% rally from the index's tariff induced lows at 4799 seen on April 7th. Impressive indeed.
However, late on Friday evening the ratings agency Moody’s downgraded US government debt from its top credit rating of Aa1 to Aaa, citing a ballooning budget deficit and no clear plan to narrow this in the future.
This Moody’s decision generated some weekend headlines in the financial press around the sustainability of President Trump’s plans for unfunded tax cuts as the US economy slows due to his recent trade tariff announcements. This even led to a comment on the downgrade from the much-respected US Treasury Scott Bessant, who played down concerns over the US government debt and attempted to reassure investors the Trump administration is determined to bring down spending and grow the economy.
Early Monday Trading:
Given the extent of the recent upside rally to just short of the physiological 6000 level, perhaps unsurprisingly, early Monday trading possibly suggests traders are reacting with caution to this news, with the US 500 trading down 0.6% at 5888, at time of writing. However, there is a long trading week ahead and it will be important to see how markets respond once US traders are back at their desks.
Technical Update: Looking For Potential Support and Resistance Levels This Week
As seen on the chart below, the move in the US 500 index from the April 7th low at 4799 into last Friday’s latest recovery high at 5958 completed a rally of 24%, as recent concerns over global trade eased.
However, Friday’s downgrade of US debt may prompt some traders to question the sustainability of the current advance, even concluding it is something that could lead to the potential for fresh price weakness.
With that in mind, let’s look at possible technical levels in the US 500 that can be monitored this week to gauge the next potential directional price risks
Potential Support Levels:
The first possible support level to focus on if a more extended phase of price weakness is seen, may be the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of May price strength which stands at 5813.
While by no means a guarantee of continued declines, if closing breaks of 5813 are seen, a more extended price correction may then be on the cards, which could suggest tests of the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement, which stands at 5722, or even 5575, equal to the May 7th session low, are possible.
Potential Resistance Levels:
Previous price highs can be viewed by traders as possible resistance levels, as having previously marked a point where selling pressure has been found, it may be the case again.
As such, with the latest price strength trading close to 5988/6007, which is an area where sellers were previously found between February 26th 2025 and March 3rd 2025, this may now be a resistance focus for some.
However, closing breaks of this 5988/6007 price range may lead to attempts at further strength, with the next resistance perhaps then marked by 6144, which is the February 19th 2025 all-time high.
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S&P 500 Falls Following Downgrade of US Credit RatingS&P 500 Falls Following Downgrade of US Credit Rating
On Friday, 16 May, after markets had closed, Moody’s Ratings announced a downgrade of the long-term sovereign credit rating of the United States from the highest level of Aaa to Aa1. The key reasons cited by Moody’s were the rising national debt and interest payments, as well as expectations of a further increase in the budget deficit. Notably:
→ The downgrade was hardly a surprise. A similar move was made by Standard & Poor’s back in 2011, while Fitch Ratings followed suit in August 2023.
→ The official response may be seen as reassuring for market participants. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent played down concerns about the downgrade in an interview with NBC News, calling credit ratings “lagging indicators” and placing the blame on the previous administration.
→ Despite the downgrade, Moody’s acknowledged the US dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency and stated that the United States “retains exceptional credit strengths, such as the size, resilience, and dynamism of its economy.”
Stock Market Reaction
The announcement triggered a negative market reaction, reflected in falling prices during Monday morning’s opening session. E-mini S&P 500 futures (US SPX 500 mini on FXOpen) retreated, as indicated by the arrow on the chart, pulling back from the highs reached by Friday’s close.
Last week, we pointed out signs of slowing momentum in the S&P 500 rally. Could the decline continue further?
Technical Analysis of the S&P 500 Chart
By drawing lines A, B, and C through the May rally peaks, we can observe a gradual flattening of the slope — suggesting that the bulls are losing momentum and confidence.
The price is currently trading between local lines C and C1, but it is reasonable to assume that the opening of the US session may bring renewed bearish pressure — potentially pushing the price lower, towards the bottom boundary of the broader upward channel (marked in blue).
This article represents the opinion of the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand only. It is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation with respect to products and services provided by the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand, nor is it to be considered financial advice.
Pimp Your Indicators – A Smoothed Take on RSIYou don’t need to reinvent the wheel to find new and effective trading tools. Often, enhancing classic indicators with a few thoughtful modifications can yield surprisingly powerful results. Here’s a simple yet effective way to upgrade the RSI and turn it into a more actionable entry signal.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a widely used oscillator that ranges from 0 to 100, providing a measure of upside momentum within a given timeframe. For example, an RSI reading of 60 implies a 60% upside dominance based on recent price action. Traditionally, traders interpret levels above 70 as overbought and below 30 as oversold. However, RSI on its own isn’t reliable as a standalone entry trigger. An overbought reading doesn’t necessarily mean the market is losing strength—it simply indicates recent data reflects a strong upward move.
Smoothed RSI Approaches
To extract more useful signals, we can enhance the RSI in a couple of simple but effective ways:
1. RSI vs. RSIMA (RSI Moving Average):
One approach is to smooth the RSI itself by calculating a moving average of the RSI (call it RSIMA), and then observe the difference between the RSI and its moving average. A positive difference suggests bullish momentum; a negative one, bearish. This approach reduces some noise but can still result in a choppy indicator, as seen in the subplot of the reference chart.
2. RSI on Smoothed Price (RSI5M):
A more refined method involves smoothing the price before calculating RSI. Specifically, apply a 5-period EMA (Exponential Moving Average) to the price series, then compute the RSI on this smoothed series—let’s call it RSI5M. The key insight is to then analyze the difference between RSI5M and the standard RSI. This difference creates a smoother, more robust signal that better captures market bias.
Why It Works
In uptrends, the EMA(5) smooths out short-term fluctuations and highlights the prevailing trend more clearly than raw price data. As a result, RSI5M tends to rise faster and higher than the standard RSI. The difference between the two becomes positive in uptrends and negative in downtrends, making it a useful gauge of directional momentum. This effect is illustrated in the lower subplot of the reference chart, where the smoothed signal offers a clearer view of market regimes.
Ready-to-Use Script
If you're not into coding, you can explore the public script of the Parsifal.RSI.Trend indicator on TradingView. It implements a slightly refined version of this smoothed RSI differential and provides a clean visual cue for trend bias.
S&P500 Same recovery path with 2020 and 2009The S&P500 index (SPX) has recovered almost 90% of its losses since the February 19 2025 All Time High (ATH) and many have already started calling for a technical correction.
If we compare however this 2025 Tariff fueled correction with the recent most aggressive ones (COVID crash in 2020 and Housing Crisis 2008/2009) we see a different picture.
On their respective 0.9 Fibonacci levels (close to which we are today), both of those market recoveries went straight to new ATHs, without testing their MA50 (blue trend-line) until the next Cycle peak. They had that tested before when the price was trading near (or on)the 0.618 Fib. Notice also how a MACD Bullish on all three charts, confirmed the aggressive recovery pattern straight after the bottom.
Instead of a correction, history shows that we might be looking at new ATH soon.
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S&P500: First Trade War indicates that ATH comes soon.S&P500 is a very healthy bullish levels on its 1D technical outlook (RSI = 65.213, MACD = 111.000, ADX = 49.249), being considerably over its 1D MA200, with the 1D RSI very close to the overbought zone. This resembles the first Trade War in 2018, when once the 1D MA200 was crossed, it became a Support level and extended the rally to the index Highs and the R1. We remain bullish on SPX with TP = 6,150.
See how our prior idea has worked out:
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SPX updateI expect a correction to retest 5400 area before last bullish leg to new ATH@6180 then in my view bearish cycle will start and push SPX to at least 4100 area
Plan for Full Support Failure We did really well today with lotto puts, hitting over 2,000% on the OTMs taking near the high of the day betting on new lows - but I want to start this post by stating nothing significant happened for bears today. I've been explaining recently how this sort of reaction to the level we were at would be most common.
There are times when the low is made now. As I write this, we trade on support. In a 2021-esk move, we'd be at the low.
In the statistically most common SPX move, we'd be in the first break the 5500.
In the doom move, we'd be entering into a consistent downtrend that would have shallow bounces, a bigger trappier bounce around 5700 and then enter into a period of serious outright capitulation. The type of action almost never seen in indices. I believe contingent on the preceding action hitting this would be a highly probable event on the break.
If we're in a big bear move then it HAS TO BE the case that the first drop was a leg one of Elliot downtrend or a leg A of a correction.
This leg would have to be either the C leg or the 3 leg. Both of those would be capitulation events - and be headline making crashes. Like mainstream news sort of deals.
These moves would be characterised by consistent and strong selling. Only shallow bounces.
If these things are not happening, then it's not a good idea to be a bear.
If these things are happening, trying to buy the dip might get you nailed.
I'll tell you here and now, if the bear break thesis is correct - lots of people will end up margin called.
They will buy the dip and then think they can average out of it buying more and there will not be deep enough rallies to accommodate this.
They'll progressively pick up bigger and bigger positions. Hope and feel it's all over on the first major bounce and then the worst part of the trend will come.
If the sell off is strong, people should respect the risk of it.
To end on an optimistic note - if we make a low somewhere in the area we traded today that is almost always bullish. I'd certainly be bull bias to a new high and if we break the classic spike out risk I'd be ultra bullish.
I strongly believe the trend for the following couple years will be set in this area. I think that's been foreseeable for years. If the downside risk can be overcome - I think the easy bull markets that followed would surpass the ones we've seen.
Or this could become the worse sell off you've seen in SPX.
It's not a time to be overly cocky. Protect risk and be ready to benefit from any outcome.
Big money is likely to be available within the next 9 months. Next 3 if it's a bear thing.
S&P 500: Consolidating & forming bull flag on support trendlineSo, we all know that the market is taking a breather, and the past week has been mostly flat (kind of). There have been plenty of headlines, some good, some bad. Most notably, the news about the Moody's US credit downgrade. I woke up one morning, took a look at LinkedIn and saw all the CFA-certified investing experts expecting a massive game-changing moment, potentially a market crash.
Except, the market hasn't responded so negatively. In fact, I'd say that while long-term yields have been rising, the market has been doing its own thing .
For instance, taking a look at the daily chart of the S&P 500 paints a different picture of the doom and gloom that I've been hearing ALL weekend and ALL week long. As you can see, the index is currently sitting on the daily support trendline which goes back to the 7th April low.
On that trendline, taking a closer look, it seems the flat price action has been forming a bull flag. It's quite narrow and tight. But it certainly is a fine-looking bull flag. And a break above that would take the S&P 500 even higher.
This would also likely have a positive effect on other indices. Furthermore, it might be worth keeping an eye on the big S&P 500 stocks that are high-beta and like to follow the market.
So, to my point about how the market has been doing its own thing...seems that the Moody's downgrade could have possibly been already priced-in. I could be wrong, of course, as markets are still quite volatile and fragile to any sort of macro and global developments about trade and conflicts around the world.
Thank you for reading.
Note: not financial advice
S&P500 Short: C WaveI believe that the correction up in 5 waves has ended as a B wave. And we should go into a C wave now.
SPX The market selloff today was driven by a sharp rise in Treasury yields following weak demand at a 20-year bond auction, signaling investor concerns about U.S. debt and fiscal policy. Moody's recent downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, fears over unsustainable government spending.
If we don't hold around 5866, there's a risk of deeper selling pressure pushing us toward 5774
Is Trump Triggering a Mini Market Crack to Drive Capital into Tr📉 Is Trump Triggering a Mini Market Crack to Drive Capital into Treasuries?
Recent remarks by former President Donald Trump — including threats of 50% tariffs on EU goods and pressure on Apple to manufacture domestically — have sparked sharp red moves across the U.S. markets.
Which leads to a serious question:
👉 Could this be a deliberate strategy to induce fear in the stock market and push both institutional and retail money toward U.S. Treasury bonds?
In a context where the U.S. government needs to issue and absorb massive debt, and where yields are rising to attract buyers, a sell-off in equities might:
💰 Boost demand for Treasuries
🔥 Justify aggressive fiscal or monetary actions
🎯 Reposition political actors as “economic saviors”
I’m not making claims — just thinking out loud...
Are we witnessing a calculated move to reroute capital from equities into U.S. debt, using fear as the vehicle?
What do you think — coincidence… or strategy?
If We Break Here, Trend Decision is Likely Around 5500.I've recently posted various different bullish considerations for breakouts because given the macro context of where we are, if these are made they could be extremely strong.
However, at the exact moment in time we're still trading right at a major resistance level. We trade at the 86 fib. Historically, SPX pulls back from here about 80% of the time. Usually a correction, some have become crashes.
If we uptrend above the 86 - this is extremely bullish bias and the plan is buy all dips betting on the local trend structure to hold. Getting out as soon as there's not flawless higher lows on the dumps.
We have traded a tiny bit above the 86 recently but if we do not break it again then the chances of a 10% drop are strong.
At this point SPX could easily drop to around 5900 in the bullish move. That'd be expected at this point I'd say. Part of a simple trend development- but if the 5900 level breaks, then we're likely heading down close to 5500.
The 5500 forecast is the bullish forecast.
In the event of us seeing this month closing down with a big wick candle above it and then us making a bear break - next month could be a huge bearish engulfing candle.
We really are at a very interesting spot.
Sized up on various different types of bear bets here at 5940.
If we continue to see local uptrend I plan to buy all dips and trail stops and hopefully this could build into what may become a sensational breakout. But if supports start to fail - I do not think this is going to be a drop to be buying. I'll be extremely bear bias on the breaking of 5870 or so = and in terms of the RR on the move, the bear bet now is optimal.
Big decisions to be made in this area. We must be close to them.
SPY ready to continue its up-trend?!?Now that price has pulled back, we’ve seen a reaction from the daily 20 EMA, forming what resembles a hammer candlestick. This could signal that the uptrend may be ready to resume.
That said, Monday will be key. If the market continues to show strength, it may confirm a continuation to the upside. But if price drops instead, we could be in for a deeper pullback.
⚠️ Remember: just because we’re in an uptrend doesn’t mean the market can’t reverse. The market is unpredictable, and that’s why reacting to price behavior at each point of interest (POI) is so important.
Stay flexible, manage your risk, and trade what the market shows you, not what you expect.
Is a Range Forming?The S&P 500 has enjoyed a powerful rally in the last month, and now some traders may anticipate a sideways move.
The first pattern on today’s chart is 5,971, the final weekly close of 2024. The index chopped on either side of that level a few times in January and early February. It stalled there in late February and early March as tariffs were confirmed on Mexico and Canada. SPX peaked just three points below that price on Monday before halting. Is the old resistance still in effect?
Second, SPX made a lower low and a higher high that session. Tuesday was just the opposite. That combination of an outside candle, followed by an inside candle, may suggest a change of direction is coming.
Third, Wilder’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) has turned down after nearing an overbought condition.
If a pullback occurs, traders may eye roughly 5,773 as support. That was the low in January and a high in late March.
Next, prices are historically far above the 50-day simple moving average (SMA). However, the SMA is turning upward. That could suggest the intermediate-term trend has grown more positive, which may keep pullbacks shallow.
Finally, few important events appear to be scheduled before next Wednesday. (Minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting and Nvidia earnings are both due then.) That lack of catalysts may also create drift – especially with a long holiday weekend approaching.
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The Three Main Things That Happen at 86 Fibs.As some of you may know, I have a bit of an interest in how trend moves have historically formed and failed.
I am interested in the subject generally, with me having put a fair amount of time into just understanding the basic timeline of historic events, reading the different studies on market hypothesis' and checking how these perform or fail in the fat tail events, but when it comes to trading I have a few main interests.
--How can we approximate what zone a top would generally come if we're topping.
--How do we survive being early on that.
--How do we know it's wrong and we should flip long.
--The typical break/capitulation level for bear trends.
--Where we tend to bull trap from.
--Styles bull traps and market recoveries.
--How markets generally bottom after extreme events.
The answer all of those questions is an optimistic endeavour but these are the main things you have to understand to make it viable to be able to bet on the major turning points in these fat tail events and to be able to take exposure without going broke if you get it wrong. Be that trying to buy lows or fade highs.
During the last bear move we posted short analysis at the top, throughout and then posted the different possible bull traps while we were at the low. To this point, the general norms of the historic analysis have held up. Now, we're into the 86 fib which has tended to be a critical area for the trend decision.
In this piece I'm going to go through the main types of reactions we get here and how one can aim to make a plan that will be profitable in all types of scenarios.
Many of the things I'll be discussing are generic retracement rules and if you follow my work you'll know them from my 76/86 theories that I discuss regularly, but all of what I am about to cover here also checks out on the SPX chart. I have manually went through every single drop of over 10% in the SPX and then modelled the different rallies from there. Be them recoveries or crashes - these rules tended to be useful in most of them.
Let me start by giving a very brief history of my use of the 76/86 fibs. The original rules I had for this was a reversal should come just a little bit before the 76 fib. I'd buy/sell close to the 76 fib and use a 76 hit as my stop loss. These were great times. It would work a lot and it'd pay over 1:10 RR sometimes when it did.
Over time this became a little harder and I had to increase my tolerance zone for spikes above the 76. My rules then became to trade close to the 76 and if the 86 hit then I'd stop out because I think it'll go higher. Most of the time we pullback first, but the 86 hitting I used to class as a failure of the reversal.
This worked well (Albeit with reduced RR) for a long time but during the 2022 bear market this theory has significant failures with us tending to trade to the 86 and then put in full reversals. Given my bias is trade the reversal on the 76 and expect continuation if the 86 hits, this was a problem. My default rules would pick up losing signals on both sides. So I had make some further amendments to the idea in 2022.
I've used the general idea for about a decade in total now, with some minor adjustments along the way.
This framing is important because the general default rule I'd have here is now we 86 has hit we probably pullback a bit but it's a net bull bias- however, that strategy has weakened and I have to be a bit more agnostic now. Before, by this point I only have bull plans and ideas of how to stop out if I am wrong. With the new tendency for 86 hits, I need a bear plan also.
First we'll deal with the outcome that I find happens least often, the clean 86 break.
I hate this move. Be it on the upside or the downside I always find it easer to make money when something happens at the 86. I don't even care what. When it trends through I don't expect it because it only happens about 20% of the time and I can end up in a tricky situation where the market jumps from one resistance level to the next and I never want to buy and generally am bias towards fading the move - which can go really bad if the reversal thesis is wrong.
When this clean break is made it's usually built in a trending way. Higher lows in an uptrend. I've found the best way to deal with this risk is if there's any credible risk of the 86 breaking I start to buy all the dips when they're at deep retracement levels. What I "Think" will happen doesn't matter. I know if we head into the type of break I dislike I'll do poorly if I do not start to fade the 86 early. I'd rather lose one or two small trades trying this than end up in a situation where I find it hard to know what to do for months.
If we get back above the 86, this is the plan. Just buy all the dips until it fails. If it fails early I'll probably lose 2-3% over a few trades. If one trade works and I lose after I'll end up even. If they all work I'll end up with over 30% for my 3% risk. Although I do not "Think" this move is likely, when you can risk 3% to make 30% and cover yourself from the things that are tough to deal with - that's a good deal.
The most typical result in SPX history (and in general 86 theory) is we make a crash like move off it but this only goes to the 50 fib.
Very common. You'll find this in SPX recoveries from as early as 1920. Obvious ones after the 2008 crash etc.
This is a net super bullish setup but we'd be in for a drop of about 10% first. It's the most common outcome and if it was not for the need to edit rules due to stop hunting this would be the only main plan I had right now. The plan would be to trade this and everything else would be planning how to not lose too much if something else happened.
If the 5o fib breaks, we tend to capitulate to the 23 fib.
From here is a bit of a tricky spot because a lot of different types of things can happen but inside the context of the overall move we have, this could foreshadow a massive break. If and when we get there I'll discuss more about the tactical trading decisions one can make in this area.
I think for the bear thesis to have a chance we need to the monthly candle to close with a wick on the top. A drop of several 100 points into the end of the month.
Giving the size and speed I'd expect this move to be, it'd almost certainly be a news related move.
If that marker hits, then we'll discuss the decisions to be made into the support levels.
If we uptrend above the 86, then it's buy all dips until it stops working, review after.
But one thing is for sure, this is historically the riskiest spot to be short term bullish. Even in a bull setup, you're wrong 3/4 times on long entries here. In a bear setup, things get really nasty.
Bulls should be super careful if the 86 can not break. Bears should be careful if it does.
The historical analysis clearly shows if you make mistakes here on either side you can take crippling losses. No one should be overconfident at these prices (most people are though).
The bears have the edge for the next 10% under the 86 but if they are wrong there are so many different ways it can end up terribly.
Bulls are at the point where they should be most careful, but as it generally is - this is when they feel bulletproof.
Interesting spot.
For my part, I plan for everything and trade what happens.
Being profitable is more important than making bold and clever predictions if you do this for a living.
