We've adjusted a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by Bryant R. Riley, the chairman and CEO of B. Riley Financial $RILY.

Riley reported a purchase of $5.4 million worth of RILY stock.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

I'll say this again, as I say it in the live trading room often: In a great bull market, you don't see this level of volatility.

This is not to say we can’t come out of this chop and slop. But, at the moment, we're still in the vortex.

It's the weekly bond edition of What the FICC?

I thought it was odd bonds didn't react to last week's rate hike. Regardless, the lack of volatility represents a positive development for risk assets, especially stocks.

Check it out!

I’ve been enjoying a (new to me) book recently. Today, I came across this passage that stopped me in my tracks:

Trading is a journey, not a destination. So you’re a trader. Now what? Trading is a constant process of intellectual and emotional growth, and people who trade for twenty years are still learning what to do and who to be when they finally hang it up.

From Street Freak, A Memoir of Money and Madness, by Jared Dillian.

It was almost like Jared was staring at me when he typed those words.

They hit home.

I’ve been in this game for over 20 years now. This coming summer will be the start of my 25th year!

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It was a wild day, once again.

I thought we were going to have movement higher if we were able to break above $SPY 414.5.

But it was a no-go. We headed back downhill.

From the Desk of Ian Culley 

Markets don’t always trend higher or lower. In fact, traders often deal with churn – which sometimes is nothing more than a range-bound mess.

"Sideways" is a trend that's all too easy to forget after last year’s historic volatility. Even bonds became risk assets in 2022!

I found it odd when bonds failed to react to last week’s rate hike along with other long-duration assets.

But the lack of bond market volatility might be exactly what risk assets, especially stocks, need right now.

Check out the chart of the US 10-year yield:

The US benchmark rate continues to hold above 3.40%. This has been our line in the sand for months, coinciding with the June pivot highs from last year.

This is the video recording of the February 9th, 2023, Weekly Town Hall w/ Willie Delwiche.

2/9/23 2:00 PM ET

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

As our Premium Members already know, we have a laundry list of scans that we run internally on an almost daily basis.

Different market environments, naturally, are more conducive to certain scans and less so to others.

We think our Freshly Squeezed scan is perfect for the current market. In fact, we wrote our initial report in December just to be sure we wouldn’t miss the moves that have taken place in recent weeks. We’re confident there is more to come.

With so many individual issues in massive drawdowns as the broader market begins to turn a corner, we’re witnessing some serious short-covering rallies in some of the most beaten-down names.

In fact, it’s already starting to happen. Bed, Bath & Beyond $BBBY was up by almost 100% the other day. It’s very likely they’re going bankrupt. But that’s just the kind of market we’re in.

Have you figured it out yet?

Is Bitcoin about to roll over here?

Or are we flagging before the next run-up?

The beauty of this game is that we don't need to predict the future. Instead, we can rely on price action to dictate our execution.

In this case, we're waiting to see how Bitcoin reacts to all this overhead supply before committing to any new longs.

And, on the contrary, if we see a resolution out of this range, or if we see weakness in the coming weeks, we'll be loading up on some positions.

So, in the case that we see some selling pressure come in, where do we want to be positioned?

The next new position in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is: