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

This week we're looking at the stock from the Metal sector.

We retired our "Five Bull Market Barometers" in 2020 to make room for a new weekly post that's focused on the three most important charts for the week ahead.

This is that post, so let's jump into this week's edition.

The largest insider buy on today's list is a Form 4 filing by RA Capital Management.

The hedge fund reported a purchase of roughly $25 million in Fulcrum Therapeutics Inc $FULC, increasing its ownership stake to 23.8%.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

$MSFT reported last night, and, at first, it rallied above $250. And then management had their conference call.

We'll see how it acts, if dip-buyers show up or it just heads back down to $226.

Vega risk is real.

— Sean McLaughlin, NLD 📈 (@chicagosean) January 24, 2023

I tweeted that earlier today as I was feeling my position value decay away for no conceivable reason as the market was coasting sideways.

I felt helpless as my index options position was melting away, far beyond the level my theta risk suggested it would in a quiet market.

It turns out, the quiet market was precisely the reason.

It was a stark reminder to me: Long Vega also entails risks that I need to be aware of.

Most people, myself included, tend to worry about getting caught short volatility (short vega) in a market environment where volatility is rapidly rising. We’ve all heard the stories of traders holding naked short options that were overleveraged into a volatility spike. Those stories make the headlines. And rightfully so.

So it’s easy to forget that being long volatility can be just as painful when volatility is grinding lower as VIX certainly was today:

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

I haven’t ruled out a US dollar bounce. 

But it seems less likely with each passing day.

Other major global currencies are regaining lost ground following a year dominated by dollar strength. It shows in the US Dollar Index $DXY as it continues to slide back within its prior multi-year range. 

Lower lows for the DXY will not instill confidence in dollar bulls. Meanwhile, savvy investors should take its performance as a signal to buy other currencies.  

Here are two of my favorite setups from the forex markets…

Check out the GBP/USD pair on the verge of completing a multi-month reversal formation:

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

There was a major glitch at the New York Stock Exchange today, and it really did a number on the opening of the market.

Prices were all over the place, and names were halted.

Three of my positions below went to my target. But due to the glitch they won't get filled today, which they really should.

It was a day to step aside.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Last week we held our January Monthly Conference Call, which Premium Members can access and rewatch here.

In this post, we’ll do our best to summarize it by highlighting five of the most important charts and/or themes we covered, along with commentary on each

Let’s get right into it!

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

Incoming economic data has been weaker than expected but our Macro Health Status report suggests the market is looking past current risks to brighter days - or perhaps it’s just whistling past the graveyard.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Top 10 Charts Report was just published.

In this weekly note, we highlight 10 of the most important charts or themes we’re currently seeing in asset classes around the world.

Consumers Favor Discretionary

The Equal Weight Consumer Discretionary vs. Equal Weight Consumer Staples ratio is resolving higher from a rounding bottom reversal pattern. Seeing this ratio make an upside resolution is a characteristic of bull markets as it indicates offensive positioning by investors and supports higher prices for risk assets.

From the Desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

I have to get this off my chest.

Wherever I look on Twitter, people are complaining about this rally.

They say it's manipulated.

They say it's all a conspiracy driven by Binance to get suckers to buy in before pulling the rug.

What's hilarious is that those same people were tilted when Alameda was around, arguing that they were manipulating the market.

Now Alameda's gone, they're looking for another scapegoat.

"My stops got hit, must've been Alameda."

No.

There isn't some random conspiracy entity chasing your stops.

You're just a shit trader.