We had a resting GTC order filled to exit a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

Every idea that we put on at All Star Charts starts with a technical setup that we like. We are students of price action and that supercedes everything.

It's nice when our technical analysis lines up with "other" factors that may support our idea, be they fundamental, news, or in this case, insiders and activist activity.

Here's what our team noticed in an email to ASC subscribers earlier this week:

The most significant insider transaction on today’s list is a Form 4 filing for Pinterest $PINS.

We wrote about PINS on July 15, when Elliott Management announced a large activist stake.

Now that the second quarter blackout period is behind Pinterest, CEO William J. Ready is also buying shares. He just reported a rather sizable $5 million purchase.

We can’t think of many things more bullish than the CEO getting involved...

The cryptocurrency market has certainly seen a nice relief bounce over the last few weeks; the average coin is up a notable 60% off its lows.

With this short-term regime in bull territory, let's evaluate how we're approaching this tape from a tactical perspective.

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

Was this just a bear market rally?

Or did we just see the initial thrust off the lows before a more sustainable move progresses into the end of the year?

That's a good question to be asking.

And while we don't ever actually know until after the fact anyway, we've set these 2 levels as clear lines in the sand for arguably two of the most important assets on the planet: The S&P500 and Ethereum.

The bottom line is this: If the S&P500 is above 4200 and Ethereum is above 1800 - YOU CANNOT BE SHORT.

George L. Ball, the chief financial officer at Parsons Corporation $PSN, filed a Form 4 revealing a purchase of 35,000 shares of PSN.

That’s equivalent to $1,452,500 worth of his company's stock.

The market has brought up back to the point where we have to increase the headroom on the Adani Group charts again!

These updates have been such great reminders of riding the trend, don't you think? The way these stocks have taken off and continue to move higher is quite the story!

So without any further delay, let's take a look at the levels we're following next!

For starters, let's see where our custom equally weighted index is headed. Of course, we know it's moving higher, but it's important to note the trend.

Well, there we have it! Higher highs, higher lows. Held on to the support zone and bounced off of it. It's now got a little more room before it runs into resistance.

Let's go over the roster sheet now!

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

How funny would it be if the US Dollar Index $DXY peaked with the expectations of a 100 basis point rate hike last month?

And what would that mean for risk assets and the stock market rally?

These are just a few questions that float across my mind as I look through currency charts.

To be clear, the DXY isn't showing any signs of a top. Momentum remains in a bullish regime, and the index is holding above the upper bounds of its former range. 

I’m not going out on a limb here and calling a top in the US dollar. Instead, this is all about execution and remaining receptive to all possibilities.

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

We adjusted our international equity exposure to stay in harmony with global leadership and are putting some money to work domestically following the late-July breadth thrust.

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

This All Star Charts +Plus Monthly Playbook breaks down the investment universe into a series of largely binary decisions and tactical calls. Paired with our Weight of the Evidence Dashboard and our Playbook Chartbook, this piece is designed to help active asset allocators follow trends, pursue opportunities, and manage risk.

In Focus for August: July brought some relief for investors in diversified portfolios but 2022 has still been a forgettable year in many regards. From an equity market perspective, it’s been a year heavy on volatility and light on strength (more like 2008 than 2017). Bonds haven’t fared much better. Yields are off their highs, but the trend continues to experience one of its most persistent increases in the past 4 decades. It is the persistence of these trends that might be most challenging for investors in the current environment. Bouts of market volatility in recent years, even when they have been severe (like during the COVID lockdowns), have...

Are you seeing Small-caps breaking out to new 4-month highs relative to Large-caps?

This underperformance in Small-caps began in Q1 2021 which, among other things, sparked the beginning of the bear market.

This week would mark the 18-month point, if a bear market is even something we're still in.

This kind of outperformance from Small-caps is not something we've seen over the past 18-months.

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