As an owner of a gas-guzzling SUV, I don't like the prospect of higher oil prices. 

Nobody enjoys paying more at the pump. It's an unavoidable tax and if it gets too high, it can be a real drag on people's finances, and can even spill over into broader consumer spending.

And it certainly can be an inflationary signal for all things we spend money on.

That said, in a small way, I'm going to look to hedge myself against gas inflation by getting involved in a popular filling station operator that will ease my mind if I keep paying more to drive my car.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 150 largest US-based stocks.

These stocks range from the mega-cap growth behemoths like Apple and Microsoft – with market caps in excess of $2T – to some of the new-age large-cap disruptors such as Moderna, Square, and Snap.

It has all the big names and more.

It doesn’t include ADRs or any stock not domiciled in the US. But don’t worry; we developed a separate universe for that. Click here to check it out.

The Hall of Famers is simple.

We take our list of 150 names and then apply our technical filters so the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Let’s dive right in and check out what these big boys are up to.

Here’s this week’s list:

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. No new positions today.
2. Adjustment to XLE position.
3. No positions were exited since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

For the longest time I have been virtually out of the market.

Apart from a number of setups, my exposure has been rather light.

But this is the first time in a while I'm increasing my exposure.

Time to get on board.

During today's trades review (in the video above), I discussed how I'm still of the mind to be hunting for opportunities to be bullishly aggressive.

However, the current volatility environment is also offering us spots to add some delta-neutral credit spreads with better-than-average odds of success. I like doing this, if for no other reason than to add some portfolio diversification.

And I demonstrate one way in which I manage open call calendar spreads to manage my risks and give me a better shot at large gains.

All this and the usual stop updates for existing positions.

Enjoy!

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolling XOP to November options.
3. No positions were exited since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

We love our bottoms-up scans here at All Star Charts. We tend to get really creative when making new universes as we want to be sure they will deliver us the best opportunities the market has to offer.

However, when it comes to this one, it couldn't be any simpler!

With the goal of finding more bullish setups, we have decided to expand one of our favorite scans and broaden our regular coverage of the largest US stocks.

Welcome to The Junior Hall of Famers.

This scan is composed of the next 150 largest stocks by market cap, those that come after the top 150 and are thus covered by the Hall of Famers universe. Many of these names will someday graduate and join our original Hall Of Famers list. The idea here is to catch these big trends as early on as possible.

There is no need to overcomplicate things. Market cap is a quality filter at the end of the day. It only grows if price is rising. That's good enough for us.

The underperformance out of Technology stocks this year continues to hurt investors who haven't been paying attention to the sector rotation.

Things haven't been getting better for Tech, they've only been getting worse.

With record returns for stocks in Q3, for example, Large-cap Technology was actually down last quarter.

Small-cap Technology is somehow still down for the entire year!

The struggle is real.

But all the major indexes keep hitting new all-time highs every month. 

This is the recording and the chartbook from our October 2024 Monthly Candlesticks Strategy Session.

Below is the video and slide deck for Week 2 of ASC Mastermind: Momentum Trading And Why It Works. 

With stock market investors looking every which way at different market-moving headlines today, let's take a step back and talk about what's really important.

We just got monthly candles. It's time to zoom out. 

And when we do, is there a chart more important than the US Dollar Index $DXY right now?

The dollar has had a very strong inverse correlation with stocks and other risk assets for several years now.

Equities have done well for the past two years while the dollar has been rangebound. 

Just imagine how they'll do if DXY breaks down from its current range:

Despite the recent volatility, gold continues its steady ascent, unaffected by the broader market noise. 

As seasonals have shifted and new leadership has come and gone this year, gold remains resilient, moving through market regimes with ease.

Whether stocks rally or risk-off sentiment prevails, gold thrives. The yellow metal has been red-hot all year.

In these times, the saying goes, "there is no fever like gold fever." 

But, is there any evidence of this kind of euphoria among investors yet?

While the COT report suggests sentiment may be overstretched, let’s talk about what we’re seeing on the ground.

There’s little buzz about gold in the financial media. No bold predictions of $10K gold on magazine covers, no headlines touting it as the ultimate safe haven in an impending crisis—signals that often show up at market tops. We’re just not seeing it.

For context, in 2011, fears of currency depreciation were rampant. The covers of TIME magazine and Smart Money allow us to remember this moment. They came right at the top.