From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

As part of our Institutional Top 10 Charts report on February 21st, we wrote about why Litecoin was leading the Cryptocurrency regime change.

Several weeks later on April 3rd, we followed-up on that call by noting the improving price action of Bitcoin and Ethereum and suggesting a long-term bottom was likely in for the Crypto space.

Several months later, let's see where we are now.

Today we're looking at a chart that highlights a major divergence that's plagued the Indian stock market since January 2018.

We've spoken about this topic in the past, but keep drilling it home every few months because it remains one of the key reasons why Indian Equities as an asset class are struggling.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

Today will be a "big" day for markets as the Federal Reserve will announce their decision on the new target Federal Funds Rate.

Currently, markets are pricing in a roughly 80% chance of a 25bp cut and a 20% chance of a 50bp cut. This means market participants have assigned 0% odds to rates remaining where they are after today's meeting.

We've been pretty clear over the last few months about where we stand regarding the different asset classes, so there's not much left to do other than wait and see how prices settle by the end of the week.

With that said, here are a few charts we're watching through Friday's close.

Scanning through the plays that appear in the latest All Star Chart Quarterly Playbook, I see many that have pulled back into support levels and/or near levels that we previously labeled as "bullish above." This offers a clue that perhaps stocks are heading into a rest period. We've had a good run off the "Christmas Miracle" bottom and maybe here's where stocks catch their breath?

With that as a backdrop, I scanned our universe of liquid ETF names and found a candidate to put an income trade on to benefit from any sideways action we may be headed into.

Selling continues and now many broader market and sector indices are at or below support, so in this post, we'll look at some of those charts and assess the damage that's been done.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

On July 23rd the NY Chapter of the CMT Association had the pleasure of hosting Tony Dwyer, Chief Market Strategist at Canaccord Genuity.

Tony provided an interesting perspective to our Technical-oriented group because while he focuses on Macroeconomic and Fundamental data in addition to Technicals, he emphasized that his approach is always data-based, not opinion-based.

He performs Technical Analysis of Fundamental data.

New Mystery Chart!

For those new to the exercise, we take a chart of interest and remove the x/y-axes and any other labels that would help identify it. The chart can be any security in any asset class on any timeframe on an absolute or relative basis. Maybe it's a custom index or inverted, who knows!

We do all this to put aside the biases we have associated with this specific security/the market and come to a conclusion based solely on price.

You can guess what it is if you must, but the real value comes from sharing what you would do right now. Buy, Sell, or Do Nothing?

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

New Mystery Chart!

For those new to the exercise, we take a chart of interest and remove the x/y-axes and any other labels that would help identify it. The chart can be any security in any asset class on any timeframe on an absolute or relative basis. Maybe it's a custom index or inverted, who knows!

We do all this to put aside the biases we have associated with this specific security/the market and come to a conclusion based solely on price.

You can guess what it is if you must, but the real value comes from sharing what you would do right now. Buy, Sell, or Do Nothing?

Do you see how stocks and gold can make new highs at the same time? Who said they couldn't? Why does it have to be one or the other? The current market environment is a great reminder of this. Don't forget it.

So? Should we expect Gold and Silver to keep going? 

In this Episode of Allstarcharts Weekly, Steve and I discuss the Intermarket Relationships that help identify the next direction for US Interest Rates. These assets include Regional Bank Stocks, Utilities, Real Estate Investment Trusts, Copper, Gold and TIPS among others. Which way are Rates heading next?

With earnings season in full swing, unique opportunities with options often spring up.

It's pretty common for the prices paid for options to increase leading up to earnings announcements. It's a classic example of the battle of fear and greed playing out. On one hand you've got nervous shareholders purchasing insurance to protect themselves from any serious adverse price action, bidding the prices of puts higher. On the  other hand, you've got shark speculators looking to participate in a sharp reaction to make a quick buck in either direction, adding further buying pressure to both puts and calls.

The astute options participant can use this battle to leverage into his own vision of the big picture.

We've been writing about Financial Services/Bank Stock outperformance for a while, especially as it relates to the breadth of the broader market.

Despite Financial Services accounting for a third of the Nifty 500's weighting, they cannot support the entire market on their own. Especially if/when they need to correct...like they are now.

That brings us to today's charts.