From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

In this scan, we look to identify the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega cap status (over $200B).

Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.

But the scan doesn't just end there.

We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.

Some of the best performers in recent decades – stocks like Priceline, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, and myriad others – would have been on this list at some point during their journey to becoming the market behemoths they are today.

When you look at the stocks in our table, you'll notice we're only focused on Technology and Growth industry groups such as Software, Semiconductors, Online...

Ok, the stock market has bounced. Now what?

Well, now that the bounce feels like it's running out of a little steam, it's time to scan the universe of stocks that have been underperforming and had tepid bounces (at best) during this week's counter-trend rally.

Today's stock is one of the laggards in the semiconductors space.

Last week, I floated a thought: I wouldn’t be surprised if we soon saw an executive order banning short selling coming out of the White House:

Well, it hasn’t happened—at least not in the official, legislative sense. But today my friend Howard Lindzon tweeted something that really hit the nerve I was feeling:

This begs the question: Has Trump essentially implemented a “shadow ban” on short selling, just by threatening to tweet?

Think about it.

We’ve seen this movie before. In 2008, during the depths of the Great Financial Crisis, regulators issued a temporary ban on short selling for 799 financial stocks. It was a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding and restore confidence in the system. But the results were questionable at best. Liquidity dried up. Volatility spiked. And many argued that the move did more harm than good by signaling panic.

Other countries have tried similar moves over the years—especially during periods of extreme stress. France, Italy, Spain, and South Korea all...

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

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled GLD position to June options.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

As of the time I'm writing this (1pm MT), the VIX has been trading back below 30:

While this doesn't mean the coast is clear and the bull market is set to resume, it does signal the extreme fear that exploded last week has subsided as market participants have had time to digest all the headlines and manage risks.

In today's Flow Show, I flew solo and I laid out the latest on the put spread selling campaign I've been executing in $QQQ options since last Wednesday.

I discuss why I implemented the campaign, how it's going so far, and what the next steps are in managing these trades now that $VIX is back below 30:

Sean McLaughlin | Chief Options Strategist, All Star Charts

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

When investing in the stock market, we always want to approach it as "a market of stocks."

Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks showing leadership and trending higher.

We may have to look harder to identify them depending on current market conditions. But there are always stocks that are going up.

The same can be said for weak stocks. Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks that are going down, too. 

We already have multiple scans focusing on stocks making all-time highs, such as Hall of Famers, Minor Leaguers, and the 2 to 100 Club.

We filter these universes for stocks that are exhibiting the best momentum and relative strength characteristics. 

Clearly, we spend a lot of time identifying and writing about leading stocks every week, via multiple reports.

...

Welp, there it is. The dreaded "Death Cross."

I'm mostly just teasing.

I was asked in the All Star Options chat room this afternoon what I thought about this? My answer was that I don't put much stock in an indicator like this. In my selective memory, I feel like I've seen ominous headlines about "death crosses" in the past and they most amounted to much ado about nothing, ultimately.

But again, this might be selective memory.

Here's what's changing my mind... my guy Grant Hawkridge published an interesting piece about this topic today. In it, he says:

"Some people may place limited emphasis on the Death Cross pattern because it is often considered a lagging indicator. However, historical data suggests that if the short-term moving average remains below the long-term moving average, it could pose challenges for stocks moving forward.

I have done the math, and the results are bearish for the stock market…

On average, the S&P 500 has poor performance over the next 1 to 3 months. 

Is this the kind of environment where we want to invest our capital? The impact on stocks in the near future...

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

1. New Position in ITB (US Home Construction).
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. Closed XLY at Profit Target.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

Gold Miners are ripping in 2025 as Gold futures continue to print fresh all-time highs.

Here's how the year has played out so far:

• The S&P 500 is down 8%
• Bitcoin is down 9%
• Bonds are flat
• Silver is up 12%
• Gold is up 22%
• And Gold Miners are up 47%

There has been a tremendous amount of dispersion in the returns.

Despite precious metals' clear leadership role this year, the short sellers have piled into the Gold miners.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the two weeks ended April 11th, 2025. This report is published bi-weekly, in rotation with The Minor Leaguers.

What we do here is analyze the most popular stocks during the week and find opportunities to either join in and ride these momentum names higher, or fade the crowd and bet against them.

We use a variety of sources to generate the list of most popular names.

There are so many new data sources available that all we need to do is organize and curate them in a way that shows us exactly what we want: a list of stocks that are seeing an unusual increase in investor interest.

Click here for a behind-the-scenes look at our process.

Whether we’re measuring increasing interest based on large institutional purchases, unusual options activity, or simply our proprietary lists of trending tickers, there’...

Since volatility picked up in early March, I’ve found that shorter-term trades have really started to shine.

Take a look at this snapshot of my recent trades in All Star Options:

With only a couple of exceptions, nearly every trade I’ve put on lately has had no more than two months until expiration—and the majority are even shorter than that.

Why?

Because when the market starts acting like it’s had too much coffee and not enough sleep, long-dated trades become harder to trust. Shorter-duration setups, on the other hand, let me be nimble. I can lean into fast-moving setups, take my profits (or manage risk quickly), and move on.

And it’s working.

These quicker-turn trades have noticeably increased my win rate and put some much-needed green back into the account—right when the broader market has been having a bit of a meltdown.

A few things to note in the above screenshot:

The green rows are completed trades that hit profit targets or closed with gains.

The red ones, obviously, are stop-outs for losses.

The white rows are still open positions—but most are...