This is the video recording of our July 6, 2021 Monthly Charts Live Strategy Session

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

As US Dollar strength unfolds and US treasuries continue to catch a bid, it’s no wonder our motto around here has been bonds, cash, champagne.

It’s been working, and it continues to work!

We’ve been downright obnoxious about our tactical view of the US Dollar over the past month.

A potential bounce was developing, strength emerged, and we pointed out numerous crosses in which the dollar was poised for a push higher.

The market environment directed our focal point toward the Dollar. And now that it appears risk is coming off the table, we’re shifting our focus to the Yen.

Usually, when we talk about risk-on/risk-off behavior and the Yen, the...

This is the video recording of the July Options Conference Call with Sean McLaughlin & JC Parets.

Key Takeaway: Indexes make new highs, but action beneath the surface is not encouraging. Equity fund inflows surge in the first half. Bond yields moving lower are unlikely to support equity market strength.

• The Energy sector fell out of the top spot in our S&P 500 sector rankings last week, though on an equal-weight basis and at the mid-cap and small-cap level, Energy remains the relative strength leader. Our industry group heat map confirms this broad strength within the Energy sector.
• Communication Services and Technology are in the top two spots of our relative strength rankings. Financials and Real Estate round out the leadership group.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza

This is one of our favorite bottoms-up scans: Follow The Flow. In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish… but NOT both.

We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients. Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.

We also weed out hedging activity and ensure there are no offsetting trades that either neutralize or cap the risk on these unusual options trades. What remains is a list of stocks that large financial institutions are putting big money behind… and they’re doing so for one reason only: Because they think the stock is about to move in their direction and make them a pretty...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to our latest "Minor Leaguers" report.

We've already had some great trades come out of this small cap-focused column since we launched it late last year and started rotating it with our flagship bottoms-up scan, "Under The Hood."

To make the cut for our Minor Leagues list, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $2B. There are also price and liquidity filters. Then, we simply sort by proximity to new highs in order to focus on the best players only.

The goal is to catch the strongest names while they’re small and still have serious upside potential. If any of these stocks ever climb the ranks to the big leagues, the returns could be huge. We’re looking at 5-10x moves just to break into large-cap land!

Let’s dive into this week’s report and see what’s happening in some of the...

The market will always have the final say.

This is the beauty of technical analysis: there's no problem in flipping our approach as new data comes in.

While the wheels were coming off in May, DeFi was the definitive laggard.

But that's changing.

The sector looks to be gaining traction on both absolute and relative terms.

We have a bonus Trade of the Week post for you! There is a name that's popping up in the Fertilizer space and we didn't want to wait longer to share it with you.

Read on to know more.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week’s Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the context of the big picture and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let’s jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week’s report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

• Our Macro universe was flat this week as only 57% of our list closed higher with a median return of 0.20%.
• Nasdaq 100 $QQQ was this week’s biggest winner with a 2.63% gain.
• 10-Year Yield $TNX was this week’s biggest loser dropping -6.84%.
• Silver $SI was the only asset to post a bullish reversal.
• Despite the recent weakness, we saw the main US indices finishing the week at all-time highs....

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Top 10 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.

Dr. Copper often steals the spotlight when it comes to base metals, and for good reason. It’s one of the most economically sensitive commodities. More importantly, it holds a special place in our collective psyche, as one of the major assets that investors turn to in order to gauge the state of the economy, and even investor risk appetite. With that said, the current correction in Copper has raised some concern, especially given the choppy market conditions.

But when we turn to some of the other base metals like Tin, Steel, and Iron Ore, their recent base breakouts are intact. In fact, that’s an understatement. These are some powerful uptrends, and unlike Copper, they just keep pushing higher. While the consolidation in Copper makes sense given the messy market environment and its explosive move since last fall, underneath the surface its base metal peers are indicating an eventual upside resolution...

The message continues to be: Stick to the plan.

Bitcoin is holding above 30k, and many coins still look great under the surface.

Unless Bitcoin moves back below 30,000, the bias is still higher.

We're incorporating more of this on-chain analysis into our work every week, simply because there's a slew of insightful data points.

Just last week, we discussed how exchange balances of Bitcoin continue to trickle lower, signaling that buying pressure could be returning.

This week we're looking for a long setup in the Consumer Goods section. There are certain stocks that are doing well, and we're definitely interested!

Let's see what we have today.