This post is a follow-up to yesterday's "How We're Approaching New Long Setups" and our Q2 Playbook, so we'd highly recommend reading those two pieces first if you haven't already.

In this post we're going to dive into the stocks we want to be buying. 

Sometimes, the generous idea guys at All Star Charts just happen across something that immediately catches their eye and they post it up quick on twitter.

Today Steve Strazza offered this up on Virtu Financial $VIRT:

This is Virtu Financial $VIRT, a HFT which benefits from the wider bid/ask spreads and higher volumes that accompany periods of heightened volatility... price is attempting to break out above its YTD highs ~26 pic.twitter.com/1ZmRO29QwS

— Steven Strazza (@sstrazza) July 16, 2020

That base, and the low volatility in options immediately caught my attention too. These are my favorite setups: Blue skies up above coupled with low vol.

So I'm keeping it simple and swinging for the fences.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

Thanks to everyone who participated in this week's Mystery Chart.

Most were waiting for more information given prices were at a clear inflection point, so let's get into what it was and what our interpretation is.

Despite new recovery highs in the US and other international markets, India has been struggling in the short-term to maintain its upward momentum.

In this post, we're outlining some things that are important for Equities in the short-term and how we're approaching stocks on the long side.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

Rotation is the lifeblood of any bull market, so what better way to use our "Chart of The Week" than highlighting the rotation into cyclical sectors that's currently taking place.

Who knew I'd be turning to China for an online education?

Well, that's just what I endeavor to accomplish with a trade I'm working to enter today.

This week on Happy Hour w/ Traders, I chat with 2 of the best in the business: Brian Shannon and Joe Fahmy. We've all been friends for a decade and I still learn from both of them every single time we talk.

The way I see it, I'm having these conversations anyway, so may as well hit record so you guys can learn from them the same way that I do.

Check it out!

Jeff Macke is the guy I turn to whenever I have questions about the Consumer. Anything retail, restaurants, internet sales, he's the one we want to listen to. Jeff and I have known each other for many years and are friends with a lot of the same people. Here's an old clip I found of him and I talking about Gold & Silver back in January 4, 2012.

In this episode we talk about the restaurant stocks, pharmacies, which areas he wants to avoid and which ones he wants to own. He says the pair trade of the decade could very well be: Long Shaquille O'neil (Papa Johns $PZZA) and Short Kanye West (The Gap $GPS). This was a really fun conversation. I picked up some good ideas and had a few laughs.

I hope you enjoy!

Copper continues to rip to the upside, but one chart suggests that the entire Base Metals' space is making upward progress.

Today we're taking a look at that chart and what its implications are for Equities going forward.

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?

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

For the week ended Friday, July 10, 2020:

Every week we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.

This week we're going to highlight our US Index and Sector ETF tables, and focus on the laggards as they are giving us the most important information for the current market environment. Let's dive into it.

No surprises here... The Nasdaq $QQQ outperformed aggressively once again last week, booking a +4.7% gain while Mid, Small, and Micro-Caps were all lower. The Nasdaq is the only US Index that is higher over the trailing month.

Here is a chart from our Q3 playbook which illustrates the strength from not only the Nasdaq 100 but also Technology $XLK and Semiconductors $SOXX. It's impossible to be bearish when all these charts are at all-time highs.

...

As we head into the second half of the calendar year 2020, we start from scratch with our Q2 playbook and outline our thoughts on every asset class and our plan to profit in the quarter ahead.

Part 1 of this playbook will cover our macro view, touching on Equities, Commodities, Currencies, and Rates.

Part 2 of this playbook will delve deeper into Indian Equities, going sector by sector to identify the trends that matter.

Part 3 of this playbook will outline the individual stocks we want to be selling within the context of today's environment.

Part 4 of this playbook will outline the individual stocks we want to be buying within the context of today's environment.