From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The Minor Leaguers.

We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.

For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.

That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.

We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.

To make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list now, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.

And it doesn't have to be a Russell component — it can be any US-listed equity. With participation expanding around the globe, we want all those ADRs in our universe.

The same price and liquidity filters are applied. Then, as always, we sort by proximity to new highs in order to...

This is the video recording of our January 2nd Monthly Charts Live Strategy Session

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @Alfcharts

This is one of our favorite bottom-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...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The first day of trading is full of uncertainty and excitement. 

Aren’t they all!

Yet the new year brings one promise: events that have yet to come.

As corny as it sounds, it’s true.

Sure, precious metal bulls see new all-time highs for gold on the horizon.

I’m right there with them.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves on day one.

Instead, let’s start the year with a long-term chart of gold…

In today's Daily Digest, we'll review:

1. No new positions today.
2. Defensive adjustment in XLV.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.

Let's dig in!

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The first day of trading is full of uncertainty and excitement. 

Aren’t they all!

Yet the new year brings one promise: events that have yet to come.

As corny as it sounds, it’s true.

Sure, precious metal bulls see new all-time highs for gold on the horizon.

I’m right there with them.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves on day one.

Instead, let’s start the year with a long-term chart of gold…

Here’s a monthly candlestick chart zoomed out roughly 30 years:

The main takeaway to start the year: Gold has yet to break out. 

Yes, gold recently hit a new all-time high. But it will remain a range-bound mess until buyers absorb supply at approximately 2,100. 

We can talk about gold 2,500 or 3,250 once it clears that critical supply zone.

Meanwhile, silver mining stocks are showing strength. 

The Silver Miners ETF $SIL is struggling to hold last week’s breakout as the US dollar bounces off a former support level.

We can expect near-term weakness for precious metals when the USD catches a bid, especially the...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The most significant transaction on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners.

The firm reported a purchase of roughly $6.4 million in KalVista Pharmaceuticals Inc $KALV.

2023 turned out to be a great year for investors.

It was really hard not to make a lot of money last year.

And while the trends for stocks and many other risk assets are certainly up, we want to be identifying what the market will have to do for us to position ourselves much more defensively into the new year.

The first warning of a non-so-great market environment would be a breakdown in the Nasdaq100 and Small-cap Russell2000.

Look at those former highs in QQQ from late 2021. If the Nasdaq100 ETF is below 400, that would put it back below those former highs, increasing the vulnerability for further downside, or even a grind sideways.

Here is a list of trade ideas organized by date, ticker symbol, and options strategy. Please make sure you have clicked on the link and read the details surrounding the trade(s) before acting upon any of them. Also, make sure you have checked with your financial advisor and tax accountants to make sure you are suitable to execute what is discussed on this website. The risk management procedures and targets are detailed for each idea. Please read and review the terms and conditions page before making any trades of your own.

Here is a list of trade ideas organized by date, ticker symbol and directional bias. Please make sure you have clicked on the link and read the details surrounding the trade before acting upon any of them. Also, make sure you have checked with your financial advisor and tax accountants to make sure you are suitable to be executing what is discussed on this website. The risk management procedures and targets are detailed for each idea. Please read and review the terms and conditions page before making any trades of your own.

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for all the kind words throughout the year.

Your support and this community you helped build is inspiring to us all.

I'm incredibly grateful.

Thank you.

Now let's get into it.

Here is a list of trade ideas organized by date, ticker symbol and directional bias. Please make sure you have clicked on the link and read the details surrounding the trade before acting upon any of them. Also, make sure you have checked with your financial advisor and tax accountants to make sure you are suitable to be executing what is discussed on this website. The risk management procedures and targets are detailed for each idea. Please read and review the terms and conditions page before making any trades of your own.