From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Equity markets around the globe are getting rocked as we close out another rough week.

And then there's China, which is green on the day.

This isn't just a one-day thing. In fact, it's quite the opposite. China has been showing impressive relative strength since bottoming in late October.

Today is just a microcosm of what that leadership has looked like.

It's had our attention for a while already, which is why we're about to discuss the structural outlook for Chinese stocks and outline some long ideas in the strongest names.

Here's the performance of a basket of international equity ETFs since markets bottomed and ripped higher on Oct. 13:

An All Star Options community member recently sent me an email asking about the Average True Range (ATR) indicator and whether or not it is helpful in ascertaining if options premiums are elevated or depressed in the underlying instrument. 

For a pretty thorough explanation of what ATR is, here’s a blurb I found on macroption.com:

With the major indexes below overhead supply, you're seeing the choppy action.

There are stocks continuing to do very well, like Homebuilders for example. And there are some stocks really struggling, like U.S. Banks.

But in the aggregate, at the index level, you're seeing the grind.

It's the weekly bond market edition of What the FICC?

Today we're highlighting the breakout in bonds.

Check it out!

These are the registration details for our Live Mid-month Conference Call for Premium Members of All Star Charts.

Our next Live Call will be held on Tuesday December 20th at 6PM ET. As always, if you cannot make the call live, the video and slides will be archived and published here along with every other live call since 2015.

Here are the details for Tuesday night:

From the Desk of Ian Culley @Ianculley  

"Trade what’s in front of you."

We say it all the time.  And it sounds simple enough.

But, with an immense amount of information circulating, it can be difficult to distinguish what’s important. 

That’s why we focus on price. Price filters the noise and useless data.

At the end of the day, it's price that pays. 

So, if bonds are breaking out to fresh multi-month highs, we should buy bonds, right?

Here’s a quick look at the bond market buy signals triggered earlier in the month: 

All three are still in play.

One of the great things about options trading is the flexibility afforded to traders to combine multiple contracts, of the same or differing expirations, long or short, to express unique ways to participate in whatever thesis we might have about the future direction or opportunity the market is offering.

Depending on the type of trader and person we are, this menu of choices available either incredibly excites us, or it overwhelms us with analysis paralysis.

I usually fall into the first camp, excited about the choices. But I'll admit to sometimes feeling myself unable to make a confident strategy decision.

So when opportunities like today's trade come along, I get pumped. This is because today's trade is my favorite kind of setup. Both for the potential of the move and the simplicity in how we can play it!

Regardless of whether the majority of stocks in the market are going up or down, there seems to always be a group that just wants to keep on falling in price.

They can't help themselves.

Investors just hate them.

And with that hatred, of course, comes opportunity.

Here's this week's shit list:

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.

Now, we're also highlighting lagging stocks on a recurring basis.

Welcome to the Short Report.

It's the weekly currency edition of What the FICC?

The forex and futures markets will provide bountiful ways to trade a weakening dollar.

But what's the best option?

Check it out!

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

We held our December Monthly Strategy Session last week. Premium Members can access and rewatch it here.

Non-members can get a quick recap of the call simply by reading this post each month.

By focusing on long-term, monthly charts, the idea is to take a step back and put things into the context of their structural trends. This is easily one of our most valuable exercises as it forces us to put aside the day-to-day noise and simply examine markets from a “big-picture” point of view.

With that as our backdrop, let’s dive right in and discuss three of the most important charts and/or themes from this month’s call.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The forex and futures markets will provide bountiful ways to trade a weakening dollar.

Unfortunately, some of our initial attempts to capitalize on dollar weakness have fallen flat. 

We’re not surprised – especially since market conditions remain challenging. But that won’t deter us from moving forward and finding the best trade setups.

As always, a viable trade comes down to two critical components: a well-defined risk level and a risk/reward profile heavily skewed in our favor.

And, of course, you know how much we like relative strength. 

That brings us to a vehicle that challenges the definition of "currency." 

That's gold.