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In focus: Back in the trading range

By Lawrence G. McMillan

The stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index failed to hold on to the upside breakout of last week and is now back in the trading range that had previously contained the market for a month or so.

The range is a bit wide now, with resistance at the June highs of 1,360 and major support at the June lows of 1,270. There is also support in the 1,305-1,310 area. All three are marked on the chart below...

Buy signals remain in place as long as support holds

By Lawrence G. McMillan

So for the second time in four days, a severe down day was followed by a tepid rally.  This is hardly bullish inspiration. $SPX sits almost exactly in the middle of the month's lows (1270, roughly) and highs (1360).  There should also be support in the 1305-1310 area.

Weekly Commentary 6/22/2012

By Lawrence G. McMillan

The stock market had just about everything going for it in technical terms this week, but then the fundamentalists delivered a nasty blow today (Thursday, June 21st). Technically $SPX is just below the support level of 1330-1340.

Equity-only put-call ratios remain on buy signals, despite Thursday's large decline.

Market breadth was very poor on Thursday.  As a result, both breadth oscillators registered sell signals.

In focus: Buy signals in place

By Lawrence G. McMillan

The stock market finally responded to a broad set of positive technical indicators and has broken out to the upside. The individual pieces began to fall into place last week, with the last piece (VIX closing below 21) occurring this past Monday. This should pave the way for a strong intermediate-term rally.

Video of McMillan discussing buy signals on CNBC's Fast Money

Below is the video of Larry McMillan discussing the "recent strong buy signals in the market" on Tuesday's episode of CNBC's Fast Money.

McMillan "Wall Street Subscriptions" Interview

Larry McMillan was recently interviewed by Wall Street Journal's Wall Street Subscriptions website. Read the interview below:

Strong buy signals are in place

By Lawrence G. McMillan

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — The stock market has an extremely impressive set of buy signals going for it. If the bulls can’t capitalize on this, it’s not clear if they ever will.

Sentiment Extremes Abound

By Lawrence G. McMillan

At the current time, there are arguably more extreme sentiment readings in the “macro” markets than at any time in recent memory.  Macro markets, as defined by economist Robert Shiller in a 1993 paper, are large international markets trading in the form of futures contracts.  In a more modern sense, these may also be trading in the form of ETFs.  These would include currencies, stock market indices, and most major futures contracts, such as Crude Oil, Gold, and so forth.

Weekly Commentary 6/15/2012

By Lawrence G. McMillan

he technical picture continues to improve -- especially in the area of put-call ratios.  However, $VIX is still elevated and $SPX is still trapped in a trading range.  We need to see improvement in those areas before intermediate-term buy signals can emerge.  $SPX is trapped in a trading range, with resistance at 1330-1340 and support at 1305.

Equity-only put-call ratios have now confirmed their buy signals.

In focus: Can’t get traction

By Lawrence G. McMillan

The stock market has virtually alternated strong up and down days of late, without much net change. This has created a trading range, within which we’ve seen a good deal of improvement from several of our technical indicators. Even so, the market must confirm these indicators’ buy signals with an upside breakout. Failure to do so would essentially negate those signals.

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