Tag: MCO – Moody's Corporation

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Commentary

Daily Brief For January 14, 2022

The Daily Brief is a free glimpse into the prevailing fundamental and technical drivers of U.S. equity market products. Join the 200+ that read this report daily, below!

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Updates: Hi everyone! To start, I wanted to sincerely apologize for the below graphic being inaccurate, yesterday. Technology problems! I have since updated the graphic. My bad – egg on my face.

As always, for checks on quoted levels, and the like, just read on below. I try to build in as many redundancies to ensure we have the most information to trade on as possible.

If levels do not make sense, I assure you that they are either (A) updated in the attached real-time charts or (B) in the “Technical” section, below.

Feedback and questions are always encouraged/appreciated!

What Happened

Overnight, equity index futures rotated, lower, validating the end-of-day, knee-jerk price exploration. Commodities were mixed, bonds fell, and volatility was bid.

Ahead is data on retail sales and import prices (8:30 AM ET), industrial production and capacity utilization (9:15 AM ET), University of Michigan consumer sentiment figures and business inventories (10:00 AM ET), as well as some speech by New York Fed President John Williams (11:00 AM ET).

Note that in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, markets will be closed on Monday, January 17.

There will be no commentary published, as a result.

Graphic updated 6:30 AM ET. Sentiment Neutral if expected /ES open is inside of the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive, then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

Fundamental: Markets sold heavy, yesterday, on the heels of hawkish commentary from monetary policymakers. 

The Federal Reserve’s Lael Brainard said the central bank would be in a position to start hiking rates as soon as it wound down bond purchases. This is to happen in March. 

“The (Fed’s policy-setting) committee has projected several hikes over the course of the year,” Brainard said in testimony. 

“Of course, we will be in a position to do that I think as soon as our purchases are terminated, and we’ll simply have to see what the data requires over the course of the year, and you know we started to discuss shrinking our balance sheet.”

Graphic: Via The Market Ear, “balance sheet delta continues fading. The obvious question is, what is priced in?”

The Fed is moving more quickly to “save itself from having to hike too far and make rates so expensive that they slow down the economy.”

“We understand the Fed’s paralysis given the massive uncertainty coming out of the pandemic,” says Jim Bianco of Bianco Research. “However, the longer they wait to address inflation, the worse this conundrum will become.”

So, what’s the major concern with tightening and eventual balance sheet compression?

It has much to do with left-tail risks. Prevailing monetary frameworks and max liquidity promoted a large divergence in price from fundamentals. 

With expected monetary policy evolution, however, valuations are much less justifiable. Many institutions, as a result, see peaks in 2022, just as rate hikes are initiated.

Graphic: S&P 500 performance before and after rate hikes, via The Market Ear.

“The decline in stock prices is forecast to be orderly but it could turn into something worse,” Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) explains in reference to the growth of passive investing – the effect of increased moneyness among nonmonetary assets – and derivatives trading. 

“A drop in stock prices could trigger margin calls.”

Notwithstanding, as stated in the prior day’s, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) strategists, “[p]olicy tightening is likely to be gradual and at a pace, that risk assets should be able to handle, and is occurring in an environment of strong cyclical recovery.”

This is as Moody’s also notes that “there will still be a lot of excess liquidity—a little less than $1 trillion— when the central bank’s balance sheet does begin to decline.”

Note that over the next weeks, a focus will be the release of earnings, in the face of inflation, supply-chain challenges, and the like. We will cover this in later commentaries.

Positioning: Thursday’s trade did little to upset the narratives discussed in the “Positioning” section of this commentary over the past few days.

As stated, metrics that overlay options positioning and buying pressure (via short sales or liquidity provision on the market-making side) are positively skewed, albeit less so than before.

At the same time, we have trading desks suggesting “the conditions are not in place for a larger correction (>5%),” while volatility remains compressed, relatively so, at the index level.

Graphic: Upward sloping VIX term structure. Per Interactive Brokers Group Inc (NASDAQ: IBKR), “An inverted curve, or even a flattish one, indicates a shortage of available volatility protection. We saw that as recently as a month ago, but not now.” Still, short-dated implied volatility is bid and this is taking away from the supportive “vanna” flows you would expect with declining volatility.

For instance, SpotGamma’s (beta) Hedging Impact of Real-Time options indicator suggested S&P 500 options activity diverged, markedly, from what underlying prices were doing. 

This could mean that Thursday’s news-driven sell-off did not change the status quo. 

Graphic: SpotGamma’s Hedging Impact of Real-Time Options (HIRO) indicator.

Obviously, elsewhere, in single stock land, conditions are different. Metrics suggest options were a contributing factor in the weakness of rate-sensitive names, yesterday.

This is as many products are in lower liquidity and short-gamma (wherein an options delta rises with stock prices rises and falls when stock prices drop) in which moves are more erratic.

Note: As a position’s delta rises with stock or index price rises, gamma (or how an option’s delta is expected to change given a change in the underlying) is added to the delta.

Therefore, coming into weighty options expiration, correlations may (continue to) be off (as that is the only reconciliation in an environment where, at the index level, hedging pressures are sticky, whereas elsewhere they aren’t).

After the large January monthly options expiration (OPEX), correlations ought to fall back in line.

Technical: As of 6:30 AM ET, Friday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the middle part of a balanced skewed overnight inventory, just of prior-range and -value, suggesting a limited potential for immediate directional opportunity.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades higher; activity above the $4,643.00 untested point of control (VPOC) puts in play the $4,674.25 high volume area (HVNode). Initiative trade beyond the HVNode could reach as high as the $4,691.25 micro composite point of control (MCPOC) and $4,715.00 VPOC, or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,643.00 VPOC puts in play the $4,629.25 HVNode. Initiative trade beyond the HVNode could reach as low as the $4,593.00 and $4,549.00 VPOC, or lower.

Click here to load today’s key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures.

Considerations: Recent trade is more so dominated by visually-driven, weaker-handed momentum players that mechanically respond to key technical levels like the 20-day simple moving average or profile levels. 

Simply put, the other time frame participants are waiting for more information before committing to substantial expansion of range via large sales or buys.

Graphic: Despite selling, heavy, the S&P 500 is “sound” so to speak.

Definitions

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

POCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

MCPOCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent over numerous day sessions. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

Options Expiration (OPEX): Traditionally, option expiries mark an end to pinning (i.e, the theory that market makers and institutions short options move stocks to the point where the greatest dollar value of contracts will expire) and the reduction dealer gamma exposure.

Inversion Of VIX Futures Term Structure: Longer-dated VIX expiries are less expensive; is a warning of elevated near-term risks for equity market stability.

Volume-Weighted Average Prices (VWAPs): A metric highly regarded by chief investment officers, among other participants, for quality of trade. Additionally, liquidity algorithms are benchmarked and programmed to buy and sell around VWAPs.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, mentorship, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Capelj is also a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor developing insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

Physik Invest does not carry the right to provide advice.

In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For January 11, 2022

The Daily Brief is a free glimpse into the prevailing fundamental and technical drivers of U.S. equity market products. Join the 200+ that read this report daily, below!

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What Happened

Overnight, equity index, commodity, and bond futures were sideways to higher. This is ahead of important Fed-speak; Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks at 10:00 AM ET.

Graphic updated 6:40 AM ET. Sentiment Risk-On if expected /ES open is above the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive, then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

Fundamental: JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) strategists led by Marko Kolanovic noted, yesterday, that the selloff is overdone, arguing higher rates would not derail the bull market. 

Graphic: Interest rates relative to Russell 1000 Value/Growth. Via The Market Ear, “Higher bond yields and growth-to-value rotation within equities.”

“The pullback in risk assets in reaction to the Fed minutes is arguably overdone,” Kolanovic said. “Policy tightening is likely to be gradual and at a pace, that risk assets should be able to handle, and is occurring in an environment of strong cyclical recovery.”

An analysis of equity market performance in the face of past rate spikes, suggests Kolanovic’s comments aren’t out of line. 

“We found that while SPX tends to see returns slow in the short term, the NDX and RTY actually tend to outperform on a 1M basis,” Jefferies Group says on S&P 500 (SPX), Nasdaq 100 (NDX), and Russell 2000 (RTY) performance post major rate spikes.

“Looking further out, the NDX (naturally) is the only of the three that flags. The SPX trends back toward its historical return profile and the RTY actually tends to beat the SPX in the intermediate to longer-term”.

Graphic: Taken The Market Ear. Original source Jefferies Group.

Beyond asset price support from a recovering economy, strong growth in business profits, rents, and other income, Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) believes another reason “financial markets are brushing off QT is that there will still be a lot of excess liquidity—a little less than $1 trillion— when the central bank’s balance sheet does begin to decline.”

This excess liquidity is to shrink, naturally, as the economy grows quicker than the M2 money supply; the Marshallian K – the difference between year-over-year growth in M2 money supply and GDP – which had turned negative late last year (and prompted concerns around liquidity and its impact on the equity market) is now positive.

Graphic: Marshallian K had turned negative late last year. According to Bloomberg, “While stocks kept rising during frequent negative Marshallian K readings in the 1990s, the pattern since the 2008 global financial crisis — a period when the central bank was in what Ramsey calls a “perpetual crisis mode” — begs for caution.”

Notwithstanding, according to Callum Thomas, “[t]he election cycle + decennial cycle (i.e. that ‘years ending in 2’ line) suggest some challenging months ahead… (as opposed to the usual unconditional seasonal pattern).”

Graphic: Taken from Callum Thomas. Source: @mrblonde_macro.

Positioning: Heading into Monday’s session, the broader market was set to experience increased two-way volatility.

That happened. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 explored lower but ended higher yesterday.

What’s next? There’s been a noticeable shift in relative strength. The Nasdaq 100 has firmed, relative to its counterparts, and overnight activity built on yesterday’s end-of-day advance.

At the same time, the VIX term structure, a good gauge of fear, remained upward sloping and volatility (via the Cboe Volatility Index) compressed suggesting a reduction in the demand for protection. 

Graphic: Visualizing the compression in volatility.

All that means is that the opposite of what was expected heading into yesterday happened.

Recall, in demanding downside protection (buying a put), customers indirectly take liquidity as the counterparties hedge their short put exposure by selling underlying. 

Higher implied volatility marks up options delta (exposure to direction) and this leads to more selling, as hedging pressures exacerbate weakness.

Alongside yesterday’s end-of-day rally, lower implied volatility marked down options delta (exposure to direction). This lead to buying by the counterparty.

We can maintain the notion that despite markets tending toward instability so long as volatility is heightened and products (especially some constituents) remain in negative gamma, the dip lower and demand for protection may serve to prime the market for upside (when volatility starts to compress again and counterparties unwind hedges thus supporting any attempt higher).

“Failure to expand the range, lower, on the index level, at least, likely invokes supportive dealer hedging flows with respect to time (‘charm’) and volatility (‘vanna’),” SpotGamma.

Technical: As of 6:40 AM ET, Tuesday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the upper part of a positively skewed overnight inventory, outside of prior-range and -value, suggesting a potential for immediate directional opportunity.

Gap Scenarios: Gaps ought to fill quickly. Should they not, that’s a signal of strength; do not fade. Leaving value behind on a gap-fill or failing to fill a gap (i.e., remaining outside of the prior session’s range) is a go-with indicator.

Auctioning and spending at least 1-hour of trade back in the prior range suggests a lack of conviction; in such a case, do not follow the direction of the most recent initiative activity.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades higher; activity above the $4,674.25 high volume area (HVNode) puts in play the $4,691.25 micro composite point of control (MCPOC). Initiative trade beyond the MCPOC could reach as high as the $4,717.25 low volume area (LVNode) and $4,732.50 HVNode, or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,674.25 HVNode puts in play the $4,647.25 HVNode. Initiative trade beyond the latter could reach as low as the $4,629.25 HVNode and $4,593.00 untested point of control (VPOC), or lower.

Click here to load today’s key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures.

What People Are Saying

Definitions

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

POCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

MCPOCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent over numerous day sessions. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, mentorship, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Capelj is also a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor developing insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

Physik Invest does not carry the right to provide advice.

In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For January 3, 2022

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What Happened

Overnight, equity index futures auctioned higher. Ahead is data on Markit Manufacturing PMI (9:45 AM ET) and Construction Spending (10:00 AM ET).

Graphic updated 6:20 AM ET. Sentiment Risk-On if expected /ES open is above the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

Technicals: Given the Monday gap, the S&P 500, based on its relation to Thursday’s failed balance breakout and end-of-week liquidation, is positioned for sideways-to-higher.

To note, however, the persistence of responses to technical levels, weaker-handed participants (which seldom bear the wherewithal to defend retests) carry a heavier hand in recent discovery.

Via volume profile analysis, we see a plethora of low-volume pockets – voids – that likely hold virgin tests. Successful penetration often portends follow-through as the participants that were most active at those levels (quickly run for the exits when wrong).

Graphic: Weekly chart for the S&P 500 (top left), Nasdaq 100 (top right), Russell 2000 (bottom left), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (bottom right). Technically, indices are still positioned for sideways or higher.

Fundamental: The aforementioned trade is happening in the context of higher valuations, interest rates, and tax rates, according to Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).

These themes serve as a headwind.

To elaborate, as Nordea recently explained, the Fed will “accelerate its tapering process, and is now set to conclude net purchases already by mid-March vs mid-June with the earlier pace.”

“The dot plot was revised significantly higher, and the plot now shows three hikes for next year, a further three for 2023 and another two for 2024.”

Graphic: The “annual rate of change in the Fed Funds rate” via topdowncharts.com.

At the same time, equity markets tend to rally into the first hike; Moody’s Corporation’s (NYSE: MCO) forecast aligns with that – “the Dow Jones Industrial Average increases this quarter and peaks in early 2022, … [followed by] steady decline through 2022.”

Graphic: S&P 500 performance before and after rate hikes.

Why? Rising rates, among other factors, have the potential to decrease the present value of future earnings, thereby making stocks, especially those that are high growth, less attractive.

“Our view is that 2022 will be the year of a full global recovery, an end of the global pandemic, and a return to normal conditions we had prior to the Covid-19 outbreak,” JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) noted. 

“We believe this will produce a strong cyclical recovery, a return of global mobility, and strong growth in consumer and corporate spending, within the backdrop of still-easy monetary policy.”

Positioning: According to JPMorgan Chase & Co, “S&P 500 skew overprices downside and underprices upside probabilities relative to historical returns.”

Graphic: Via The Market Ear, JPMorgan’s analysis suggests downside protection is overpriced.

This is all the while the S&P 500’s implied volatility remains above pre-COVID levels.

“SPX implied volatility is well above its pre-Covid level across the term structure.” The compression of volatility lowers the counterparties’ exposure to the positive delta. This “vanna” flow may support higher prices.

Taken together (in the face of last week’s options expiration which reduced the level of positive sticky options gamma concentrated mostly at the $4,800.00 level in the S&P 500), current options positioning and buying pressure supports a seasonally-aligned price rise in January.

Explanation: As a position’s delta rises with underlying price rises, gamma (or how an option’s delta is expected to change given a change in the underlying) is added to the delta. Counterparties are to offset gamma by adding liquidity to the market (i.e., buy dips, sell rips).
Graphic: SpotGamma data suggests the pin heading into Friday’s options expiration is no more.

The continued compression of volatility will only serve to bolster any price rise as “hedging vanna and charm flows, and whatnot will push the markets higher.”

Should that thesis not pan out – meaning the removal of hedging pressures associated with “put-heavy” single stock options positions and an end to tax-loss harvesting, among other factors – indices likely succumb to the “stealth correction” of its lesser weighted constituents.

Were participants to reach for downside protection, the implications of this would be staggering. In such a case, markets will tend toward instability. At present, the metrics don’t point to this.

Graphic: Via The Market Ear, amidst heightened cash allocations that are likely to be redeployed, “January is the big inflow month but the seasonality from here is looking less exciting.”

Expectations: As of 6:20 AM ET, Monday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the upper part of a positively skewed overnight inventory, outside of prior-range and -value, suggesting a potential for immediate directional opportunity.

Gap Scenarios: Gaps ought to fill quickly. Should they not, that’s a signal of strength; do not fade. Leaving value behind on a gap-fill or failing to fill a gap (i.e., remaining outside of the prior session’s range) is a go-with indicator.

Auctioning and spending at least 1-hour of trade back in the prior range suggests a lack of conviction; in such a case, do not follow the direction of the most recent initiative activity.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades higher; activity above the $4,791.00 untested point of control (VPOC) puts in play the $4,799.75 regular trade high (RTH High). Initiative trade beyond the RTH High could reach as high as the $4,805.00 and $4,815.00 extensions, or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,791.00 VPOC puts in play the $4,781.75 high volume area (HVNode). Initiative trade beyond the HVNode could reach as low as the $4,767.00 VPOC and $4,750.75 overnight low (ONL), or lower.

Click here to load today’s key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures.

What People Are Saying

Definitions

Overnight Rally Highs (Lows): Typically, there is a low historical probability associated with overnight rally-highs (lows) ending the upside (downside) discovery process.

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

Gamma: Gamma is the sensitivity of an option to changes in the underlying price. Dealers that take the other side of options trades hedge their exposure to risk by buying and selling the underlying. When dealers are short-gamma, they hedge by buying into strength and selling into weakness. When dealers are long-gamma, they hedge by selling into strength and buying into weakness. The former exacerbates volatility. The latter calms volatility.

Vanna: The rate at which the delta of an option changes with respect to volatility.

Charm: The rate at which the delta of an option changes with respect to time.

POCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

MCPOCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent over numerous day sessions. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

Options Expiration (OPEX): Traditionally, option expiries mark an end to pinning (i.e, the theory that market makers and institutions short options move stocks to the point where the greatest dollar value of contracts will expire) and the reduction dealer gamma exposure.

Excess: A proper end to price discovery; the market travels too far while advertising prices. Responsive, other-timeframe (OTF) participants aggressively enter the market, leaving tails or gaps which denote unfair prices.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, mentorship, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Capelj is also a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor developing insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

At this time, Physik Invest does not carry the right to provide advice. 

In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For December 28, 2021

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Notice: Up to January 3, 2022, any commentaries published will be lighthearted and, generally, shorter in length.

What Happened

Overnight, equity index futures were sideways to higher with most commodities, yields. 

This is as volatility implodes; the CBOE Volatility Index, from December 20, went as low as 17.55 this week [down 9.84 (35.93%)]. This coincides with a compression in the VIX’s term structure, and that has so-called bullish/supportive implications.

Ahead is data on the S&P Case-Shiller U.S. home price index (9:00 AM ET).

Graphic updated 7:00 AM ET. Sentiment Risk-On if expected /ES open is above the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

On lackluster breadth and divergent market liquidity metrics, the S&P 500 continues to auction away from intraday value, the levels at which participants found it most favorable to transact.

Moreover, given the persistence of mechanical responses to technical levels, visually-driven, weaker-handed participants (which seldom bear the wherewithal to defend retests) likely carry a heavier hand in recent price discovery.

Via volume profile analysis, we see a plethora of low-volume pockets – voids, if you will – that likely hold virgin tests. 

As stated over the past few days, successful penetration often portends follow-through as the participants that were most active at those levels (quickly run for the exits when wrong).

Context: Recall that a collapse in implied volatility, coupled with relentless, seasonally-aligned passive buying would bring in positive flows that would bolster any attempt higher.

At the same time “options selling strategies [became] attractive,” according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS); the commitment of capital to options strikes at higher prices implies participants are pushing up their bets on S&P 500 movement. That’s bullish.

Graphic: Shift Search S&P 500 data (excluding weeklies) suggests participants are likely initiating box spreads and rolling their call exposure out in time (as much as 6 months).

According to SpotGamma, “[s]ince, customers are thought to be net short calls (short-delta), as the index moves toward the high activity $4,800.00 strike, they become longer delta.”

Why? When a position’s delta rises with stock or index price rises, gamma – the expected change in delta given movement in the underlying – is added to delta. 

“As participants keep adding to their bets at $4,800.00, the dealer only takes on more exposure to positive gamma, which they hedge by selling futures and adding liquidity to the market.”

The commitment of capital on lower volatility ups the dealers’ exposure to positive gamma; this will be offset through a supply of liquidity (via short futures), which weighs on price discovery.

Taking into account this positioning, versus buying pressure (measured via short sales or liquidity provision on the market-making side), positioning metrics remain positively skewed, albeit less so than before.

Graphic: Data SqueezeMetrics. Graph via Physik Invest.

Going forward, coming into Friday’s weighty options expirations, at the index level, hedging pressures ought to be sticky and weigh on the upside. 

Thereafter, positive fundamental forces and dealers’ covering of hedges to remaining “put-heavy” positioning could bolster any seasonally-aligned price rise into the very first interest rate hikes.

Graphic: Per The Market Ear, “January typically sees 134% of inflows (the rest of the 11 months -34%). And with every private wealth manager in the world right now pitching increased allocations into equities (out of cash and out of bonds), Goldman calculates that keeping 2021 pace, This would be $125BN worth of inflows quickly in January.”

Moody’s Corporation’s (NYSE: MCO) forecast is in agreement: “the Dow Jones Industrial Average increases this quarter and peaks in early 2022, … [followed by] steady decline through 2022.”

Graphic: S&P 500 performance before and after rate hikes.

Expectations: As of 7:00 AM ET, Tuesday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the upper part of a positively skewed overnight inventory, just outside of prior-range and -value, suggesting a potential for immediate directional opportunity.

Gap Scenarios: Gaps ought to fill quickly. Should they not, that’s a signal of strength; do not fade. Leaving value behind on a gap-fill or failing to fill a gap (i.e., remaining outside of the prior session’s range) is a go-with indicator.

Auctioning and spending at least 1-hour of trade back in the prior range suggests a lack of conviction; in such a case, do not follow the direction of the most recent initiative activity.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades sideways or higher; activity above the $4,771.00 untested point of control (VPOC) puts in play the $4,784.25 regular trade high (RTH High). Initiative trade beyond the RTH High could reach as high as the $4,797.25 overnight high (ONH) and $4,803.75 extension, or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,771.00 VPOC puts in play the $4,732.50 high volume area (HVNode). Initiative trade beyond the HVNode could reach as low as the $4,717.25 low volume area (LVNode) and $4,690.25 micro composite point of control (MCPOC), or lower.

Click here to load today’s key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures. Learn about the profile.

Definitions

Overnight Rally Highs (Lows): Typically, there is a low historical probability associated with overnight rally-highs (lows) ending the upside (downside) discovery process.

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

POCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

MCPOCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent over numerous day sessions. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

Options Expiration (OPEX): Traditionally, option expiries mark an end to pinning (i.e, the theory that market makers and institutions short options move stocks to the point where the greatest dollar value of contracts will expire) and the reduction dealer gamma exposure.

Volume-Weighted Average Prices (VWAPs): A metric highly regarded by chief investment officers, among other participants, for quality of trade. Additionally, liquidity algorithms are benchmarked and programmed to buy and sell around VWAPs.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Additionally, Capelj is a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor, helping develop insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

At this time, Physik Invest does not carry the right to provide advice. In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

Categories
Methodology

Theory Applied: Contextualizing Recent Market Volatility

With SpotGamma, Physik Invest’s Renato Leonard Capelj unpacks recent market movements from an options positioning perspective.

Coverage includes the following:

  • Definition and application of first and second order options greeks.
  • Implications of the November and December options expirations.
  • How current positioning may dictate trade in Q1 2022 and beyond.
  • Expert commentary and much more!

Click below to learn more!

‘Call AAA’: Santa Claus Is Having Sleigh Troubles
Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For December 17, 2021

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What Happened

Overnight, equity index futures auctioned sideways to lower.

This is alongside news that South Africa’s hospitalization rates plunged, Democratic leaders abandoned plans to pass a $2 trillion social spending and climate plan, and central banks looked to fight inflation with tighter monetary policies.

Ahead is Fed-speak at 8:30 AM ET and 1:00 PM ET. Today, also, is a large derivatives expiry.

Graphic updated 6:15 AM ET. Sentiment Neutral if expected /ES open is inside of the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

After an open outside of prior-range and -value (i.e., levels at which 70% of the day’s volume was transacted), the S&P 500 Index took back the near-vertical post-Federal Open Market Committee price rise. 

As evidenced by the volume-weighted average price anchored from FOMC, the average buyer, since that event is in a losing position. Ouch!

There are some factors (outside of lackluster intraday breadth and market liquidity metrics) that pointed to a difficulty – at least on the index level – to expand directionally. Read more here!

The expectation, though, after this week is for an expansion of range amidst a reduction in the sticky options-related hedging forces that promote consolidation/pinning.

Graphic: Delta (i.e., committed selling as measured by volume delta or buying and selling power as calculated by the difference in volume traded at the bid and offer) in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), one of the largest ETFs that track the S&P 500 index, via Bookmap.

Context: Keeping it brief, today.

For numerous days now, there has been no shortage in notes forecasting market moves the year ahead. What is common, among these notes, is a belief that markets ought to be bullish going into 2022. Later, though, there are threats that could dent performance.

What does that mean? In sticking to the ruling narrative, so to speak, participants are anchored to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) intent in adjusting monetary policy.

Based on comments earlier this week, the Fed will accelerate its taper to bond-buying. Thereafter, “the plot now shows three hikes for next year.”

So, why does this matter to me?

Rising rates, among other factors, have the potential to decrease the present value of future earnings, thereby making stocks, especially those that are high growth, less attractive. 

Couple that notion with some markedly divergent breadth and extreme relative weakness, especially in rate-sensitive names, pension rebalancings, increased exposure to leverage, among other things, it’s easy to lose sight of the positives. 

As stated, previously, though, today’s rates support validations better than in the ‘90s.

At the same time, equity markets tend to rally into the first hike; Moody’s Corporation’s (NYSE: MCO) forecast aligns with that – “the Dow Jones Industrial Average increases this quarter and peaks in early 2022, … [followed by] steady decline through 2022.”

Graphic: S&P 500 performance before and after rate hikes.

In support is relentless, seasonally-aligned “passive buying support” in the face of expectations there will be “the strongest quarterly nominal [economic] growth in more than three decades.”

Graphic: Positively skewed return distribution amidst “natural, passive buying,” and supportive positioning metrics. Data SqueezeMetrics. Graph via Physik Invest.

That’s all good to know. However, tell me what I should know for right now.

Sure. 

As stated, yesterday, the market is in a positive-gamma environment wherein the counterparties to customer options trades add market liquidity and help temper realized volatility.

The expectation, into the end of this week, was that participants would continue to step in and commit increased capital on lower directional volatility (as they had into the start of this week).

The decrease in dealer supply (short delta) post-OPEX, via the covering of short stock/futures hedges to put-heavy positioning, ought to bolster any attempt higher.

Couple that with participants’ commitment of capital to strikes higher in price and out in time, the bullish thesis is emboldened. 

I end with a note from options modeling service SpotGamma: “There was a VIX low around November 5th, and using that as a barometer … the current VIX structure remains elevated above those Nov ‘blue sky’ levels (pre-Omnicron, pre-Taper concerns).”

“There is a fairly large expiration on 12/31, and we’d anecdotally note that implied vol often holds a bid into that expiration. The point here is that there is arguably a bit more ‘vanna fuel’ left in the tank, but it’s going to take ‘real buyers’ (i.e. not volatility short covering) to continue the Santa Rally.”

Expectations: As of 6:15 AM ET, Friday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the middle part of a negatively skewed overnight inventory, inside of prior-range and -value, suggesting a limited potential for immediate directional opportunity.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades sideways or higher; activity above the $4,647.25 high volume area (HVNode) puts in play the $4,674.25 HVNode. Initiative trade beyond the HVNode could reach as high as the $4,690.25 micro-composite point of control (MCPOC) and $4,709.00 untested point of control (VPOC), or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,647.25 HVNode puts in play the $4,615.00 VPOC. Initiative trade beyond the SIGNPOST could reach as low as the $4,597.25 regular trade low (RTH Low) and $4,581.00 VPOC, or lower.

Click here to load today’s key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures. Learn about the profile.

What People Are Saying

Definitions

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

POCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

MCPOCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent over numerous day sessions. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

Options Expiration (OPEX): Traditionally, option expiries mark an end to pinning (i.e, the theory that market makers and institutions short options move stocks to the point where the greatest dollar value of contracts will expire) and the reduction dealer gamma exposure.

Volume-Weighted Average Prices (VWAPs): A metric highly regarded by chief investment officers, among other participants, for quality of trade. Additionally, liquidity algorithms are benchmarked and programmed to buy and sell around VWAPs.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Additionally, Capelj is a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor, helping develop insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

At this time, Physik Invest does not carry the right to provide advice. In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For December 16, 2021

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What Happened

After the Federal Reserve (Fed) announced it would accelerate its taper to bond-buying, clearing the way for interest-rate hikes, the equity market rallied, broadly. 

With all major U.S. equity index futures trading higher, overnight, it appears that participants’ fears regarding monetary policy have been assuaged. 

As forecasted, a collapse in event-related implied volatility brought in positive flows that ought to support the market into this week’s weighty “quad-witching” derivatives expiry.

Ahead is data on jobless claims, building permits, housing starts, and manufacturing (8:30 AM ET). Then, there are releases on industrial production, capacity utilization (9:15 AM ET), as well as Markit manufacturing and services PMI (9:45 AM ET). 

Graphic updated 6:15 AM ET. Sentiment Risk-On if expected /ES open is above the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

Market hammered out a low, yesterday. 

This was after, to start the week, customers had been increasing their exposure to short-delta (call selling and put buying). The counterparty inventorying the opposite (long-delta) exposure sold (bought) futures into price discovery higher (lower).

Graphic: Customers increased their exposure to short-delta call exposure. “Last week was about selling index calls,” SpotGamma’s Brent Kochuba said on Twitter. “This is likely why the $SPX stopped at $4,700.00.”

This dynamic had the effect of pinning the market; was the S&P 500 to remain in consolidation, customers’ (dealers’) short-delta (long-delta) would have risen which would have made for even more pinning.

That didn’t happen, though.

Into Wednesday’s FOMC event, demand for protection expanded (as evidenced by a higher CBOE Volatility Index reading). That knocked most of the major indexes out of sideways trade.

However, as revealed Tuesday by SpotGamma’s (beta) Hedging Impact of Real-Time Options (HIRO) indicator, “participants saw lower prices as an opportunity to express their opinion of lower volatility into Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) update.”

From there on, as Ambrus Group’s Kris Sidial best explained, “vols were static in anticipation of the fed talk,” taking away from supportive flows (as a result of options sliding down their term structure [vanna]) and promoting sideways trade.

Graphic: SpotGamma’s Hedging Impact of Real-Time Options (HIRO) indicator, which is pink in color, was sideways to higher. This suggests positive options delta trades likely had dealers buying stock/futures into the close.

Context: Wednesday’s commentary really hit the nail on the head, so to speak. 

Therefore, I offer some light updates.

As expected, per Nordea, the Fed will “accelerate its tapering process, and is now set to conclude net purchases already by mid-March vs mid-June with the earlier pace.”

“The dot plot was revised significantly higher, and the plot now shows three hikes for next year, a further three for 2023 and another two for 2024.”

Graphic: “[T]he terminal rate being priced in by financial markets is closer to 1.5% vs. 2.5% for the Fed,” Nordea explained. “The market is now pricing that rate hikes could start already in the mid-March 2022 meeting.”

That said, today’s rates support validations better than in the ‘90s.

At the same time, equity markets tend to rally into the first hike; Moody’s Corporation’s (NYSE: MCO) forecast aligns with that – “the Dow Jones Industrial Average increases this quarter and peaks in early 2022, … [followed by] steady decline through 2022.”

Graphic: S&P 500 performance before and after rate hikes.

This positive take is in the face of what has been markedly divergent breadth and extreme relative weakness, especially in rate-sensitive names. 

Why? Rising rates, among other factors, have the potential to decrease the present value of future earnings, thereby making stocks, especially those that are high growth, less attractive. 

Graphic: As U.S. stocks’ inflation-adjusted earnings yield turns negative, as seen near the peak of the tech bubble, via Bloomberg, “Investors in the Nasdaq increasingly seem to think that only a few companies have much of a chance. With a growing possibility of more aggressive attempts to prosecute antitrust issues, that’s a riskier position than it appears.”

With the equity market moving higher, here, into the end of the week, we ought to not discount participants’ increasing exposure to leveraged products.

This increases the speed with which volatility is realized and was cited as a risk in one of Moody’s recent commentaries.

So, despite having seasonally-aligned “passive buying support” and supportive positioning metrics, as well as expectations of “the strongest quarterly nominal [economic] growth in more than three decades,” offsides positioning ought to exacerbate underlying price movements.

So what? As stated, yesterday, the market is in a positive-gamma environment wherein the counterparties to customer options trades add market liquidity and temper realized volatility.

With participants’ fears surrounding monetary policy assuaged, there are positive flows that ought to support the market into this week’s weighty “quad-witching” derivatives expiry.

Graphic: VIX term shifts inward; as short-dated protection quickly was monetized or expired, volatility collapsed and dealers’ exposure to positive delta declined which meant they would cover their short futures hedges. This “vanna” flow bolstered an SPX rally into the end-of-day.

Into the end of the week, the expectation is that participants continue to step in and commit increased capital on lower directional volatility (as they had into this week).

With activity concentrated in shorter-dated tenors, counterparties will take on more exposure to positive gamma which they will offset by supplying the market with more liquidity, thereby pressuring the price discovery process.

Graphic: Via SpotGamma data, the above model’s tilt suggests dealers will increasingly sell into strength and buy into weakness, pressuring any price discovery into the end of this week.

Moreover, the decrease in dealer supply (short delta) post-OPEX, via the covering of short stock/futures hedges to put-heavy positioning, ought to bolster any attempt higher.

Below: Though book depth “in isolation is not the correct method to gauge liquidity,” it can help in assessing participants’ demand/supply as volatility (and stress, by that token) increases.

Graphic: Analysis of book depth for the E-mini S&P 500 futures contract, via CME Group Inc’s (NASDAQ: CME) Liquidity Tool. For more on the implications of participants’ options positioning and dealer hedging, read here.

In anticipation of higher prices, low cost, complex options structures like call-side calendars, butterflies, and ratio spreads are top of mind.

Graphic: Via Banco Santander SA (NYSE: SAN) research, the return profile, at expiry, of a classic 1×2 (long 1, short 2 further away) ratio spread.

Expectations: As of 6:15 AM ET, Thursday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the upper part of a positively skewed overnight inventory, outside of prior-range and -value, suggesting a potential for immediate directional opportunity.

Balance-Break + Gap Scenarios: A change in the market (i.e., the transition from two-time frame trade, or balance, to one-time frame trade, or trend) is occurring.

Monitor for acceptance (i.e., more than 1-hour of trade) outside of the balance area. 

Leaving value behind on a gap-fill or failing to fill a gap (i.e., remaining outside of the prior session’s range) is a go-with indicator. 

Rejection (i.e., return inside of balance) portends a move to the opposite end of the balance.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades sideways or higher; activity above the $4,712.00 balance area boundary (BAH) puts in play the $4,732.50 high volume area (HVNode). Initiative trade beyond the HVNode could reach as high as the $4,740.50 minimal excess high and $4,767.00 extension, or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,712.00 BAH puts in play the $4,690.25 micro composite point of control (MCPOC). Initiative trade beyond the MCPOC could reach as low as the $4,674.25 HVNode and $4,657.00 balance low (BAL), or lower.

Click here to load today’s key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures. Learn about the profile.
Graphic: V-pattern recovery in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), one of the largest ETFs that track the S&P 500 index, portends continuation. The red, black, and yellow-colored lines are anchored volume-weighted average price levels (VWAPs), metric highly regarded by chief investment officers, among other participants, for quality of trade. Additionally, liquidity algorithms are benchmarked and programmed to buy and sell around VWAPs.

Definitions

V-Pattern: A pattern that forms after a market establishes a high, retests some support, and then breaks above said high. In most cases, this pattern portends continuation.

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

Gamma: Gamma is the sensitivity of an option to changes in the underlying price. Dealers that take the other side of options trades hedge their exposure to risk by buying and selling the underlying. When dealers are short-gamma, they hedge by buying into strength and selling into weakness. When dealers are long-gamma, they hedge by selling into strength and buying into weakness. The former exacerbates volatility. The latter calms volatility.

Vanna: The rate at which the delta of an option changes with respect to volatility.

Charm: The rate at which the delta of an option changes with respect to time.

MCPOCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent over numerous day sessions. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

Price Discovery (One-Timeframe Or Trend): Elongation and range expansion denotes a market seeking new prices to establish value, or acceptance (i.e., more than 30-minutes of trade at a particular price level). 

Excess: A proper end to price discovery; the market travels too far while advertising prices. Responsive, other-timeframe (OTF) participants aggressively enter the market, leaving tails or gaps which denote unfair prices.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Additionally, Capelj is a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor, helping develop insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

At this time, Physik Invest does not carry the right to provide advice. In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For December 2021 FOMC

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What Happened

Equity index futures are lower after Monday’s failed balance-area breakout in the S&P 500 had that index rotate to and through the opposite end of a multi-day consolidation, yesterday.

This trade is in the face of expectations the Federal Reserve (Fed) will accelerate the taper to bond-buying, clearing the way for interest-rate hikes. 

Rising rates, among other factors, have the potential to decrease the present value of future earnings, thereby making stocks, especially those that are high growth, less attractive. 

The ruling narrative, so to speak, has resulted in the selling of expensive areas of the market.

Ahead is retail sales, import prices, and Empire State Manufacturing Index (8:30 AM ET) data. 

Then there are releases on the NAHB Home Builders’ Index, business inventories, inventory-sales ratio (10:00 AM ET). Later is a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement (2:00 PM ET) and press conference (2:30 PM ET).

Graphic updated 6:25 AM ET. Sentiment Neutral if expected /ES open is inside of the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

According to SpotGamma, into this week, participants had been increasing their short-delta exposure (via a lot of call selling and a bit of put buying). 

This resulted in dealers selling (buying) futures into strength (weakness), a dynamic that promotes consolidation.

Later, as participants positioned for the FOMC event, demand for protection expanded and the S&P 500 made it to and through the low-end of the consolidation against the $4,700.00 high activity options strike. 

The trade built out areas of high volume (HVNode) via the cave-fill process in locations where prior discovery left weak structure – gaps and p-shaped emotional, multiple distribution profile structures (i.e., old-money covering shorts).

As evidenced by the divergent delta, below, responsive buyers surfaced at a key volume-weighted average price (VWAP) level (near $4,600.00 S&P 500), at which liquidity algorithms are benchmarked and programmed to buy and sell.

Graphic: Divergent delta (i.e., non-committed selling as measured by volume delta or buying and selling power as calculated by the difference in volume traded at the bid and offer) in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), one of the largest ETFs that track the S&P 500 index, via Bookmap. The readings are supportive of responsive trade (i.e., rotational trade that suggests current prices offer favorable entry and exit; the market is attempting in balance).

At the same time, as SpotGamma (beta) Hedging Impact of Real-Time Options (HIRO) indicator suggested “participants saw lower prices as an opportunity to express their opinion of lower volatility into Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) update.”

Graphic: SpotGamma’s Hedging Impact of Real-Time Options (HIRO) indicator, which is pink in color, was sideways to higher. This suggests positive options delta trades likely had dealers buying stock/futures into the close.

Context: Today, we get clarity from the Fed.

The expectation is that the asset purchases are scaled back by $30 billion per month versus the expected $15 billion. In doubling the pace of the taper to bond-buying, the odds of earlier rate hikes increase markedly.

“If the Fed does not address inflation soon, they risk long rates shooting much higher,” says Jim Bianco of Bianco Research.

“But if they follow the market’s lead in aggressively hiking rates, they risk hurting the economy. We understand the Fed’s paralysis given the massive uncertainty coming out of the pandemic. However, the longer they wait to address inflation, the worse this conundrum will become.”

Notwithstanding, today’s rates are supporting validations better than in the ‘90s.

At the same time, equity markets tend to rally into the first hike; Moody’s Corporation’s (NYSE: MCO) forecast aligns with that – “the Dow Jones Industrial Average increases this quarter and peaks in early 2022, … [followed by] steady decline through 2022.”

Graphic: S&P 500 performance before and after rate hikes.

Immediate risks, though, remain. 

There are growing pockets of weakness – as evidenced by divergent breadth – in the face of U.S. stocks’ inflation-adjusted earnings yield turning negative.

Similarly, participants are more exposed to leveraged products, among other things, which increases the speed with which volatility is realized.

“One potential catalyst would be an explosion in the value of margin accounts at brokers and dealers, which amounted to $595 billion in the second quarter, nearly double the pre-pandemic level. A drop in stock prices could trigger margin calls.”

So despite “natural, passive buying support” and positioning metrics flashing a buy, as well as expectations of “the strongest quarterly nominal [economic] growth in more than three decades,” offsides positioning may prompt a reaction that exacerbates underlying price movements.

So what? The market is in a positive-gamma environment wherein the counterparties to customer options trades add market liquidity and temper realized volatility.

If participants’ monetary policy fears are assuaged, a collapse in event-related implied volatility ought to bring positive flows as the long delta (from dealers’ exposure to short puts) decreases.

The decrease in dealer supply (short delta) post-FOMC and -OPEX, via the covering of short stock/futures hedges to put-heavy positioning, ought to bolster any attempt higher.

That’s not to say that some of the vulnerabilities like participants’ large exposure to leveraged products (which increases the speed with which volatility is realized) couldn’t prompt a round of destabilizing demand for downside protection.

Graphic: The “Biggest tail risk to SPX isn’t any macro data/virus/war but its own options market.”

Though order book depth “in isolation is not the correct method to gauge liquidity,” it can help in roughly assessing participants’ demand/supply as volatility (and stress, by that token) increases.

Graphic: Analysis of book depth for the E-mini S&P 500 futures contract, via CME Group Inc’s (NASDAQ: CME) Liquidity Tool. For more on the implications of participants’ options positioning and dealer hedging, read here.

Already, according to Bloomberg, some participants are positioning for “a seasonably favorable period for stocks” in 2021; “someone purchase[d] roughly 20,000 call spreads that are linked to the S&P 500 and expire right before the Christmas holiday. The transaction involved selling calls with a strike price at 4,750 to fund bullish options exercisable at 4,650.”

Graphic: S&P 500 finds support in area between the 20- and 50-day simple moving average. The aforementioned bullish “call spread” trade expiring before the Christmas holiday is included.

Expectations: As of 6:25 AM ET, Wednesday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the middle part of a balanced overnight inventory, inside of prior-range and -value, suggesting a limited potential for immediate directional opportunity.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades sideways or higher; activity above the $4,618.75 high volume area (HVNode) puts in play the $4,647.25 HVNode. Initiative trade beyond the latter could reach as high as the $4,657.00 balance area low (BAL) and $4,674.25 HVNode, or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,618.75 HVNode puts in play the $4,596.25 regular trade low (RTH Low). Initiative trade beyond the RTH Low could reach as low as the $4,581.00 and $4,523.00 untested point of control (VPOC), or lower.

Click here to load today’s key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures. Learn about the profile.

What People Are Saying

Definitions

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

POCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

Options Expiration (OPEX): Traditionally, option expiries mark an end to pinning (i.e, the theory that market makers and institutions short options move stocks to the point where the greatest dollar value of contracts will expire) and the reduction dealer gamma exposure.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Additionally, Capelj is a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor, helping develop insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

At this time, Physik Invest does not carry the right to provide advice. In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

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Commentary

Daily Brief For December 13, 2021

What Happened

Overnight, most equity, commodity, and bond futures were higher.

This comes ahead of the weighty December 17 options and futures expiration – “quad witching” – large portfolio rebalances, and an update to Federal Reserve (Fed) policy, December 15.

Ahead, today, there are no key economic releases scheduled.

Graphic updated 6:15 AM ET. Sentiment Risk-On if expected /ES open is above the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

On lackluster breadth and supportive market liquidity metrics, the best case outcome occurred, evidenced by an expansion of range, Friday, followed by a gap out of balance, Sunday.

Graphic: SpotGamma’s (beta) Hedging Impact of Real-Time Options (HIRO) indicator suggested participants were buying (or covering short) calls and selling put options, into the close. S&P 500 prices followed as dealers added to their long-delta hedges.

Context: As fears of a COVID-19 resurgence are assuaged, in the face of U.S. job growth that fell short of expectations, per Bloomberg, the Fed ought to move more quickly to “save itself from having to hike too far and make rates so expensive that they slow down the economy.”

The expectation is that the Fed scales asset purchases by $30 billion per month versus the expected $15 billion. In doubling the pace of the taper to bond-buying, the odds of a rate hike happening as early as next June increase markedly. 

“If the Fed does not address inflation soon, they risk long rates shooting much higher,” says Jim Bianco of Bianco Research.

“But if they follow the market’s lead in aggressively hiking rates, they risk hurting the economy. We understand the Fed’s paralysis given the massive uncertainty coming out of the pandemic. However, the longer they wait to address inflation, the worse this conundrum will become.”

Rising rates, among other factors, have the potential to decrease the present value of future earnings, thereby making stocks, especially those that are high growth, less attractive.

Despite today’s rates supporting validations better than in the ‘90s, an intent to reduce stimulus serves as a headwind.

That said, equity markets typically rally into the first hike; Moody’s Corporation’s (NYSE: MCO) “forecast is that the Dow Jones Industrial Average increases this quarter and peaks in early 2022, … [followed by] steady decline through 2022.”

Graphic: S&P 500 performance before and after rate hikes, via The Market Ear.

Prevailing monetary frameworks and max liquidity promoted a large divergence in price from fundamentals; the growth of passive investing – the effect of increased moneyness among nonmonetary assets – and derivatives trading imply a lot of left-tail risks.

Graphic: As U.S. stocks’ inflation-adjusted earnings yield turns negative, as seen near the peak of the tech bubble, via Bloomberg, “Investors in the Nasdaq increasingly seem to think that only a few companies have much of a chance. With a growing possibility of more aggressive attempts to prosecute antitrust issues, that’s a riskier position than it appears.”

Adding, the Fed, too, is seeing vulnerabilities in asset prices.

“The decline in stock prices is forecast to be orderly but it could turn into something worse,” Moody’s explains. 

“One potential catalyst would be an explosion in the value of margin accounts at brokers and dealers, which amounted to $595 billion in the second quarter, nearly double the pre-pandemic level. A drop in stock prices could trigger margin calls.”

Margin calls happen when customers owe money to their brokerage firm; “If there is no money, investors have to sell other assets.”

Putting it simply, participants are more exposed to leveraged products, among other things, which increases the speed with which volatility is realized.

So despite positioning metrics flashing a buy, and expectations of “the strongest quarterly nominal [economic] growth in more than three decades,” offsides positioning may prompt a cascading reaction that exacerbates underlying price movements.

Short-term, however, aside from the presence of “natural, passive buying support,” the market is in a positive-gamma environment wherein the counterparties to customer options trades add market liquidity and temper realized volatility.

Graphic: “[N]atural, passive buying support,” coupled with strong put flows results in positive return distribution. Data via SqueezeMetrics. Graph via Physik Invest.

If participants are further assuaged of their fears at this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, a collapse in event-related implied volatility ought to bring in positive flows as the long delta (from dealers’ exposure to short puts) decreases.

The decrease in dealer supply (short delta), via covering of short stock/futures hedges, would bolster any attempt higher.

Expectations: As of 6:15 AM ET, Monday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the upper part of a positively skewed overnight inventory, outside of prior-range and -value, suggesting a potential for immediate directional opportunity.

Balance-Break + Gap Scenarios: A change in the market (i.e., the transition from two-time frame trade, or balance, to one-time frame trade, or trend) is occurring.

Monitor for acceptance (i.e., more than 1-hour of trade) outside of the balance area. 

Leaving value behind on a gap-fill or failing to fill a gap (i.e., remaining outside of the prior session’s range) is a go-with indicator. 

Rejection (i.e., return inside of balance) portends a move to the opposite end of the balance.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades sideways or higher; activity above the $4,717.25 low volume area (LVNode) puts in play the $4,732.50 high volume area (HVNode). Initiative trade beyond the HVNode could reach as high as the $4,740.50 minimal excess and $4,767.00 extension, or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,717.25 LVNode puts in play the $4,705.25 LVNode. Initiative trade beyond the LVNode could reach as low as the $4,690.25 MCPOC and $4,674.25 HVNode, or lower.

Click here to load today’s key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures. Learn about the profile.

What People Are Saying

Definitions

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

POCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

MCPOCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent over numerous day sessions. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

Excess: A proper end to price discovery; the market travels too far while advertising prices. Responsive, other-timeframe (OTF) participants aggressively enter the market, leaving tails or gaps which denote unfair prices.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Additionally, Capelj is a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor, helping develop insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

At this time, Physik Invest does not carry the right to provide advice. In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

Subscribe
Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For December 6, 2021

What Happened

Overnight, equity index futures auctioned sideways to higher after Friday’s liquidation had the S&P 500 undercutting its 50-day simple moving average (SMA), a visual go/no-go level.

Strength shifted, again, to the Russell 2000 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was underwater. This comes as policymakers look to temper inflation with the tightening of monetary policy.

In regards to news, China’s central bank looked to boost liquidity for its slowing economy. It was also found that a new virus variant was not fueling a surge in hospitalizations; the U.S.’s adviser on the issue, Anthony Fauci, said there wasn’t “a great degree of severity to omicron.”

That didn’t stop the economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) from cutting their forecasts for U.S. GDP next year; the estimates were revised down on an expectation the omicron strain would drag growth.

Ahead are no important releases on fundamental data.

Graphic updated 6:30 AM ET. Sentiment Neutral if expected /ES open is inside of the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of the following section. Levels may have changed since initially quoted; click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) calculations are based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. SHIFT data used for S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) options activity. Note that options flow is sorted by the call premium spent; if more positive then more was spent on call options. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. VIX reflects a current reading of the CBOE Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) from 0-100.

What To Expect

On weak intraday breadth and divergent market liquidity metrics, the worst outcome occurred; there was an expansion of range, to the downside, and participants spent the majority of the session building value at lower prices (i.e., levels at which 70% of that day’s volume occurred).

The lower bound of Friday’s range was $4,500.00 or so, at which the 50-day SMA corresponded with a large base of resting liquidity. 

To note, the 50-day is visual level at which short-term, technically-driven participants were likely buying in response to probes below developing balance. 

Successfully auctioning beneath the 50-day is a concern. Those short-term participants lack the wherewithal (both emotional and financial) to defend retests.

Continuation lower, in such a case, is likely.

Graphic: Divergent delta (i.e., non-committed selling as measured by volume delta or buying and selling power as calculated by the difference in volume traded at the bid and offer) in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), one of the largest ETFs that track the S&P 500 index, via Bookmap. The readings are supportive of responsive trade (i.e., rotational trade that suggests current prices offer favorable entry and exit; the market is in balance).

Context: The Fed’s intent to moderate stimulus and uncertainty with regards to how a new COVID-19 variant will impact the global recovery.

According to Bloomberg, “the Fed is seen responding to the inflation fears stalking businesses by leaning toward an older playbook of prioritizing the fight against price pressures — even if that risks weaker growth over the longer term.”

In line with the aforementioned, traders already started pricing in potential rate overshoots with the “December 2024 eurodollar yields [rising] above December 2025 contracts, a curve inversion that signals expectations the central bank may consider cutting rates in 2025.”

The result is that the U.S. may realize the swiftest tightening in financial conditions since 2005 if the Fed was to hike rates three times next year.

Graphic: Via Bloomberg, trades price in a rapid increase in the real Fed rate.

This development carries weight; now, more than during the tech-and-telecom bubble, low rates support current valuations.

Graphic: Low rates support current valuations better than the ‘90s, according to Nasdaq.

The reason being? 

“Lower interest rates lead to future cashflow discounting less – leading to higher valuations. From another perspective, a company with a 5% profit margin is a much more attractive investment when long-term borrow costs are less than 2%, as they are now than when it costs 5%-7% to borrow money back in the ‘90s.”

The Fed’s intent to taper faster, and eventually hike rates, just as liquidity conditions have deteriorated, pushed “the orange dot [in the above graphic] toward the right during the year.”

Notwithstanding, “growth in earnings is so far stronger than the multiple compression caused by rising rates (blue line),” and that is helping support this year’s rally.

The intent to moderate stimulus is likely to serve as a headwind; there’s always a possibility of unanticipated policy adjustments, in the face of a resurgent COVID-19 digging further into the economy’s growth.

That’s partially why we saw Goldman Sachs cut their forecasts for GDP. 

Graphic: Via The Market Ear. Goldman Sachs cut its forecast for GDP.

But, for every negative view, there is a positive (either by the same institution or a competitor).

We see JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), among others, doubling down on their bullishness.

“We are calling for another year of positive earnings surprises, relative to current consensus estimates.”

Similarly, the market may shrug off omicron just as it did beta and delta. 

Graphic: Via The Market Ear, the market shrugs off COVID-19 variants with ease.

And, despite the market’s trade in short-gamma (a “negative [gamma] implies the opposite [selling into lows, buying into highs], thus magnifying market volatility”) destabilizing demand for downside protection is concentrated in shorter-dated options. 

Graphic: A roll lower in the VIX term structure brings in supportive flows. Via The Market Ear.

Once that short-dated protection rolls off the table (and/or is monetized), counterparties will quickly reverse and support the market, buying to close their existing stock/futures hedges.

This flow is stabilizing and may play into a seasonally-aligned rally into Christmas as participants see defenses rolled out against the new COVID-19 variant, and the positive effects of pro-cyclical inflation, economic growth, and improvements in global trade.

Such development plays into a thesis held by Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO). 

“The forecast is that the Dow Jones Industrial Average increases this quarter and peaks in early 2022. However, the rest of the contours of the forecast didn’t change. We expect the DJIA to steadily decline throughout 2022, but because it will now peak later than previously thought, the level of the DJIA will be higher at the end of next year and over the near-term forecast.”

Similarly, here are some views by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), compiled by The Market Ear. 

“The Morgan Stanley’s Global Risk Demand Index (GRDI) [fell] to a 10Y low reading of -4.2SD, last Friday (currently -3.SD). Historically, such a level has proved to be a solid buy signal over the next 3m. Other signs that investor sentiment has overshot to the downside include the VIX > 30, a steep put-call skew, and the AAII survey where 42% of respondents are bearish (90th percentile reading). Over the last decade, MSCI ACWI has risen 98% of the time over the next 3m post this signal and by an average of 10%.”

Expectations: As of 6:30 AM ET, Monday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, will likely open in the middle part of a positively skewed overnight inventory, inside of prior-range and -value, suggesting a limited potential for immediate directional opportunity.

Balance-Break Scenarios: A change in the market (i.e., the transition from two-time frame trade, or balance, to one-time frame trade, or trend) may occur.

Monitor for acceptance (i.e., more than 1-hour of trade) outside of the developing balance area. Rejection (i.e., return inside of balance) portends a move to the opposite end of the balance.

In the best case, the S&P 500 trades sideways or higher; activity above the $4,523.00 untested point of control (VPOC) puts in play the $4,551.75 low volume area (LVNode). Initiative trade beyond the LVNode could reach as high as the $4,574.25 high volume area (HVNode) and $4,590.00 balance area high (BAH), or higher.

In the worst case, the S&P 500 trades lower; activity below the $4,523.00 VPOC puts in play the $4,492.25 regular trade low (RTH Low). Initiative trade beyond the RTH Low could reach as low as the $4,471.00 and $4,425.00 VPOC, or lower.

Click here to load today’s updated key levels into the web-based TradingView charting platform. Note that all levels are derived using the 65-minute timeframe. New links are produced, daily.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures. Learn about the profile.

What People Are Saying

Definitions

Volume Areas: A structurally sound market will build on areas of high volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for long periods of time, it will lack sound structure, identified as low volume areas (LVNodes). LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test. 

If participants were to auction and find acceptance into areas of prior low volume (LVNodes), then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to HVNodes for favorable entry or exit.

Liquidation Breaks: The profile shape suggests participants were “too” long and had poor location.

POCs: POCs are valuable as they denote areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.

About

After years of self-education, strategy development, and trial-and-error, Renato Leonard Capelj began trading full-time and founded Physik Invest to detail his methods, research, and performance in the markets.

Additionally, Capelj is a Benzinga finance and technology reporter interviewing the likes of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, JC2 Ventures’ John Chambers, and ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood, as well as a SpotGamma contributor, developing insights around impactful options market dynamics.

Disclaimer

At this time, Physik Invest does not manage outside capital and is not licensed. In no way should the materials herein be construed as advice. Derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. All content is for informational purposes only.

Subscribe