Oil update

We will go on to discuss oil (/CL) but let's start with the general market (/ES / SPX) update briefly. In our previous post, we mentioned that we were surprised to see market tank down 2% yesterday morning. Because the market internals were poised for sideways/ bullish posture.  Well, we were positioned short; we still are positioned short (ST/ IT/ LT) with trimmed positions. 

Our outlook for 1-3 days (VST) was neutral/ bullish. The futures market (/ES) is up ~ 1% as of now. For the next 1 - 3 days, we remain neutral. We would not be surprised if we see /ES ~ 1980 one more time before driving south. 

But, we remain flexible as always. Opinions do change with the market changes.

VST - Neutral

ST/ IT/ LT - Bearish

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Previous oil update here (please see chart in this post)

This is where we stand today (chart below): 

/CL rallied ~ 28% bottom to top. We do not have positions in /CL = none. But, based on our trading methodology, we would have taken 50% off the position on a good rally like that one. And ride the rest with the house's money.

The chart was obviously aimed at IT/ LT traders but if you score 25% profit in 3 days, would you say no? :) 

Anyways, the outlook for oil is

VST/ ST - neutral = get stopped out while you are still profitable

IT/ LT - Bearish ( we don't see any change in the outlook even after the rally) until next turn

GLTA!

Market update

Previous market update here

Before the market update, based on the question from a reader, we have a post for crude oil. Chart below. 

If you already are short, right now it is hold. Close the short position on a close above /CL = $43.

If you have no position, then open a long position when the /CL bounces in the rectangle. 

What instrument do you use to trade crude oil? ETFs are the way to go. Unfortunately, there is no "best" ETF as a direct play to crude oil. See chart below, while crude oil is down 54% YoY, other ETFs are down much more. USO is an ETF, OIL is an ETN; UCO and UWTI are leveraged plays for /CL. The best of the worst is USO though. 

Now, let us discuss the market update. We flipped the sell to a buy on ST and the market went down 0.8% on the reading. Yesterday was a FOMC day. Nothing significant comes out of FOMC on most days, except once in a while. Yet the market swings a lot. That is never our problem, anyways. We have our own instruments, our own indicators to tackle all that noise. 

No change in market update, we have a 2% stop on the ST.

GLTA!