Why do people use the 200 day moving average?

The real answer is because a lot of charting software packages the past few decades have set it as a default.

But you also hear guys like Paul Tudor Jones talk about how below a 200 day moving average, you get out. In other words, bad things happen below the 200 day.

For me, I have reasons for doing everything. And while I understand that there are more like 252 trading days in a year, not 200, I still believe that if a stock is below its 200 day simple moving average, it's probably not in an uptrend.

This is specifically for my personal definition of an intermediate-term timeframe. I like to look out weeks and months, not years, and certainly not hours or days.

200 days is a good number for me. And while it's not perfect (hint: nothing is) looking at the percentage of stocks above their 200 day has historically given us some great washout signals.

It's a big wide world out there. Luckily for us investors in the U.S., we aren't just limited to trading domestic companies. Often via ADRs, we are able to participate in opportunities in the very best foreign companies and conglomerates.

And right now, there are good opportunities shaping up in if we look overseas at some banking stocks.

Today's idea comes to us from a $71B Indian bank!

There's no denying that we've been erring on the cautious side, even in the face of this recent strength.

While we have seen an expansion in new highs, the majority of coins find themselves right below overhead supply. The same can be said for the major averages, which have bounced nicely into tactical levels of resistance.

The primary trend is still down, and repairs after bear markets like these often take months and quarters, not weeks.

Having said that, we can never be dogmatic in our approach. If we don't account for new data as it comes in, we're no longer doing our job as technical analysts.

We often like to make Monday's letter a little more lengthy and detailed, but this week we're taking the opposite approach.

That is, we're outlining four simple developments that'd make us flip more on the bullish side.

Let's dive in.

The next new trade in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is:

The largest insider buy on today’s list is a Form 4 filing by the president and CEO of TransUnion $TRU, who revealed a purchase of $1.9 million in the credit reporting agency.

The chief commercial officer of First Solar $FSLR reported a purchase of 9,946 shares, worth roughly $1 million in the solar panel manufacturer.

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

Have you noticed that the worst stocks on the planet stopped going down?

Chinese Internet bottomed in March. We're in August.

Cathie Wood's ARKK Fund is making new 3-month highs. Biotech is making new 4-month highs.

And now here comes Software!

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley  

Energy futures are beginning to crack under pressure.

Crude oil and gasoline are breaking down to their lowest levels since February. And heating oil isn’t far behind, as it’s challenging the lower bounds of a similar distribution pattern.

It appears that the bears have finally come for energy.

Since we already laid out our short idea for crude oil futures in a recent post, today, our focus is on the energy sector and the implications these breakdowns carry for energy-related stocks.

Here’s a chart of the Energy Sector ETF $XLE:

When it comes to XLE, 80 is our level. It coincides with a shelf of former highs and an area of overwhelming supply. If it’s below those former highs, the energy sector represents downside risk and opportunity cost.

These are two things we do our best to avoid.

Remember, when we buy stocks, ETFs, or commodities, we prefer to buy high and sell higher. The idea is to buy...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our International Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs. We’ve also sprinkled in some of the largest ADRs from countries that did not make the market cap cut. 

These stocks range from some well-known mega-cap multinationals such as Toyota Motor and Royal Dutch Shell to some large-cap global disruptors such as Sea Ltd and Shopify.

It’s got all the big names and more--but only those that are based outside the US. You can find all the largest US stocks on our original Hall of Famers list.

The beauty of these scans is really in their simplicity.

We take the largest names each week and then apply technical filters in a way that the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Based on the market environment, we can also flip the scan on its head and filter for weakness.

Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the most important stocks from around the world.

Here’s this week’s list:

...

Earlier this week, we got stopped out of Vertex Pharma $VRTX for a manageable loss. It happens. Now today, a vortex is pulling us in the direction of another Vertex -- Vertex Energy $VTNR. Crazy, huh?

In the end, stocks are all just ticker symbols with dollar signs attached to them that convey any kind of meaning to us. But nonetheless, what are the odds?

Weird coincidences aside, we're liking the setup in this energy name so let's get right to it.

This is the video recording of our July 29, 2022, All Star Charts Crypto Weekly Strategy Session.