From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The Minor Leaguers.

We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.

For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.

That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.

We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.

Nowadays, to make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.

And it doesn't have to be a Russell component — it can be any US-listed equity. With participation expanding around the globe, we want all those ADRs in our universe.

The same price and liquidity filters are applied. Then, as always, we sort by proximity to new...

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolling ARKK to August options.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

Every bull market has its squeezers — those pockets where certain stocks rip and shorts get absolutely smoked.

It’s all part of the game when traders are willing to take on risk.

Look at areas like quantum tech, new nuclear, or lately, space stocks.

These groups are prime spots where squeezes are either brewing or already in motion.

Over the past couple weeks, names in the Procure Space ETF $UFO have been catching our attention.

Here’s a cool visual we put together to break it down:

Names like $RKLB, $PL, $RDW, and $ASTS are standing out as leaders — showing strong relative strength and momentum as they distance themselves from the pack.

We’re seeing these show up in our Freshly Squeezed scan too — one of our favorite weekly reports.

This scan hunts for names with the right fuel and the right spark for explosive upside:

• High short interest...

Short sellers are under pressure, and it’s starting to show.

They’ve been caught leaning the wrong way and are scrambling to unwind their bets.

That’s when we like to step in with our Freshly Squeezed strategy, right as the squeeze begins.

Here's our latest scan: 

As you can see, Phathom Pharma $PHAT, Tango Thera. $TNGX and AST SpaceMobile $ASTS are at the top of the leaderboard. 

Over the last 10 trading sessions, they've rallied 150.4%, 111.3%, and 66.3%, respectively.

The squeeze in Sezzle $SEZL is continuing to unfold. The stock is up nearly 60% since we bought it last month.

We also have tables sorted by short interest and days-to-cover.

Now let’s break down today’s setup and...

Welcome back for another Top Down Trade of the Week. 

This one’s a classic leadership scan.

We start with the best sectors, then drill into the subgroups. We pick one, and then take a look at the top stocks in it. 

This week, Energy is the big standout—jumping to the top of our sector rankings. 

Healthcare and utilities also made a big move up on the leaderboard as growth sectors faltered. 

Here is a look at our overall industry rankings, which shows oil & gas cracking into the top 10.

It’s not a surprise to see it there—crude oil has been squeezing higher, posting its best week since October 2022.

That kind of price action tends to light a fire under energy stocks, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing.

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.

Crude oil just ripped higher with its biggest 3-day rally since March 2022.

And the timing couldn’t be more interesting.

The energy trade looked like it was unraveling.

But the bulls are stepping in and repairing the damage.

Valid tops have turned into "not tops" and bear traps.

This burst of upside momentum comes right as crude is bouncing off a major support zone, both in absolute terms and relative to the broader market. 

Energy stocks have been under pressure for months, but this looks like a potential turning point.

Not only is the price action improving, but positioning is also offside. 

Short interest in the Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF $XOP just hit its highest level in years.

A lot of the individual stocks have the highest short interest ever.

The unwind could fuel a powerful move higher across...

Let’s get one thing straight… I’m not some sort of defense industry perma bull.

Trust me, those people exist.

They hang out in the same circles as the ‘end-of-days’ folks, national debt doomers, and gold bugs.

It’s just not for me. I’m an optimist.

However, I’m also a good old-fashioned trend follower.

And these stocks have taken on a new leadership role, so we’ve been buying them. Here is Aerospace & Defense relative to the S&P 500:

This base breakout is in the books, and the path of least resistance is now higher for this ratio. All that means is expect more outperformance from these stocks over longer timeframes.

But I’m most interested in making money right now. This week, this month, this quarter.

And as I flipped through the A&D components today, there was one chart that I just...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 150 largest US-based stocks.

These stocks range from the mega-cap growth behemoths like Apple and Microsoft – with market caps in excess of $2T – to some of the new-age large-cap disruptors such as Moderna, Square, and Snap.

It has all the big names and more.

It doesn’t include ADRs or any stock not domiciled in the US. But don’t worry; we developed a separate universe for that. Click here to check it out.

The Hall of Famers is simple.

We take our list of 150 names and then apply our technical filters so the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Let’s dive right in and check out what these big boys are up to.

Here’s this week’s list:

*Click table to enlarge view

We filter out any laggards that are down -5% or more relative to the S&P 500 over the trailing month.

Then, we...

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. No new positions today.
2. Adjustment to USO position.
3. Closed KRE for profit.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

“Look kid, if you hear the missiles are flying, you buy them. You don’t sell them.”

— Art Cashin, Wall Street legend.

No doom and gloom here. That’s not our style.

We don’t get caught up in hot headlines or silly narratives. We follow trends — regardless of what’s going on in the world. 

And right now, one of the clearest, most durable trends on the tape is in Aerospace & Defense.

And maybe it’s because of this war here, or the geopolitical issues there. Or maybe it’s just because industrials are the leaders and this is a bull market.

Here’s the thing… There will always be wars, and fear will always have a significant impact on human behavior. 

I can tell you we’re buying these stocks because of some headlines out of Russia… but that wouldn’t be the truth. 

We’re...