1. Several readers emailed asking whether I'd continue to look for day timeframe buying opportunities in the iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) in the days ahead, and my response was a resounding "Yes!" While there's no question the trend in small caps is bearish, I like looking for buyers between $107.30 and $108.30, especially considering the ETF has fallen eight days in a row.
As far as scalping patterns I'd find intriguing, initial day timeframe attempts at a higher low or higher highs above the session's volume weighted average price (VWAP) are two ideas at the top of my list.
2. Despite the love for the products of Action Alerts PLUS charity portfolio holding Apple (AAPL), it really is just another stock to me. The chart looks bearish on a short and intermediate timeframe, and barring a close above $120, I see no reason for technically based traders to be buying it.
3. The selling in the energy-related Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) has reached ludicrous speed. Stocks like Energy Transfer Equity (ETE), Williams Partners (WPZ) and ONEOK Partners (OKS) have declined between 20% and 24% in just the last five trading sessions. In fact, virtually every oil and gas pipeline-related stock has shed more than 10% over the past week.
While the trends in all these pipeline stocks range from bearish to horrifically bearish, I cannot emphasize strongly enough how cautious I would be if you're among the fortunate few who've been riding these names on the short side. Though little more than gut feeling, the rubber band feels at about as stretched as I can fathom.
From a technical standpoint, check out the current Relative Strength Index (RSI) reading on the JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMJ). Tuesday's closing reading was near $16.25. Prior occurrences when the RSI fell anywhere near that level were July 1, 2015, Oct. 14, 2014, Nov. 15, 2012 and Aug. 8, 2011. In each situation, one would much rather have been a buyer than seller. This is probably a fantastic area for highly aggressive, short-term traders to be focusing on (long side, that is).
Any trading or volume profile related questions can be posted in the comments section below, emailed to me at parkcityyeti@gmail.com or posted to my twitter feed @ByrneRWS.
