• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Home
  • Daily Diary
  • Asset Class
    • U.S. Equity
    • Fixed Income
    • Global Equity
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
  • Sector
    • Basic Materials
    • Consumer Discretionary
    • Consumer Staples
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Telecom Services
    • Transportation
    • Utilities
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Columnist Conversations
    • Best Ideas
    • Stock of the Day
  • Street Notes
  • Authors
    • Bruce Kamich
    • Doug Kass
    • Jim "Rev Shark" DePorre
    • Helene Meisler
    • Jonathan Heller
    • - See All -
  • Options
  • RMPIA
  • Switch Product
    • Action Alerts PLUS
    • Quant Ratings
    • Real Money
    • Real Money Pro
    • Retirement
    • Stocks Under $10
    • TheStreet
    • Top Stocks
    • Trifecta Stocks
  1. Home
  2. / Investing
  3. / Stocks

MarketAxess Charts Present a Mixed Bag

There are bearish and bullish technical signals from the shares of the fixed-income trading platform.
By BRUCE KAMICH
Apr 06, 2021 | 08:10 AM EDT
Stocks quotes in this article: MKTX

In his first Executive Decision segment of Monday's "Mad Money" program, Jim Cramer spoke with Rick McVey, chairman and CEO of MarketAxess Holdings (MKTX) , a fixed-income trading platform that just saw record trading volumes.

McVey said while many observers thought the beginning of the pandemic last March was the high-water mark for digital bond trading, this March surpassed even those levels and set new records for MarketAxess.

While gross margins at MarketAxess continue to expand, McVey noted that he remains focused on investing in the company's business and growing its market share to maximize returns for shareholders.

Let's check out the charts of MarketAxess to see if they can provide returns.

We looked at MKTX back on April 23, 2020, when we wrote, "Traders could try to go long MKTX near $405, risking a close below $375. The $575-$600 area is our longer-term price objective." Traders should have booked profits as there were several rallies into our target area.

In this updated daily bar chart of MKTX, below, we can see that prices have been making lower highs from November. The slope of the 50-day moving average line is now negative and the slope of the 200-day line is flat or neutral for now. Prices have also been making lower lows from November.

The On-Balance-Volume (OBV) line has me confused. We see a declining OBV line from October to January but then a rising OBV line the past two months. Perhaps MKTX is undergoing a shift in trend. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) oscillator shows a weakening trend from November, but during the month of March this indicator bottomed out and is signaling a cover shorts buy.

In this weekly bar chart of MKTX, below, we see a mixed picture. Prices are in a longer-term uptrend for the past three years but MKTX has slipped below the cresting 40-week moving average line. Prices have eroded since November but are not quite in a downtrend (giving it the benefit of the doubt). The weekly OBV line has been flattish the past year but is showing some slight improvement the past two months. The MACD oscillator is almost at the zero line after months of weakness, but the two moving averages that comprise this indicator have begun to narrow.

In this daily Point and Figure chart of MKTX, below, we see a bearish pattern going back to last October (look for the "A" on the left side of the chart). The software is projecting a potential downside price target in the $360 area. A rally to $540 would probably improve the picture.

In this weekly Point and Figure chart of MKTX, below, the software is projecting the $405 area as a target.

 

Bottom line strategy: I would have to call the charts of MKTX mixed. There are some green shoots on the daily and weekly bar charts but the Point and Figure charts are bearish. The buy-and-hold era of Treasuries since 1981 is probably over and more active trading is probably the future, but I would wait for more bullish evidence on MKTX before going long again.

Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.

Employees of TheStreet are prohibited from trading individual securities.

TAGS: Bonds | Fixed income | Investing | Stocks | Technical Analysis | Trading | Financial Services | Fintech | Software & Services | Technology | Mad Money | Executive Interview | Real Money

More from Stocks

Does the Big Bounce Mean More to Come? Let's See What Drove the Move

James "Rev Shark" DePorre
Jun 24, 2022 4:42 PM EDT

Much of the rally can be attributed to structural reasons, not fundamentals, technicals, or even macro ones.

MongoDB Is Poised for a Rally

Bruce Kamich
Jun 24, 2022 2:15 PM EDT

Here's our initial upside price target for MDB which provides a general purpose database platform.

See That Down the Road? It's the Big 'Green' Bubble, Ready to Pop

Jim Collins
Jun 24, 2022 1:30 PM EDT

Environmental, social, and corporate governance has created a monster and gullible investors should hit the brakes on their EVs and run from the Washington technocrats while they have the chance.

When Times Are Tough, These 3 Mega-Caps Should Deliver the Dividends

Bob Ciura
Jun 24, 2022 1:00 PM EDT

Here's why in recessions and bear markets, the right mega-cap stocks can offer security -- and good yields.

Atlassian Is Now in the Latter Stages of Its Decline

Bruce Kamich
Jun 24, 2022 12:22 PM EDT

Let's check the charts and indicators.

Real Money's message boards are strictly for the open exchange of investment ideas among registered users. Any discussions or subjects off that topic or that do not promote this goal will be removed at the discretion of the site's moderators. Abusive, insensitive or threatening comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please contact us here.

Email

CANCEL
SUBMIT

Email sent

Thank you, your email to has been sent successfully.

DONE

Oops!

We're sorry. There was a problem trying to send your email to .
Please contact customer support to let us know.

DONE

Please Join or Log In to Email Our Authors.

Email Real Money's Wall Street Pros for further analysis and insight

Already a Subscriber? Login

Columnist Conversation

  • 08:55 AM EDT JAMES "REV SHARK" DEPORRE

    This Weekend on Real Money

    The 10 personality traits of successful traders an...
  • 12:08 PM EDT STEPHEN GUILFOYLE

    Stocks Under $10

    As a Portfolio Name Agrees to a Merger, Here's Our...
  • 10:44 AM EDT PAUL PRICE

    My Very Best Pick for the Next 12 Months

    American Woodmark . It rarely gets better than th...
  • See More

COLUMNIST TWEETS

  • A Twitter List by realmoney
About Privacy Terms of Use

© 1996-2022 TheStreet, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10281

Need Help? Contact Customer Service

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data & Company fundamental data provided by FactSet. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions Group.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

FactSet calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

Compare Brokers

Please Join or Log In to manage and receive alerts.

Follow Real Money's Wall Street Pros to receive real-time investing alerts

Already a Subscriber? Login