SO MANY BULLISH SETUPS…

Summary:  The primary trend in equities remainsup with seasonality strongly supportive of a rally into the end of the year. SPX put in a new weekly closing high on Friday (not bearish), the data strongly favors a strong run into the end of the year, following last week’s gains. Silver is stretched but has nothing on 1979… And several international indices are setting up for longs, plus more…

***The MO port is up +51% ytd, and we’re not seeing a shortage of great opportunities in this market. If you’d like to join me, the MO team, and our Collective of sharp, supportive investors and traders as we navigate these markets, then click the link below. I look forward to seeing you in the group.***

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1. The SPX index closed at a new all-time weekly high on Friday. Below is the active month (March contract) for the e-mini. It’s knocking on the ceiling of its 3-month range. We should see it punch through to new highs this week (chart is a daily).



    2. @TheMarketStats points out that “Historically, when the S&P gained 1.4% during Christmas week, it was higher one week later in 15 out of 16 cases.”



    3. The number of sectors above their 200-day moving average has jumped by more than 20% since November, and we expect this trend to continue. This supports the risk-on trend, as the indicator tends to fall precipitously before a larger correction.



    4. Trend Fragility (a measure of sentiment and positioning) is elevated but still below levels that trigger a sell signal. Market internals are strong and trending in the right direction, liquidity is flush, and our Trifecta Lens indicator (a composite of everything) is at +1, its highest reading since Oct of 2024.

     

    5. Whether or not AI is in a bubble and if so, what will cause that bubble to pop, are two of the more pressing questions for investors right now, seeing as how index concentration is at record highs.

    @fernavid shared this interesting data point, writing “Spot GPU prices at AWS rising across all GPU vintages for the last few months, all while the “AI-bubble” ‘ hand-wringing reached a fevered pitch. Remember, some bubblers say rental prices should be in permanent decline from oversupply and obsolescence.”

     We at MO believe the AI trade has much further to run.



    6. Precious metals have been a major contributor to our performance this up (up 51% ytd). We continue to hold full positions in both, though we’ve applied a trailing stop for partial profits on each.

    Everyone is talking about how overextended silver is. And indeed, it is. We will see a smashing correction at some point (maybe it begins tomorrow, or another two months, who knows). But… as 1979 shows, the current levels of overboughtness can, well… become a LOT more overbought.



    7. Don’t be one of these guys rushing to jump in front of a steamroller…



    8. Japan’s Nikkei is setting up in a nice compression regime. It’s worked off its Bull Volatile levels and is back to trading firmly in a Bull Quiet. Its monthly chart is a beauty and suggests another strong bull leg is on the way (chart is a daily).



    9. The German DAX index is trading near the upper zone of its 7-month rectangle/compression regime. With four recent consecutive weekly bull bars, we should expect a breakout very soon (chart is a weekly). 



    10. Trump is expected to announce his pick for the new Fed chair sometime in early January (Kalshi has Hassett at 41% and Waller at 34%). The 2yr UST Notes continue to compress in a tight trading range right below the neckline of a 3yr+ inverted H&S bottom. The second chart shows the March contract on the daily. We’re interested in playing the longside on a breakout from this range.



    11. We were one of the few shops pounding the table on the long commodities back in the Summer, as we regularly pointed out the major compression regime along with our leads pointing to rebounding global growth. Well, that thesis continues to play out to the T. BCI has put in five consecutive monthly bull bars, which is a strong bullish thrust out from its 2 ½ year H&S bottom.

    This trade is only getting started, and we expect it to take out its 22’ highs before 2026 is over (chart is a monthly).



    12. We were early to the Rare Earth trade (REMX). And while we’ve traded in and out of the position, it looks like REMX is taking off on another leg after consolidating for the past three months. We’ll likely add to our long this week.

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    Thanks for reading.

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    Brandon Beylo

    Value Investor

    Brandon has been a professional investor focusing on value for over 13 years, spending his time in small to micro-cap companies, spin-offs, SPACs, and deep value liquidation situations. Over time, he’s developed a deeper understanding for what deep-value investing actually means, and refined his philosophy to include any business trading at a wild discount to what he thinks its worth in 3-5 years.

    Brandon has a tenacious passion for investing, broad-based learning, and business. He previously worked for several leading investment firms before joining the team at Macro Ops. He lives by the famous Munger mantra of trying to get a little smarter each day.

    AK

    Investing & Personal Finance

    AK is the founder of Macro Ops and the host of Fallible.

    He started out in corporate economics for a Fortune 50 company before moving to a long/short equity investment firm.

    With Macro Ops focused primarily on institutional clients, AK moved to servicing new investors just starting their journey. He takes the professional research and education produced at Macro Ops and breaks it down for beginners. The goal is to help clients find the best solution for their investing needs through effective education.

    Tyler Kling

    Volatility & Options Trader

    Former trade desk manager at $100+ million family office where he oversaw multiple traders and helped develop cutting edge quantitative strategies in the derivatives market.

    He worked as a consultant to the family office’s in-house fund of funds in the areas of portfolio manager evaluation and capital allocation.

    Certified in Quantitative Finance from the Fitch Learning Center in London, England where he studied under famous quants such as Paul Wilmott.

    Alex Barrow

    Macro Trader

    Founder and head macro trader at Macro Ops. Alex joined the US Marine Corps on his 18th birthday just one month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He subsequently spent a decade in the military. Serving in various capacities from scout sniper to interrogator and counterintelligence specialist. Following his military service, he worked as a contract intelligence professional for a number of US agencies (from the DIA to FBI) with a focus on counterintelligence and terrorist financing. He also spent time consulting for a tech company that specialized in building analytic software for finance and intelligence analysis.

    After leaving the field of intelligence he went to work at a global macro hedge fund. He’s been professionally involved in markets since 2005, has consulted with a number of the leading names in the hedge fund space, and now manages his own family office while running Macro Ops. He’s published over 300 white papers on complex financial and macroeconomic topics, writes regularly about investment/market trends, and frequently speaks at conferences on trading and investing.

    Macro Ops is a market research firm geared toward professional and experienced retail traders and investors. Macro Ops’ research has been featured in Forbes, Marketwatch, Business Insider, and Real Vision as well as a number of other leading publications.

    You can find out more about Alex on his LinkedIn account here and also find him on Twitter where he frequently shares his market research.