Your WinWayCharts includes the AIQ Market Timing AI rating system. In this short video we’ll discuss the last 4 AI ratings on the Dow Jones Industrial average and examine the rules that fired to generate these signals.
AIQ TradingExpert Pro is programmed with the knowledge and insight of respected technical analysts, experts who have developed technical analysis indicators and systems for the last 50 years. The up/down timing signals issued by TradingExpert Pro are based on this knowledge. Since TradingExpert Pro’s timing signals are generated on a scientific basis, free of bias or emotion, you get a disciplined, objective approach to stock market timing.
The timing signals produced by the AIQ expert system are in the form of Expert Ratings. Behind each Expert Rating is a set of rules that combine the sound principles of technical analysis with the experience of market professionals. Since no single technical indicator works all the time, using indicators in combination increases their reliability. For example, a rule is developed that combines the readings of two or more indicators. This
rule is then more reliable than the reading of a single indicator. Within TradingExpert Pro are two knowledge bases, one specifically designed to issue market timing signals and the other designed to issue stock timing signals. Each TradingExpert Pro knowledge base contains approximately 400 rules, but only a few “fire” on any given day.
In the language of expert systems, those rules that are found to be valid on a particular day are described as having “fired”. Rules can fire in opposite directions. When this happens, the bullish and bearish rules fight it out. It’s only when bullish rules dominate that the Expert Rating signal is bullish, or when bearish rules dominate that the Expert Rating signal is bearish.
December 20, 2021 we published this seasonality article on the Santa Claus rally https://winwaycharts.com/wordpress/tis-the-season-to-be-cautious/ In a nutshell we looked at the last 5 trading days of the year and the first 2 trading days of the next year. We looked back over the last 7 years to see if the rally holds up.
The Dow clearly did show an average rally of over 1% during those 7 trading days.
So how did things go this Santa Claus rally?
Here’s the DIA the ETF that follows the Dow during the 7 day Santa Claus rally. It made a nice gain of 2.9%. 2 days later things turned down.
This time of year you might expect us to be thinking about the Santa Claus rally, but after the beating we’ve had the last few days, lets check and see how effective this really is.
What Is a Santa Claus Rally?
I lifted this description from Investopedia
A Santa Claus rally describes a sustained increase in the stock market that occurs in the last week of December through the first two trading days in January. There are numerous explanations for the causes of a Santa Claus rally including tax considerations, a general feeling of optimism and happiness on Wall Street, and the investing of holiday bonuses. Another theory is that some very large institutional investors, a number of which are more sophisticated and pessimistic, tend to go on vacation at this time, leaving the market to retail investors, who tend to be more bullish.
To test this in Expert Design Studio, I used the Seasonality3 ED built-in strategy. I set the Season Length days to 7 days to encompass the last 5 trading days of December and the first 2 days in the New Year.
By setting the date to 1/4/21, the rule looks back 7 trading days from January 4th, each of the last 7 years and gives us an approximate percentage return for each of those 7 days.
Some years with weekends and extra holiday days plus 252 is used as default trading days skew results a small amount. To compensate I also tested 10 trading days back from January 7. The results from the 7 days are below, I tested all the indices in my current database.
INDU is highlighted, this is the Dow 30 index. First it’s clear that in every year except for one, over the last 7 years the Dow has made gains in the Santa Claus period. The average gain Is over 1%. Not too bad for a 7 day trading period. BTW the results from the 10 days from January 7 were similar.
The NASDAQ on the contrary had 3 losing years out of the 7.
So next I decided to look at what ETFs are most likely to have a Santa Claus rally. Here’s the results using the 7 trading days back from Jan 4. This is the ETFs that had gains every year for the last 7.
The first 3 ETFS are all Gold related, the next two are real estate/REITs the last one is a bond fund. Hmm something to keep in mind.
Here’s GLD seasonal charts the right hand side of each year shows the Santa Claus rally clearly. The White line is the average of all 7 years.
Clearly no guarantees what will happen this year, but something to keep in mind.
Happy Holidays or not given how the Markets tumbled the day US Thanksgiving. BTW, it was also the last full week of November.
Time for me to run my WinWayCharts seasonal filter on my top 2500 stocks
The filter is highly configurable and I can select which period of time, looking back from a given date to find a consistent price move up or down. I’m looking for it to repeat every year going back 7 + years.
I first came across the concept of seasonal consistency through Jay Keppel’s work JayOnTheMarkets.com and his books on Seasonal Stock Market trends. Many of you will have heard of the classic seasonal patterns like ‘Go Away in May’ or “the Santa Claus rally’. My WinWayCharts seasonal screener can find these type of events in individual stocks. Events that happen every year at the same time.
Here’s how the WinWayCharts Seasonal Screener works
How long do you usually hold a trade? I like to hold a trade for a month or less, that’s about 22 trading days.. So, I have cash available to invest Monday November 29th. All I need do is pick a date one month from that date and look for stocks that consistently made a profit over those 22 trading days, long or short, every single year going back the last 7 years. You can look back further but 7 seems to be pretty good consistency to me.
It’s that Simple
November 29th to December 29th, there were a handful of long stocks with seasonal patterns and the same on the short side. I liked the short side given the current market.
All these stocks lost money in every December for the last 7 years
I highlighted GRMN and TTEK as both on average lost over 4% in December for last 7 years.
Here’s a WinWayCharts 7 year seasonal chart of TTEK the white line is the averageHere’s a WinWayCharts 7 year seasonal chart of GRMN the white line is the average
Want to go long?
While there were no candidates in my US stocks, there were 3 UK stocks showed up. BRW-LON averaged 9.61% in December over 7 years. That’s impressive.
Here’s an WinWayCharts 7 year seasonal chart of BRW-LON the white line is the average
Next time I’m going to start to look at the major markets in specific periods and see if we can identify seasonal patterns that are hidden under the radar of everyday noise.
How can I run a WinWayCharts Seasonal scan?
First download the scan from our server click here
Locate the file Seasonal 3 RD.EDS likely in your /download folder and move it to your /wintes32/EDS Strategies folder
Open WinWayCharts EDS from the Main Menu
Click File, Open and locate the /wintes32/EDS Strategies/Seasonal 3 RD.EDS file
The file is set for seasonal length of 22 days but you can change this to whatever length you wish
Remember the date you run the report, like in the example above is 12/31/2020, it looks back in this case 22 days, then it checks 12/31/2019 and looks back 22 days etc. There would be no point it setting the date to run the report to the current date as it would look back 22 days, and you’d have missed the seasonal candidate stocks move.
The EDS code based on Vitali Apirine’s article in the March issue of Stocks & Commodities magazine “Rate Of Change With Bands,” can be obtained by copying the below into a new WinWayCharts EDS file, saving the file and adding EDS custom indicators on your Charts
!Rate Of Change With Bands
!Author: Vitali Aprine, TASC Mar 2021
!Coded by: Rich Denning, 01/11/2021
!INPUTS:
rocLen is 12.
emaLen is 3.
smaLen is 12.
C is [close].
ROC is (C - valresult(C,rocLen)) / valresult(C,rocLen)*100.
smaSqr is simpleavg(ROC*ROC,smaLen).
ROCdev is sqrt(smaSqr).
emaROC is expavg(ROC,emaLen).
upROCB is ROCdev.
dnROCB is - ROCdev.
Code for the ROCB indicator is set up in the EDScode file. Figure 10 shows the indicators on a chart of Apple Inc. (AAPL). The red line in the first panel is the upper ROC band and the green line is the smoothed ROC. In the lower panel, the red line is the lower ROC band and the green line is the smoothed ROC.
FIGURE 10: The ROCB indicators are shown on a chart of Apple Inc. (AAPL). The red line in the first panel is the upper ROC band and the green line is the smoothed ROC. In the lower panel, the red line is the lower ROC band and the green line is the smoothed ROC.
The importable EDS file based on Markos Katsanos’ article in the April issue of Stocks & Commodities, “Detecting High-Volume Breakouts,” can be obtained on request via email to info@TradersEdgeSystems.com.
Excerpt “Is there anything more satisfying for a trader than capturing a huge breakout? The usual practice for breakout entries is to simply buy new highs. This method, when used in isolation, will often result in false breakouts. It is, therefore, better to wait for volume confirmation before entering the trade, as high-volume breakouts usually last much longer. In this article, I will show you how to detect breakouts using only volume, sometimes even before price breaks out, by introducing a new volume breakout indicator. “
The code is also available here:
!Detecting High-Volume Breakouts !Author: Markos Katsanos, TASC April 2021
!Coded by: Richard Denning, 02/18/2021
!INPUTS:
period is 30.
smoLen is 3.
vpnCrit is 10.
maLen is 30.
V is [volume].
!FORMULAS:
MAVol is simpleavg(V,period).
MAV is iff(MAVol>0,MAVol,1).
Avg is ([High]+[Low]+[Close])/3.
MF is Avg - valresult(Avg,1).
ATR is simpleavg(max( [high]-[low],max(val([close],1)-[low],[high]-val([close],1))),period).
MC is 0.1*ATR.
VMP is iff(MF > MC, V, 0).
VP is sum(VMP,period).
VMN is iff(MF < -MC, V, 0).
VN is sum(VMN,period). EDSPN is (expavg(((VP - VN) / MAV / period),smoLen))*100.
MAVPN is simpleavg(VPN,maLen).
Code for the VPN indicator is set up in the EDS code file. Figure 9 shows the indicator on a chart of Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA).
FIGURE 9: AIQ. The VPN indicator is shown on a chart of Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA).
With the price of the Dow Jones 30 (ticker INDU) in your WinWayCharts reaching beyond 32760, your Market Chart may be experiencing a spike in Charts. A new updated file for INDU is now available for you at www.aiqsystems.com/INDU.dta
Close all open WinWayCharts programs. Click the link above and Save INDU.dta to c:\wintes32\tdata, say yes when asked to overwrite. Once done, open Data Manager, click on Utilities, Rebuild Master Ticker List.
OK, for the record, I have stood in enough long lines next to impossibly sweaty people (Full Disclosure: They likely feel the same way about me) to know that all of the talk of “Disney” and “Magic” is strictly for marketing consumption. That being said – and despite the fact that you cannot attend the flagship property in sunny CA, and likely will not be able to for some time – there is something about “going to Disney” that still strikes a chord with a whole lot of people.
Of course, my interest here is more financial in nature.
Now the “rational” thing to do in the minds of most investors is to ask and answer some serious questions regarding “theme park attendance.” in the age of COVID-19. Questions like “will attendance pick up anytime soon” and “will DIS continue to be an economic powerhouse if attendance does not return to pre-Covid levels?”
Here is a link to a factual, well-researched and well-written article noting that Disney World attendance as of 8/21/20, attendance was down 80% from a year earlier. Scary stuff, right? And the snap implication is fairly obvious – theme parks are suffering and may continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
But as I mentioned, my interest is more financial in nature. And I tend to look at things from a slightly different angle than a lot of other people. Part of that is because I have come to recognize that (like a lot of other people, but sadly unbeknownst to a lot of those same people) I (and they) am not very good at accurately answering “questions about the future”, such as those posed above about theme parks.
I read that theme park attendance is “down 80%” and instantly that voice in my head loudly issues that age-old “DANGER! WARNING WILL ROBINSON” alert and I feel the urge to scurry off in the other direction. But fortunately, I have gotten pretty good at not overreacting to that initial warning and coming back for a second glance.
Consider Figure 1. The date marked by the vertical line is August 21, 2020, i.e., the day that the news came out that “Disney World attendance is down 80%, that heavy discounting going on, that Disney stock is down for the year and that it is lagging the major stock indexes.”
Since that “DANGER! WARNING WILL ROBNINSON” moment, DIS is up +34% in 4 months, versus +9% for the S&P 500 Index (FYI, DIS is now up 18% for 2020 vs. 14%+ for the S&P 500).
Are the financial markets a perverse beast, or WHAT!?
The “Real Magic” of Disney Stock
So, what the heck happened to make DIS stock burst higher even in the face of seemingly very bad fundamental news? Well, long story short, October 1st happened. Wait, what? October 1st? Surely it can’t be that simple!?
Here’s the thing: it probably should not be that simple. And there is absolutely no guarantee that it will continue to be that simple. But for the past roughly 6 decades…. it has been just about that simple. Consider Figure 2.
Figure 2 displays the cumulative % gain for DIS stock held ONLY from October 1st each year through the end of May the following year, every year since 1962.
Figure 2 – DIS % +(-) during October through May (logarithmic scale)
An initial $1,000 investment in DIS stock held only October through May starting in 1962 is worth $108,512,237 as of 12/18/2020, or a gain of +10,851,124%.
Figure 3 displays the cumulative % gain for DIS stock held ONLY from June 1st each year through the end of September that same year, every year since 1962.
Figure 3 – DIS % +(-) during June through September (non-logarithmic scale)
An initial $1,000 investment in DIS stock held only June through September starting in 1962 is worth $44.86 as of 12/18/2020, or a loss of -95.5%.
The Upshot
Many investors will ask the obvious question of “Why does this work?” And the most succinct answer I can proffer is “It beats me.” Obviously, many investors will not be satisfied with that answer. And that is perfectly OK by me. As a proud graduate of “The School of Whatever Works” I tend to value “consistency” more than I do cause and effect. Not everyone is wired that way and that’s OK.
Speaking of consistency, for what it is worth Figure 4 displays decade-by-decade results for the Oct-May period versus the Jun-Sep period.
Figure 4 – DIS decade-by-decade
The key things to note are that:
*The Oct-May period showed a pretty substantial gain during each of the 6 previous decades.
*The Jun-Sep period showed a gain during the 60’s but lost money in every subsequent decade
(Note 2020 results through 12/18 are included in the table but are not a part of the commentary above).
Summary
Clearly the Oct-May period has been pretty “magical” for DIS stock investors for a long time. Will this continue to be the case in the future? Ah, there’s the rub. And as always, I must repeat once again my stock answer of “It beat’s me.”
But the real point is that in the long run investment success has a lot to do with finding and “edge” and exploiting it repeatedly. Or as I like to say:
“Opportunity is where you find it.”
Jay Kaeppel
Disclaimer: The information, opinions and ideas expressed herein are for informational and educational purposes only and are based on research conducted and presented solely by the author. The information presented represents the views of the author only and does not constitute a complete description of any investment service. In addition, nothing presented herein should be construed as investment advice, as an advertisement or offering of investment advisory services, or as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. The data presented herein were obtained from various third-party sources. While the data is believed to be reliable, no representation is made as to, and no responsibility, warranty or liability is accepted for the accuracy or completeness of such information. International investments are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, political instability and the potential for illiquid markets. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. There is risk of loss in all trading. Back tested performance does not represent actual performance and should not be interpreted as an indication of such performance. Also, back tested performance results have certain inherent limitations and differs from actual performance because it is achieved with the benefit of hindsight.
In many ways the markets imitate life. For example, the trend is your friend. You may enjoy your friendship with the trend for an indefinite length of time. But the moment you ignore it – or just simply take it for granted that this friendship is permanent, with no additional effort required on your part – that’s when the trouble starts.
For the stock market right now, the bullish trend is our friend. Figure 1 displays the 4 major indexes all above their respective – and rising – long-term moving averages. This is essentially the definition of a “bull market.”
In addition, a number of indicators that I follow have given bullish signals in the last 1 to 8 months. These often remain bullish for up to a year. So, for the record, with my trusted trend-following, oversold/thrust and seasonal indicators mostly all bullish I really have no choice but to be in the bullish camp.
Not that I am complaining mind you. But like everyone else, I try to keep my eyes open for potential signs of trouble. And of course, there are always some. One of the keys to long-term success in the stock market is determining when is the proper time to actually pay attention to the “scary stuff.” Because scary stuff can be way early or in other cases can turn out to be not that scary at all when you look a little closer.
So, let’s take a closer look at some of the scary stuff.
Valuations
Figure 2 displays an aggregate model of four separate measures of valuation. The intent is to gain some perspective as to whether stocks are overvalued, undervalued or somewhere in between.
Clearly the stock market is “overvalued” if looked at from a historical perspective. The only two higher readings preceded the tops in 1929 (the Dow subsequently lost -89% of its value during the Great Depression) and 2000 (the Nasdaq 100 subsequently lost -83% of its value).
Does this one matter? Absolutely. But here is what you need to know:
*Valuation IS NOT a timing indicator. Since breaking out to a new high in 1995 the stock market has spent most of the past 25 years in “overvalued” territory. During this time the Dow Industrials have increased 700%. So, the proper response at the first sign of overvaluation should NOT be “SELL.”
*However, ultimately valuation DOES matter.
Which leads directly to:
Jay’s Trading Maxim #44: If you are walking down the street and you trip and fall that’s one thing. If you are climbing a mountain and you trip and fall that is something else. And if you are gazing at the stars and don’t even realize that you are climbing a mountain and trip and fall – the only applicable phrase is “Look Out Below”.
So, the proper response is this: instead of walking along and staring at the stars, keep a close eye on the terrain directly in front of you. And watch out for cliffs.
Top 5 companies as a % of S&P 500 Index
At times through history certain stocks or groups of stocks catch “lightning in a bottle.” And when they do the advances are spectacular, enriching anyone who gets on board – unless they happen to get on board too late. Figure 3 displays the percentage of the S&P 500 Index market capitalization made up by JUST the 5 largest cap companies in the index at any given point in time.
Figure 3 – Top 5 stocks as a % of S&P 500 Index market cap (Courtesy: www.Bloomberg.com)
The anecdotal suggestion is pretty obvious. Following the market peak in 2000, the five stocks listed each took a pretty significant whack as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4 – Top Stocks after the 2000 Peak
Then when we look at how far the line in Figure 3 has soared in 2020 the obvious inference is that the 5 stocks listed for 2020 are due to take a similar hit. And here is where it gets interesting. Are MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL and FB due to lose a significant portion of their value in the years directly ahead?
Two thoughts:
*There is no way to know for sure until it happens
*That being said, my own personal option is “yes, of course they are”
But here is where the rubber meets the road: Am I presently playing the bearish side of these stocks? Nope. The trend is still bullish. Conversely, am I keeping a close eye and am I willing to play the bearish side of these stocks? Yup. But not until they – and the overall market – actually starts showing some actual cracks.
One Perspective on AAPL
Apple has been a dominant company for many years, since its inception really. Will it continue to be? I certainly would not bet against the ability of the company to innovate and grow its earnings and sales in the years ahead. Still timing – as they say – is everything. For what it is worth, Figure 5 displays the price-to-book value ratio for AAPL since January 1990.
Figure 5 – AAPL price-to-book value ratio (Data courtesy of Sentimentrader.com)
Anything jump out at you?
Now one can argue pretty compellingly that price-to-book value is not the way to value a leading technology company. And I probably agree – to a point. But I can’t help but look at Figure 5 and wonder if that point has possibly been exceeded.
Summary
Nothing in this piece is meant to make you “bearish” or feel compelled to sell stocks. For the record, I am still in the bullish camp. But while this information DOES NOT constitute a “call to action”, IT DOES constitute a “call to pay close attention.”
Bottom line: enjoy the bull market but DO NOT fall in love with it.
Jay Kaeppel
Disclaimer: The information, opinions and ideas expressed herein are for informational and educational purposes only and are based on research conducted and presented solely by the author. The information presented represents the views of the author only and does not constitute a complete description of any investment service. In addition, nothing presented herein should be construed as investment advice, as an advertisement or offering of investment advisory services, or as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. The data presented herein were obtained from various third-party sources. While the data is believed to be reliable, no representation is made as to, and no responsibility, warranty or liability is accepted for the accuracy or completeness of such information. International investments are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, political instability and the potential for illiquid markets. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. There is risk of loss in all trading. Back tested performance does not represent actual performance and should not be interpreted as an indication of such performance. Also, back tested performance results have certain inherent limitations and differs from actual performance because it is achieved with the benefit of hindsight.
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