Tag Archives for " trader sentiment "
Weekly Sentiment Update: The Bears Are Growling, But No One’s Listening
Permabulls always say everyone’s bearish. And permabears always say everyone’s bullish. But let’s look at the actual numbers to see how the crowd actually feels. Last week, bears started sneaking out of their caves just in time for Spring. And with the bulls continuing to hold steady in the face of doubt, let’s see if anything’s changed. 1) VIX Spread – Bullish The VIX spiked to 15 early Monday, but it’s back down under 12. That has the 3-month VIX spread is at +2.69 which indicates that traders are moderately bullish. 2) CNN Fear & Greed Index – Bearish The Fear & Greed Index is at 34, up slightly from 30 last week. F&G operates on a 1-100 scale, and a reading of 34 means traders are bearish. 3) AAII Sentiment – Bearish The latest AAII Sentiment Survey shows that 30.2% of individual investors are bullish, down from 35.3% last week. This is well below the long-term average of 38.5%. 4) CBOE Equity Put-Call – Bearish The CBOE Equity-Put Call ratio was at 0.64 yesterday with a 3-day moving average is 0.67. This is indicates that traders are slightly bearish. 5) ISE Sentiment – Bearish The ISE Sentiment Index is at 83 (83 calls bought for every 100). The 10 day moving average is just 90. This indicates that demand for put options continues to outstrip that for calls. However, I am strongly considering dumping ISE Sentiment from this weekly update simply because it’s almost always reading bearish no matter what happens in the market. I may replace it with the CBOE Skew Index, which measures how much traders are paying for protection against tail risk. Conclusion Out of 5 sentiment indicators, we have: 1 bullish 4 bearish 0 neutral This shows even more bearishness than last week. So while the bears are pushing an age-old theme — everyone’s complacent — I’m getting the feeling that traders are waiting for another shoe to drop, even though we’ve seen improvement in the action below the surface. Yesterday, the Nasdaq and Russell showed relative strength, and on Tuesday, we saw great upward action in the banks. So while some of the so-called “Trump Trade” has unwound itself, the bears’ growing isn’t adding up to much. But there’s an important question to ask here: how can sentiment be bearish if the SPX is 2% from all-time highs? We’ve seen this over and over throughout the bull market — markets hovering near record highs, but sentiment reading negative. My guess is that there’s inherent distrust in the market, and traders are eager to turn bearish on even small declines. And those that are buying often appear to be doing so reluctantly. It’s more of a “I might as well buy” attitude than “I’m buying because we’re going straight to SPX 3000.” And that’s a big difference from the last two bull markets.
Continue Reading -->Weekly Sentiment Update: Back to Neutral That Fast?
Permabulls always say everyone’s bearish. And permabears always say everyone’s bullish. But let’s look at the actual numbers to see how the crowd actually feels. Last week, we saw sentiment climb to frothy territory. Now, let’s see if anything’s changed now that we’re seeing some signs of deterioration, most notably the relative weakness in the Russell 2000. 1) VIX Spread – Bullish The 3-month VIX spread is at +3.96, which indicates traders are still not concerned with volatility. This is a bullish reading. 2) CNN Fear & Greed Index – Bullish The Fear & Greed Index is at 66, down from 81 last week. F&G operates on a 1-100 scale, and 66 indicates moderate greed. 3) AAII Sentiment – Bearish The latest AAII Sentiment Survey shows that 30.0% of individual investors are bullish, which is well below the long-term average of 38.5%. It’s also slightly down from last week, which is a surprise to me. Bullish AAII Sentiment has been below the long-term average for 7 of the past 8 weeks. 4) CBOE Equity Put-Call – Neutral The CBOE Equity-Put Call ratio was at 0.72 yesterday, which is a 2 week high. The 3-day moving average is 0.63. This is basically neutral. 5) ISE Sentiment – Neutral The ISE Sentiment Index is currently at 112 (112 calls for every 100 puts) at yesterday’s close, which is a bullish reading. And the 10-day moving average is 84.1. Even though the 10-day moving average indicates high demand for puts relative to calls, I’ll call this neutral because it’s moved up quite a bit, and for the past year or so, the number seems to be perpetually low. In fact, I may have to boot it from these Weekly Sentiment Updates. Conclusion Out of 5 sentiment indicators, we have 2 bullish, 2 neutral, and 2 bearish. So after two weeks of undeniably bullish readings, traders are back in neutral territory. It’s not exciting… but it’s the truth.
Continue Reading -->Weekly Sentiment Update: Bulls Are on Parade and Froth Is Setting In
Permabulls always say everyone’s bearish. And permabears always say everyone’s bullish. But let’s look at the actual numbers to see how the crowd actually feels. Last week, we saw sentiment climb to undeniably bullish territory. Now, let’s see if anything’s changed following the market’s HUGE bull move off President Trump’s address to Congress. 1) VIX Spread – Bullish The 3-month VIX spread is at +3.88, which indicates traders are still not concerned with volatility. This is a bullish reading. 2) CNN Fear & Greed Index – Bullish The Fear & Greed Index is at 81, up from 75 last week. F&G operates on a 1-100 scale, and 81 is in extreme greed territory. 3) AAII Sentiment – Neutral The latest AAII Sentiment Survey shows that 37.9% of individual investors are bullish, which is right in-line with the long-term average of 38.5%. It’s also slightly down from last week, which is a surprise to me. This is Neutral. 4) CBOE Equity Put-Call – Bullish The CBOE Equity-Put Call ratio is at 0.51, which is near 3-month lows. There is a whiff of panic buying here. The 3-day moving average of 0.62. This indicates higher-than-average bullishness. 5) ISE Sentiment – Neutral The ISE Sentiment Index was 119 (92 calls for every 100 puts) at yesterday’s close, which is a bullish reading. And the 10-day moving average is 84.9. Even though the 10-day moving average indicates higher recent demand for puts, I’ll call this neutral because that moving average has moved up quite a bit, and the 119 reading is the highest we’ve seen since early December. Conclusion Out of 5 sentiment indicators, we have 3 bullish, 2 neutral, and 0 bearish. As I said last week, the ISE Sentiment Index seems to always read bearish no matter what’s going on in the market. So that neutral indicator actually doesn’t count for much. So for 2 weeks in a row, traders seem very bullish. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve topped out, but there is some frothiness to the action. I would get really worried if the VIX spread expanded to 5, because that would mean traders are pricing in basically no volatility at all following a 15% run off the pre-election lows. For now, I urge you to remember that market trends often go way longer than may seem reasonable. Many traders try to use sentiment indicators as buy/sell signals, but that is a very dangerous game.
Continue Reading -->14.4% of Traders Say Trump Slays the Bull
Over the weekend, we sent a survey to the T3 Live community to get their thoughts on pressing market issues like the Fed, gold, and what they think could take this market down. If you’d like to participate in our next trader survey, sign up for this week’s forex webinar via this link: https://t3campaigns.clickfunnels.com/optin10668137 Before I get started, let me point out the obvious: these survey results only represent a portion of the T3 Live trading community — NOT traders or investors as a whole. Still, I think you’ll find them interesting… especially when it comes to what traders think will destroy the bull market. So let’s go through our questions one by one: 1 ) The S&P 500 closed at 2164 on Friday. Will it make a new all-time high above 2193 before 2017? 81.3% of survey participants said the S&P will make new all-time highs before year-end. This was a pretty big surprise to me, given that broader market sentiment is fairly bearish. Then again, we’re less than 2% from a new record above 2193. 2) Gold fell 3.3% to $1225 on Friday. What will it hit first – $1200 or $1250? 58.7% said that Gold would hit $1,200 first, and so far they’re right. Gold is ticking lower today, and the downtrend isn’t showing signs of stopping. 3) Will the Fed raise interest rates in December? 74.3% of surveyed traders believe the Fed will hike in December. The CME’s FedWatch Tool currently shows an 85.8% probability of a December rate hike. That’s not terribly far off. 4) Are traders too bullish or too bearish right now? 34.3% of respondents believe traders are too bullish. 19.3% believe traders are too bearish. And 46.4% think trader sentiment is just about right. Next time around, I’ll simplify this with just two choices — too bullish or too bearish. 5) Which sectors will perform best into year-end? The banks and biotechs have been ripping since Donald Trump’s US Presidental election victory, and our survey indicates that traders expect more of the same. A whopping 51.4% believe financials will lead into-year end. In second place was health care & biotechnology at 26.1%. Technology has been lagging, and just 5.8% of traders think it will lead into year-end. 6) Which area of the market will perform worst into year-end? On the flip side, traders expect bonds to lead the decliners’ column. 31.2% of respondents said bonds will perform worst into year-end with gold in second place at 16.7% 7) What single factor is most likely to break the bull market? Please be as detailed as you’d like. This question was an open-ended question designed to determine whether traders believe Donald Trump will disrupt the bull market. I wanted to see how many traders would offer up Trump without being prompted first. 14.4% of traders cited Trump as the single factor most likely to break the bull market. Meanwhile 15.6% of traders believe the Fed or monetary policy will be the culprit. 13.3% cited terror attacks or other negative geopolitical events. Here are some of the more interesting responses to this question: (I made minor edits for clarity) “The alt right and rising nationalism around the world.” “Too much too fast based on nothing new. The market is overbought and tech is selling off based on assumptions that Trump will go after them. If they really think he will and put taxes on imports, the companies will get ready for bad times which result in high unemployment.” “Interest rates going too high too fast because President-elect Trump has huge fiscal package that will require massive debt via bonds.” “Negative world event such as significant terror attack on or around inauguration.” “Debt will be a big drag on companies bottom line and government debt is unsustainable. So governments and Central Banks should continue to print and go nuclear on interest rates to try and finance that debt. Banks will then put that money to work by sticking most of it in the stock markets. There will be a big tug of war between inflation and deflation over the next couple years. Want to participate in our next trader survey? If so, sign up for this week’s forex webinar via this link: https://t3campaigns.clickfunnels.com/optin10668137 We’ll add you to the list!
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