Semiconductors on the “Other Side of the Mountain”

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What is a reversal formation? It’s where you see distribution after a trend move.  The “Other Side of the Mountain”, or a 1999 style top, is a rare thing of beauty.  It’s the ultimate expression of “fear and greed”; a large group of people, completely oblivious to the reality coming upon them and the rapid transition from FOMO (fear of missing out) to GMO (get me out). There are many kinds of reversal formations, but a classic is the Island Formation. In the US  technology sector, 1999 and 2019 are looking more alike every day. Let us explore…

Land Ho!

Island Formations are rare and news driven. Typically, for an “Island Formation Top”, you would see gappy (short and intense) price action up to a peak, followed by gappy price action down. This is indicative of traders not having enough time to react to rapid news fire. They buy emotionally and then, with a negative change in the news, have to sell right away. This leaves a hard resistance level to overcome ⁠—  “the memory of pain”.  Ideally, one looks for other confirmatory technical indicators. The minimum target is merely the size of the formation itself, but they can be indicative of a permanent reversal of fortunes (for ill or good).

And, as per the above, if the formation happens without a change in the news, it is immediately suspect. Sometimes an island is nice and neat. Other times, however, it probes around a bit and looks a bit sloppy. The latter is what we’re seeing with the SMH Semiconductor ETF. However, individual members thereof had crisper, neater island formations.

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Here is the SMH chart (with detailed commentary below):

SMH Semiconductor ETF — Lookout Below
Part I: The possibility of an island: In April, the SMH Semiconductor ETF enjoyed a parabolic (and, by implication, unsustainable) rise dotted by a plethora of up gaps, indicating desperation to buy. The April 3rd gap was particularly impressive, as there had been a violent up-move day in late March which was immediately reversed in dramatic fashion in the next one and a half trading sessions. The April 3rd gap happened at the peak of that reversal.

Part II: The Prelude to an island:

There had been an uptrend line off the late December/January bottom that tracked nicely with the 50-day moving average. So all looked good until the second half of April. There was a big up day on April 16th, which was followed by a big gap up the next day. After a few days of trading with a peak that failed to hold the highs of the day, we saw a sharp move down on April 25th, then…

Part III: An island is formed:

The first down-gap occurred at the same level as the April 17th up-gap. In other words, an island was formed. The news was reversing quickly: enthusiasm for a deal with China turned into anxiety that one would fail to materialize.

Part IV: Aftermath of the Island top, a new downtrend:

After a tentative move up came to a halt in early May, SMH gapped down again but closed at recovery highs, albeit still down. However, what followed was a negative down-gap the next day and a failed rally attempt the one after…

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Part V: The uptrend breaks down completely:

At this point, true bear recognition that the end was nigh occurred when the uptrend line (in green on the SMH chart) broke. For two days, a noble effort ensued at the 50-day moving average (which latter was flattening out, not good). But all hope was lost the following day with a gap down to 105 and a close near the lows of the day. There followed a meek rally to the underbelly of the 50-day, which was quickly negated by crushing selling below the 100-day and a dramatic gap down. A valiant rally attempt filled the prior day’s gap only to be met with still more selling and a visually meek optimistic close on the 100-day. Then the next day, a gap down followed by yet another gap down the next day.

Clearly, traders were completely whipsawed by the shifting China tariff narrative.

Colossal Rotation is in the Works
A meaningful rotation is in the works here, near historic proportions in our view.  Slow growth consumer staples have outperformed growth stocks in the semiconductor sector by 2200bps (22%) over the last year.

Part VI: Short term base for a short term rally:

Several days of indecision followed this carnage, indicating that 1) ill-considered long positions had been liquidated and 2) a potential trading reversal was in the offing. Sure enough, in early June, we saw the first true solid up day in weeks with a substantial move back up above $100. A touch of indecision the next day preceded a brisk four-day pop that gapped over the 100-day moving average. However…

Part VII: Resumption of the downtrend:

The relief rally ended with a bearish reversal day at the 50-day moving average. This also coincided with the short term reversal top from late March and was roughly at the 50% retracement level of the previous precipitous decline. The next day, it broke the 100-day, though, on the day after, it tested its underbelly. On the third day, however, it gapped down again forming…

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Part VIII: A second mini-island formation:

As a result of today’s gap down, we have had four days of isolated trading at the gap level just below 105. (I excluded the mini-horizontal line in the chart as it clogged up the visual too much…).

In our view, the path of least resistance is down to the $90 area where it had shown support in the late October/mid-November period last year. Lookout below!

Island Formations don’t always work and you don’t always see them. Nonetheless, if the formation fits a violently shifting news flow, as this example clearly does, then the technical analysis and fundamentals agree and we have quickly reversing trade.

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