The most significant insider buy on today's list comes via a 13G filing by Citadel Advisors LLC.

The investment firm reported an initial stake of 5.30% in Sphere Entertainment Co $SPHR.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from July 22, 2024:

The president and CEO of Selective Insurance Group $SIGI revealed the acquisition of 2,400 shares, equivalent to $200,532.

SPHR has been in the base-building process for roughly three years as buyers try to take control and force an upside resolution from this rounding bottom formation:

The line in the sand lies at the 45 level.

A breakout above that zone could send SPHR on a fresh reaction rally toward the old all-time highs.

Stay tuned. We'll be back on Wednesday with more insider activity.

And...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the two weeks ended July 19, 2024. This report is published bi-weekly, in rotation with The Minor Leaguers.

What we do here is analyze the most popular stocks during the week and find opportunities to either join in and ride these momentum names higher, or fade the crowd and bet against them.

We use a variety of sources to generate the list of most popular names.

There are so many new data sources available that all we need to do is organize and curate them in a way that shows us exactly what we want: a list of stocks that are seeing an unusual increase in investor interest.

Click here for a behind-the-scenes look at our process.

Whether we’re measuring increasing interest based on large institutional purchases, unusual...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Last week, we held our June Monthly Conference Call, which Premium Members can access and rewatch here.

In this post, we’ll do our best to summarize it by highlighting five of the most important charts and/or themes we covered, along with commentary on each.

Let’s get right into it!

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Gold’s failed breakout is testing investor resolve.

But let’s consider last week’s action before unearthing our bullion.

Check out the failed breakout with a bearish momentum divergence in the lower pane:

Waning momentum and failed breakouts go hand in hand. Gold futures proved an excellent example of momentum diverging from price, one of the reasons we track RSI readings.

But just because momentum confirmed the failed breakout doesn’t mean we should turn bearish gold and precious metals.

Remember, gold posted a new all-time high last week. New all-time highs are bullish in my book, no matter how you slice them.

Plus, the March breakout remains valid, and the underlying uptrend is intact:

Zoom out on the weekly chart, and last week’s bar becomes a whipsaw (much like last December’s false start).

I get it: No one likes...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Gold’s failed breakout is testing investor resolve.

But let’s consider last week’s action before unearthing our bouillon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average just had its highest weekly closing price in history.

Meanwhile, this week we also saw the highest reading of NYSE stocks above their 200 day moving average during this entire bull market.

Do you know how many times we saw a new 52-week high for the Dow in 2021 along with these breadth readings also hitting new cycle highs?

Zero.

It didn't even happen once.

That's because back in 2021, market breadth was deteriorating, not expanding.

See the difference?

The most significant insider buy on today's list comes via two separate Form 4 filings by the president and the CEO of The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW.

They reported purchases for a combined amount of $2.2 million.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from July 19, 2024:

Director John W. Childs reported the acquisition of 28,400 shares in Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd $BHVN.

BHVN came public in September 2022 and ripped higher with authority. However, price has retraced some gains since it peaked in March, successfully retesting a critical polarity level.

The line in the sand lies at 27.

If we're above this level, the risk is still to the upside.

Stay tuned. We'll be back on Tuesday with more insider activity.

And...

Investors are preparing themselves for the launch of a second wave of crypto ETFs. With Ethereum up over 25% in recent weeks, it's clear the market has positive expectations for these new products.

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Risk assets are taking a hit.

The major equity indexes are seeing red. Crude oil is slipping below eighty bucks. And gold is failing at new all-time highs.

Perhaps the markets are navigating the summertime blues – a tune base and industrial metal investors have been humming for months.

Remember copper’s failed breakout in May:

Oof!

Dr. Copper is living up to the trading adage that from failed moves come fast moves in the opposite direction.

The futures continue to fall – down almost 8 percent this week. 

Meanwhile, track the 4.16 level for potential support:

That level coincides with a key retracement and former resistance area – a logical place for buyers to step in and defend price. 

On the other hand, momentum is drifting toward oversold conditions. If the 14-day RSI drops below 30, I imagine copper will reach...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Breadth has expanded in a big way since last week, with more and more stocks finally joining in on the bull market as big-cap tech leaders take a breather.

At the sector and industry group level, our list of indexes that are in uptrends continues to grow.

Some notable new members on this list include regional banks, small-caps, and various speculative growth funds.

After years of basing in accumulation patterns, these groups are just now completing primary trend reversals.

What does this mean?

In its simplest form, it means there are more ponds we can fish in for long opportunities. There are more stocks -- and groups of stocks -- that are in uptrends.

It’s just more options for us.

One of the groups that has broken out with authority recently is the biotechs.

Regardless of what index you're looking at, the path of least resistance is now higher for this health care subsector.

We’ve identified some of the strongest biotech stocks with asymmetric risk/reward setups and clear levels to trade against.

We think these are the best vehicles to bet...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our International Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs.

We've also sprinkled in some of the largest ADRs from countries that did not make the market cap cut. 

These stocks range from some well-known mega-cap multinationals such as Toyota Motor and Royal Dutch Shell to some large-cap global disruptors such as Sea Ltd and Shopify.

It's got all the big names and more–but only those that are based outside the US. You can find all the largest US stocks on our original Hall of Famers list.

The beauty of these scans is really in their simplicity.

We take the largest names each week and then apply technical filters in a way that the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Based on the market environment, we can also flip the scan on its head and filter for weakness.

Let's dive in and take a look at some of the most important stocks from around the world.

Here's this week's list:

...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Risk assets are taking a hit.

The major equity indexes are seeing red. Crude oil is slipping below eighty bucks. And Gold is failing at new all-time highs.

Perhaps the markets are navigating the summertime blues – a tune base and industrial metal investors have been humming for months.

The most significant insider buy on today's list comes via a Form 4 filing by U.S. Bancorp $USB director Aleem Gillani.

Gillani reported the acquisition of 10,000 shares, equivalent to $449,900.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from July 18, 2024:

Boxer Capital LLC filed a 13G for uniQure N.V. $QURE revealing an initial stake of 5.10%.

After a prolonged decline since January 2022, US Bancorp stopped going down last year.

After price emerged from a rounding bottom formation, the stock transitioned into a sideways consolidation.

With a monster regional bank rally over the past two weeks, USB is right back at the upper bounds of its range.

We think it breaks out this time. 

Have a great weekend. We'll be back on Monday with more insider activity.

Here's this week's crypto roundup. It's an opportunity for us to take a step back, set aside the distractions, and delve into the key charts shaping the crypto complex.

In May of last year, David Yuan disclosed a $12,534,400 purchase of Toast Inc $TOST shares in an SEC Form-4 filing. 

Toast utilizes cloud-based software and hardware to deliver an all-in-one platform that covers point of sale, marketing, digital ordering, delivery, and more for the restaurant industry.

Yuan has been a member of Toast’s board since March 2019, playing a vital role in the company's governance and strategic direction. 

Such a sizable open-market purchase can only be interpreted as a demonstration of an insider's bullishness toward a stock.

The fact that Yuan is a seasoned growth investor with a long track record of success with other similar companies only makes the setup that much sweeter.

He currently runs Tidemark Capital, previously spent 15 years at Technology Crossover Ventures, and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the top 100 technology investors in the world.