I got all excited when Russell 2000 -- as measured by $IWM -- broke higher out of the 8-9 month range back in early November. To me, that felt like a big sign that stocks on the whole were about to go on a big bullish run into year-end.

Well, the sad trombone has been played and the breakout was short-lived. And as you can see from this chart, $IWM in recent weeks has completely retraced the breakout and has fallen right back into the middle of the previous range:

Man, what a letdown --- for the bulls.

But us options traders over here smell an opportunity!

This is the video recording of our November 30, 2021, Tuesday Evening Crypto Livestream.

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley

As we near the close of another month, crude oil is once again front and center.

At the end of October, black gold was ripping to new seven-year highs while interest rates rose and cyclical stocks kicked back into gear. 

Today, this picture has dramatically changed. 

Crude oil is currently about 20% off its highs, as prices have collapsed back below our risk level.

Crude dropped $10 during last Friday’s volatile session and continues to slide lower this week. Just look at this bearish candlestick on the monthly chart:

Not only is this an ominous candlestick formation. It's also occurring at a key level of interest at the multi-year highs from 2018. This failed breakout is setting up nicely for a fast reaction to the downside. 

Most commodities were already in consolidation phases ahead of the recent sell-off. Now the entire...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza

This is one of our favorite bottom-up scans: Follow The Flow. In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish… but NOT both.

We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients. Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.

We also weed out hedging activity and ensure there are no offsetting trades that either neutralize or cap the risk on these unusual options trades. What remains is a list of stocks that large financial institutions are putting big money behind… and they’re doing so for one reason only: because they think the stock is about to move in their direction and make them a pretty penny...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to our latest "Under The Hood" column, where we'll cover all the action for the week ended November 26, 2021. This report is published bi-weekly and rotated with our "Minor Leaguers" column.

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.

Watch this video for a "...

Everyone saw it.

Everyone was talking about it.

It was the day Small-caps finally broke out of their almost year-long base.

This was finally it!

But then last week we learned that it wasn't.

Here's what that failed breakout looks like.

This is the new kid that everyone is talking about.

Small-caps tried to break out this month, after going nowhere since February.

But that attempt failed this week.

And now Small-caps are back in the penalty box:

It's Saturday Morning Chartoons time. 

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.

You can find the whole list of trades here.

Below you'll find the full PDF of this week's charts:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our International Hall Of Famers list is composed of the 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 50 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. Due to the recent volatility, we’re going to do that today.

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

Here’s this...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

Earlier this month, we discussed our outlook for a post-harvest rally, highlighting corn and soybean oil contracts. 

Here’s what we had to say: 

Cotton and coffee continue to rip. Crude oil and the energy space are grinding higher. Live cattle are breaking out. Even precious metals are starting to catch a bid.

Fast forward to today, and Ags have emerged as the clear leaders over the near term. They’ve been ripping higher while the majority of the commodity space retests critical levels of former resistance and continues to consolidate.

The fact that grains, softs, and livestock are marching higher while their peers are under pressure, tells us this is an area we should focus on for long opportunities. It’s where the relative strength is right now.

When we drill into the ag space, cattle futures continue to stand out. Not only are these some of the stronger contracts in the subgroup -- they are also...

Volatility is back!

But is it here to stay? That is the question.

You can see what things looked like coming into Thanksgiving in this week's RPP Report.

But with the prices of many key assets now below critical levels, we wonder if this is just more of a messy market, or the beginning of something bigger.

Here is the S&P500 stuck below this overhead supply from earlier this month, but above former resistance from September.

You know how parents always tell you nothing good ever happens after midnight? Well in the S&P500, nothing good happens below 4500:

If we're below that then there is a probably a much bigger problem out there, and the heaviest cash positions in 18 months would be warranted.

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza

*** Click here to read the reveal post for this Mystery Chart ***

Check out our latest Mystery Chart!

What we do here is take a chart that’s captured our attention, and remove the x and y-axes as well as any other labels that could help identify it.

This chart can be of any security, in any asset class, on any timeframe. Sometimes it’s an absolute price chart, other times it’s on a relative basis.

It might be a ratio, a custom index, or maybe the price is inverted. It could be all three!

The point is, when we aren’t able to recognize what’s in front of us, we put aside any biases we may have and scrutinize the price behavior objectively.

While you can try to guess the chart, the point is to make a decision…

So, let us know what it is… Buy, Sell, or Do Nothing?