Most Popular
1. It’s a New Macro, the Gold Market Knows It, But Dead Men Walking Do Not (yet)- Gary_Tanashian
2.Stock Market Presidential Election Cycle Seasonal Trend Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
3. Bitcoin S&P Pattern - Nadeem_Walayat
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
4.U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - Raymond_Matison
5. How to Profit from the Global Warming ClImate Change Mega Death Trend - Part1 - Nadeem_Walayat
7.Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - Nadeem_Walayat
9.It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - Stephen_McBride
10.Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - Richard_Mills
Last 7 days
Why President Trump Has NO Real Power - Deep State Military Industrial Complex - 8th Nov 24
Social Grant Increases and Serge Belamant Amid South Africa's New Political Landscape - 8th Nov 24
Is Forex Worth It? - 8th Nov 24
Nvidia Numero Uno in Count Down to President Donald Pump Election Victory - 5th Nov 24
Trump or Harris - Who Wins US Presidential Election 2024 Forecast Prediction - 5th Nov 24
Stock Market Brief in Count Down to US Election Result 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Gold Stocks’ Winter Rally 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Why Countdown to U.S. Recession is Underway - 3rd Nov 24
Stock Market Trend Forecast to Jan 2025 - 2nd Nov 24
President Donald PUMP Forecast to Win US Presidential Election 2024 - 1st Nov 24
At These Levels, Buying Silver Is Like Getting It At $5 In 2003 - 28th Oct 24
Nvidia Numero Uno Selling Shovels in the AI Gold Rush - 28th Oct 24
The Future of Online Casinos - 28th Oct 24
Panic in the Air As Stock Market Correction Delivers Deep Opps in AI Tech Stocks - 27th Oct 24
Stocks, Bitcoin, Crypto's Counting Down to President Donald Pump! - 27th Oct 24
UK Budget 2024 - What to do Before 30th Oct - Pensions and ISA's - 27th Oct 24
7 Days of Crypto Opportunities Starts NOW - 27th Oct 24
The Power Law in Venture Capital: How Visionary Investors Like Yuri Milner Have Shaped the Future - 27th Oct 24
This Points To Significantly Higher Silver Prices - 27th Oct 24
US House Prices Trend Forecast 2024 to 2026 - 11th Oct 24
US Housing Market Analysis - Immigration Drives House Prices Higher - 30th Sep 24
Stock Market October Correction - 30th Sep 24
The Folly of Tariffs and Trade Wars - 30th Sep 24
Gold: 5 principles to help you stay ahead of price turns - 30th Sep 24
The Everything Rally will Spark multi year Bull Market - 30th Sep 24
US FIXED MORTGAGES LIMITING SUPPLY - 23rd Sep 24
US Housing Market Free Equity - 23rd Sep 24
US Rate Cut FOMO In Stock Market Correction Window - 22nd Sep 24
US State Demographics - 22nd Sep 24
Gold and Silver Shine as the Fed Cuts Rates: What’s Next? - 22nd Sep 24
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks:Nothing Can Topple This Market - 22nd Sep 24
US Population Growth Rate - 17th Sep 24
Are Stocks Overheating? - 17th Sep 24
Sentiment Speaks: Silver Is At A Major Turning Point - 17th Sep 24
If The Stock Market Turn Quickly, How Bad Can Things Get? - 17th Sep 24
IMMIGRATION DRIVES HOUSE PRICES HIGHER - 12th Sep 24
Global Debt Bubble - 12th Sep 24
Gold’s Outlook CPI Data - 12th Sep 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Silver Analysis

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016 Aug 20, 2016 - 06:34 PM GMT

By: Tony_Caldaro

Commodities

As I have been noting of late, both gold and silver have been trapped in sideways trading patterns for some time now, meaning that there really has not been a whole lot worth saying about the price action in either metal.

That MIGHT POSSIBLY be changing in regards to silver. The reason is simple – price is down at the very bottom of the sideways trading range that has been intact for nearly seven weeks.


Additionally the price fell through the 50 day moving average today, the first time it has done that since early June although it did recover slightly ahead of the closing or settlement price – just barely however!

One other thing worth noting, the bottom technical indicator has remained in a bearish posture since the middle of July while the ADX/DMI has kept the bulls in charge with the +DMI remaining above the -DMI over the sideways trading pattern. For the first time however, in a long time, we have gotten an actual sell signal in those DMI lines.

As you can see, the actual ADX line itself has been moving steadily lower after peaking in mid-July, a sign that the ferocious uptrend that had been taking place through June was going to be pausing. It continues to move lower indicating the choppy price action during this sideways trading action. With the upside crossover of the -DMI above about the ADX line and the +DMI, this might possibly be the start of a bigger retracement lower in price. It will all depend on what or not today’s low now gives way and silver closes below that 50 day moving average.

That is a key technical chart level and if it is violated on a closing basis, we are going to see some hedge fund long liquidation start up.

The reason why this should concern silver traders is that the current hedge fund long side exposure in this market remains substantially lopsided. While this group of large traders has reduced the size of their once record long positions over the last three weeks, the reduction has been minimal, only about 3500 or so out of the peak at 104,658.

What they have done in a bit more aggressive fashion is to begin taking on some fresh short positions although as you can see from the chart, the overall position is quite muted compared to their aggressive long side bets.

You can see the turn lower in the record NET LONG position by the hedgies. You can also see that the Commercials and Swap Dealers were busy covering some of their large short positions into that hedge fund selling.

I should note here that this is the reason for the sideways trading pattern we have seen in silver recently. Without that constant barrage of heavy hedge fund buying, the market is too heavy to break out to the upside; however, the short covering by Commercials and Swap Dealers has been there to absorb the still modest selling by hedge funds, whether from liquidation of long positions or the addition of fresh shorts.

That would change IF A KEY DOWNSIDE TECHNICAL SUPPORT LEVEL fails. We would see much more aggressive selling by hedge funds which would swamp buying related to Commercial and Swap Dealer short covering efforts.

Also worth noting, while we have seen the hedge fund positions whittled down somewhat on the long side, when viewed as a percentage of the total open interest, something I prefer to use to allow for growth in the futures market participation over the years, the outright long position of the hedge funds remains dangerously high. As a matter of fact, it is barely, just barely, off the record peak.

If the bulls, especially those hedge funds, are going to prevent a deeper selloff/move lower, they are going to have to come out buying in a big way Sunday evening/Monday morning of next week.

The interesting thing about this sideways price action in silver is that it has been occurring against the backdrop of a generally weaker US Dollar.

One would have thought that with the Dollar moving down as much as it has since its peak in late July, that silver would have benefited tremendously and would have gone on to take out its overhead chart resistance and powered higher. That it has not is disconcerting. It could be that the longs are simply exhausted in this market and lack the resolve/firepower to aggressively pile on the necessary amount of new long positions to start a fresh leg higher.

Either way, silver is looking vulnerable here. Bulls will need to get it back through $20 on the topside to blunt some of this building negative pressure.

That should spark some light short covering by some of these recent hedge fund converts to the short side but they would really need to clear at least $20.30 to get something more notable going to the upside.

Here is another point of notice.

I have put up the Bollinger Bands on the daily silver chart along with two indicators – the first is the Bollinger Bandwidth, which measures the distance between the upper band and the lower band, and the second is a simple stochastic indicator.

When a market is trending, the Bollinger Bands are generally widening out, no matter what direction the actual price is going, up or down. In other words, a TRENDING MARKET is accompanied by a widening BANDWIDTH indicator. When the BANDWIDTH is contracting or falling, the market is moving sideways. If it was trending higher beforehand, that means price is retreating but not breaking down sharply causing the market to consolidate in a sideways pattern to see whether or not it has had sufficient time to get end users and sellers some time to become accustomed to the new and higher price.

When a market enters a sideways trading pattern, or is ranging and not trending, the Stochastic indicator is a very good one to employ for taking buy or sell signals. Generally, as the indicator moves down into the oversold level and the lines then complete an upside crossover, traders can buy the market waiting for price to rally sufficiently to move to the overbought level at which point the trade is closed and can then be reversed to go in the opposite direction if that is amenable to the trader.

Notice that when the Bandwidth indicator turned lower, the stochastics would generally soon afterwards complete a bullish upside crossover which corrresponded with the Bandwidth indicator widening out again as price moved higher.

What we have as of today ( Friday) is that the Stochastic indicator shows both lines still moving lower together with neither one suggesting an upward direction change. Also, the Bandwidth indicator is giving some hint of actually turning higher even as the stochastic line move lower. That is a change from the previous action of both indicators when the Stochastics tended to moving higher or about to turn higher as the Bandwidth indicator began to rise or steepen out.

What we MIGHT POSSIBLY be seeing here is a growing potential for some more volatility although this time to the downside.

This next week should be an important one. It will confirm whether or not that fresh sell signal from the DMI lines remains in force and if the 50 day moving average can offer any magic for the silver bulls. It will also confirm if those Stochastic lines are going to start turning higher once again or have further room to fall lower. If this is what happens, it is not too difficult to visualize a rather abrupt drop to $18. We shall see…Bulls have their work cut out for them.

Dan Norcini

http://traderdan.com

Dan Norcini is a professional off-the-floor commodities trader bringing more than 25 years experience in the markets to provide a trader's insight and commentary on the day's price action. His editorial contributions and supporting technical analysis charts cover a broad range of tradable entities including the precious metals and foreign exchange markets as well as the broader commodity world including the grain and livestock markets. He is a frequent contributor to both Reuters and Dow Jones as a market analyst for the livestock sector and can be on occasion be found as a source in the Wall Street Journal's commodities section. Trader Dan has also been a regular contributor in the past at Jim Sinclair's JS Mineset and King News World as well as may other Precious Metals oriented websites.

Copyright © 2016 Dan Norcini - All Rights Reserved

All ideas, opinions, and/or forecasts, expressed or implied herein, are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to invest, trade, and/or speculate in the markets. Any investments, trades, and/or speculations made in light of the ideas, opinions, and/or forecasts, expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise. The information on this site has been prepared without regard to any particular investor’s investment objectives, financial situation, and needs. Accordingly, investors should not act on any information on this site without obtaining specific advice from their financial advisor. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Dan Norcini Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in