Monday 31 May 2010

SP500 Inverse Head & Shoulders Pattern - ????

There has been a lot of talk over the past 2/3 trading days regarding the Inverse Head & Shoulder pattern on S&P futures. Head & Shoulders patterns are one of the most familiar patterns to traders, I also know from personal experience, that they can be one of the most frustrating. Many a time I've found myself jumping on a neckline break, only to be frustrated (I've also found myself committing the cardinal sin of trying to anticipate the break). Breakout failures however can often be more instructive than successful breakouts, not only do they have a tendency to rapidly wipe out the gains(losses) of that pattern, they often move well beyond the extremes of the pattern.

I've posted 3 charts below. - The top chart is the current SPM0 intraday, showing the current Inverse Head & Shoulders pattern. Below that is two examples from the SP500 of prior Head & Shoulders patterns. The first of these two shows the recent top on the S&P500, this was a successful Head & Shoulders. The lower chart shows the S&P500 from last May/June, this appeared at first to be a classic Head & Shoulders top, however the breakdown failed wiping out any losses during the formation of the pattern and the breakout, before making further substantive gains. I believe there is a strong possibility that this recent inverse Head & Shoulders pattern may fall into the category of a failed break, which could lead to significant further losses for the SP500 and US Stocks.
Further to the above it is worth noting that the recent episode of Risk aversion across a wide range of markets, which began in late April/Early May, could be about to reassert itself following the pause/correction of the past week. A number of markets have returned to test key levels. Both the Dow Industrials and the S&P500 broke through the 200 day sma the week before last, since then they have both corrected back towards the 200 day ma. The AUDUSD (See below) appears to have completed a large 'Double-Top' pattern, breaking though the neckline of the double-top, however last week's price action saw a return to the breakout of this level. Also Sep10 Eurodollar Futures (See Below) broke down from a rising support line on the 20th May, dropping sharply to 98.865. Since then the future has rebounded to test the breakout of the rising trendline at 99.25, however the future now stands at 99.125.
There have been a number other markets returning to key break levels, including the CAC and the AUDJPY cross. Certain other risky assets have barely made a correction - EURUSD and IBEX to name but two, which really does not bode well for these two. EURUSD is back to the twin lows of mid 1.21s, and may well be breaking out of an Inverted 'Cup & Handle' pattern, I fear a sustained break through 1.2100 here could see rapid losses to 1.15/1.16 area.
I think an interesting week lies in store.


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