Witches’ Brew In June

The quarterly expiration of index futures, index options, stock futures and stock options cause big swings in the stock market. When options and futures contracts expire then traders can either “roll” the contracts to next one, buy or sell the underlying security or let contracts expire worthless. If traders decide to buy/sell underlying stocks then it…

Bear Attack In June – Almanac Trader Alert

June and summer are historically weak months for the stock market when the bears generally come out of hibernation. Some days – specifically the days surrounding the Triple-Witching Fridays – have somewhat more predictability that others. On Monday before the option expiration Friday, Dow Jones Industrial Averages have shown a tendency to weaken. Stock Trader’s Almanac…

June’s Aura Of Witch

Expiration of options and futures contracts increases the volatility leading to higher than normal trading volume. The volatility and volume are higher on the triple-witching days, which happen on the third Friday of the last month of a quarter. There are some distinct patterns prior to, during and following the triple-witching days. Patterns in June are even more predictable.…

Let’s Pound In June

We first stated seasonal strategy to trade British Pound in 2012. We have further refined it by applying our proprietary algorithm for entry & exit signals, improving the already impressive returns. Since 2000, our strategy has produced 63 trades – for both Forex spot contracts and ETF – with a winning rate of 71.4%. The trade has been successful nine…

Sweet Sugar In June

Agricultural crops have always been strongly influenced by the vagaries of nature and weather. It is true that smaller acreages are producing bigger crops and the world has become smaller enabling easier food export-import. But, it is also true that the production, storage and consumption of agricultural products vary greatly by season. So it not surprising that the seasonal effect is visible in the price-action of…

Is It Time To Sell In May and Go Away?

In 2012, Ben Jacobsen, Professor of Finance, Massey University of New Zealand and Cherry Yi Zhang, Professor at Nottingham University Business School, China, published a paper, Are Monthly Seasonals Reals?, analyzing 300 years of UK stock market data. Their conclusion was that a good case could be made for monthly seasonal anomalies in the stock market returns. The professors analyzed…

Nat Gas Shines In Jan-Feb

Natural Gas in particular and energy sector in general has a seasonal tendencies to offer profitable trading opportunities in late January / early February. Stock Trader’s Almanac  has done an analysis and found that AmEx Natural Gas index, $XNG, usually rises between February and June. We have used our proprietary algorithm to find more profitable entry and exit points during this…

Shorts in The Wintry January

The market has been ripping higher and the trajectory of NASDAQ Composite in 2013 was from the lower left corner to the upper right corner in an almost straight line. In the month of December 2013, the index gained 6.5%. Still, it behooves to pay attention to the seasonal tendencies, which say that computer tech and internet stocks usually weaken during…