Charts of the Year - 2020
Here's a look back at the most timely market calls from our Chart of the Day column, featuring some of the best in the biz.
1.) February 11th, 2020 - Andrew Thrasher - $VIX
Just six trading days before the S&P 500 peaked in February, Andrew warned that a divergence had formed between the $VIX and the $VVIX, creating a bullish outlook for volatility. In the following weeks, the S&P 500 crashed, and the $VIX surged more than 450% to its second-highest level in history.
2.) February 21st - Brian Shannon - $SPY
On February 21st, just three days after the S&P 500 peaked, Brian explained that caution was warranted as the 5-day moving average had rolled over. At the time, $SPY was only 1.50% off its highs so the recent weakness seemed benign. But what seemed benign quickly turned into a full-blown bear market.
3.) March 23rd - Steve Strazza - $QQQ
On March 23rd, Steve called me around 10:30 am, telling me he’s buying $QQQ call options hand over fist like a maniac. And I say maniac because at this point the Nasdaq had dropped about 30% in just 33 trading days with no end in sight. But Steve made a solid argument for stepping in at that level. With unwavering conviction, he explained to me that "risk/reward was obnoxiously skewed in favor of the bulls." The market bottomed out that day. The Nasdaq is currently up more than 80% from Steve's call, and it has persistently outperformed the other major indices since.
4.) June 8th - Doug Busch - $TSLA
2020 was monumental for Tesla, but let’s not forget, it began the year as one of the most hated stocks on Wall Street. Doug was pounding the table bullish on Tesla before it was cool. On June 8th, he laid out several technical reasons why Tesla looked poised to make a significant leg higher. The stock is up more than 280% from Doug's bullish call.
5.) October 12th - JC Parets - $BTC
Bitcoin was the best performing 'asset class' this year, but things really didn’t start heating up until Q4. On October, 12th, JC pointed out that Bitcoin was quietly breaking out of a multi-year consolidation within an uptrend. He explained that this could be the start of another massive rally. Bitcoin has surged more than 150% since.
6.) November 2nd - Yuri Matso - $RUT
On November 2nd, The day before the US Presidential Election, Yuri explained that the Russell 2000 has a history of breaking out after elections. At that time, the Russell 2000 had been dead money for the past 3-years. So the notion that Small-Caps would lead seemed unlikely. Sure enough, the Russell surged to all-time highs several days later and ended up being the second-best performing index this year. The index is currently up more than 25% since election day.
As they say, hindsight is 20/20!...(sorry for the pun). But in all seriousness, you can learn a ton by going back and studying these calls in the context in which they were made.
Stick around next year, we look forward to finding and featuring the next monster trends! Happy New Year!