Let's DO this!

Rob's latest technical/chart views of a range of ETFs

Last week’s Thursday edition of ETFYourself.com was titled “Let’s Try This.”

I asked a critical question to our subscribers last week

I have been charting stocks since Carl Isbitts, my late father and my mentor and hero, taught me in 1980. I was 16 and he was a self-directed investor, never a professional.

And, like me, he was far from perfect in his investing and trading. But he kept my mom and him going for the last 1/3 of his 81 years, even after his industry essentially folded, and he was unable to be fully employed again.

He charted and invested and did some great work as a mentor to entrepreneurs through a non-profit organization called SCORE (Senior Core of Retired Executives). To be able to deliver this to as many people as have already signed up for ETFYourself.com is a thrill and a thank you I share with him and rest of my family.

So, while I have charted for decades, and if I have a “secret sauce,” that’s it. Not only charting, but using a big collection of charts, over 12 different time frames, to decipher the current chapter of the financial markets’ never-ending story. As I say, “the market tells us a story, we just have to listen!” In an effort to help our free and paid subscribers learn to be great listeners as part of our mission, last Thursday I trotted out what I described this way:

The results of my frequent chart-scanning of over 100 ETFs. I looked at them from a “tactical” standpoint. So these are not “long-term investment” views, but are well beyond day-trading. I run one of my own accounts with that type of time frame, whereby I rotate through a set of ETFs, holding them for somewhere between 1-2 weeks and 6 months. The shorter the holding period, the more likely it is I concluded that either I totally misjudged something or that I was right on time and probably a bit lucky too.

I asked our rapidly-growing audience of subscribers to tell me if what we presented last Thursday is something they’d like to have us do as an every-Thursday feature, essentially tightening up what was a longer-form technical analysis essay for the free subscribers, plus a more detailed “depth chart” of our entire coverage list (about 200 ETFs) for the premium subscribers.

Answer: on a 0-10 scale (10=high interest)…you effectively said 50!

So, now that we know that this is “what the people want,” we will do what we always aim to do: give it to them! This week, we’ll repeat last week’s format for all. But starting next week, here’s what we’ll provide every Thursday:

Free subscribers (cost=your email address)

A ranked list of 10 “macro/big picture” ETFs like you will see below. This essentially answers questions like “do you like growth or value better, do you like stocks or bonds better,” etc. High level, for those who just want a sound bit version of this each week.

Premium subscribers ($40 a month or $400 a year):

All 200 ETFs, presented in an easy to use “depth chart/snapshot” format, with some brief comments/notes where we feel it will help. We’ll use the groupings similar to what you see below. This will save some reading time and provide a weekly at-a-glance way to see how our view looks and how it changes over time. It aims to be actionable for those with short-term time horizons for some of their wealth, by offering one piece of input that, to me, has been the “bottom line” for investing money for myself and others for 30 years.

Now, here’s the current Tactical ETF Watchlist

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Macro 10 Rankings

highest to lowest, relative attractiveness

(every Thursday for all subscribers)

Detailed Groups

(will convert to premium-subscriber-only depth chart grid next week)

Good trend developed, best-looking charts

• HDV, IHF (and even these are so-so…it’s a high-risk market right now)

Charts at key decision points, so unclear

• AAXJ, AIA, EWJ, FVD, IAU, IGF, IHE, PDBC, XLV (most of last week’s list resolved their decision…lower in price)

Early but promising, ones to watch for near future

• MJ, UNG, VIXY (never good when the last on that list is “promising“)

Stretched in price, so either continues rising or hit a wall soon

CALF (“calf stretch” lol), BBH, DGRO, IPAY, ITA, KBWB, KRE, PBW, SOXX, XLRE

Topping (risk of rolling over after a good up move)

(note: this list is a “mile long” but here are some of the worst of the bunch)

AIQ, CIBR, COPX, ESPO, FEZ, FIW, GDXJ, HYG, IEF, IGV, IGOV, IYT, SKYY, TAN