Russell 2000 ralliesThe three major US stock indices eked out modest gains yesterday to mark fresh record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended above 38,000 for the first time ever. But the best performance came from the Russell 2000 which closed up 2.0%. This is the US’s ‘mid cap’ index. It is a broad-based look at smaller US companies covering a wide range of businesses which are more domestically-focused than the three majors. It isn’t overly-weighted towards tech or financials. In fact, its largest sector which accounts for over 17% of the index, is industrials. Consequently, the Russell 2000 is thought to be a better barometer of the state of US business world than the other majors. It has lagged both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 for a while now. Last year it rose 16%, compared to a gain of 24% for the S&P and 43% for the NASDAQ, although it did beat the Dow which ‘only’ managed to rise 13.5%. More significantly, it is currently around 18% below its November 2021 record high, so it certainly has some catching up to do. Or the three majors have some catching down.
IWM trade ideas
Opening (IRA): IWM Feb 16th 187 Monied Covered Call... for a 183.65 debit.
Comments: Doing things a little bit differently here, buying stock and selling the -75 delta call against to emulate the delta of a 25 delta short put, but with the ability to immediately defend the position with the short call, rather than waiting to roll the short put.
First, the metrics:
Max Profit: 3.35 ($335)
Buying Power Effect/Cost Basis/Break Even: 183.65
ROC at Max as a Function of Buying Power Effect: 1.82%
ROC at 50% Max: .91%
Delta/Theta: 23.1/6.31
Now, the why ... .
Previously, I looked to ladder out short puts targeting the shortest duration <16 delta strike paying around 1% of the strike price in credit and utilize a portfolio-wide short delta hedge which used buying power to put on and maintain.
Here, I'm looking to manage risk on a per-position basis and to take advantage of some IV skew on the call side (i.e., the IV on the call side is greater than the IV on the put side at the correspondent put strike). Because of this, the premium/max profit is a smidge richer doing things this way relative to just selling a put.
This only makes sense in a cash secured environment, where you don't get much BP relief going short put over covered call. On margin, this wouldn't make a lot of sense from a buying power efficient standpoint, so I'd use a different setup where I could manage side risk more effectively (e.g., short strangle, iron condor, Jade Lizard). Naturally, there are more BP efficient, IRA-friendly setups (e.g., Poor Man's Covered Call), but they have some warts of their own.
From a trade management standpoint, I'll still look to take profit at 50% max, as I would've with the short puts and look to roll out the short call for a credit if it's tested, reducing cost basis further and improving my break even. Since I have nothing on here, I'm going shorter duration than I ordinarily would, but will start building out in longer duration at intervals as I did previously.
On a side note, most people (unscientific survey, gleaned from culling through relevant Reddit posts) who "wheel" or do covered calls do not like this setup because it caps out profit, and I fully understand the preference to sell out-of-the-money calls against your stock and manage the position from there, particularly if the stock pays dividends that are decent. My personal preference, however, is to book realized gains "liberally," have a minimal of crap piles on at any given time, and generate a fairly regular cash flow. As we know from the past year, the market doesn't always go up, and the important thing is to be able to reliably make money in up, sideways, and to a certain extent, down markets with a minimum of headaches which is what these setups (out-of-the-money short puts, monied covered calls) allow me to do. Does it have a hugely sexy ROC that I can show off to chicks at bars? No. Does it pay for the bar tab? Certainly ... .
iShares Russell 2000 ETF - Waiting for a better opportunity iShares Russell 200 - AMEX:IWM
I'd be waiting for an opening
▫️ Break above overhead resistance
▫️ Bounce off the base support
▫️ Min 200 week MA bounce (tight stop).
A wait and see from me
🚨Declining On Balance Volume (OBV) not ideal.
✅Upward sloping 200 week is a positive
Bearish Outlook for Russell 2000 IWMSigns of bears waking up on this one. 2-4 line brake with VI flipping a few days ago. Significant for high chance of trend reversal. RVI gaining momentum in the negative. This scenario also fits greater channel confines that IWM has been obeying for months. Could be a start of a downward ?A/X wave.
We are not in the business of getting every prediction right, no one ever does and that is not the aim of the game. The Fibonacci targets are highlighted in green or purple (short positions) with invalidation in red. Confirmation level, where relevant, is a pink dotted, finite line. Fibonacci goals, it is prudent to suggest, are nothing more than mere fractally evident and therefore statistically likely levels that the market will go to. Having said that, the market will always do what it wants and always has a mind of its own. Therefore, none of this is financial advice, so do your own research and rely only on your own analysis. Trading is a true one man sport. Good luck out there and stay safe.
$IWM - Failed breakoutAMEX:IWM couldn't break through the sideways consolidation channel. If $195 couldn't be reclaimed soon, it could see further downside.
Downside Targets:
$188
$183 (Critical support)
The $183 area is critical support because it concurs with both the neckline support of the previous head and shoulders (H&S) pattern and the 50% Fibonacci retracement level.
I will update the chart when I see a reversal.
IWM: Week of Jan 8thPer request, here is IWM.
My immediate TP for IWM is a move to 189, which is PL2 on the month.
There is where I would look to get long:
ARIMA has IWM as down-trending into next week and I concur with this assessment.
189 is also within the low range forecasted for next week.
IWM has a similar setup to SPY on the weekly via Heikin Ashi:
But we do have some bullish upside on the horizon judging by the daily:
Again, timelines are wishy washy with all of this, its a matter of waiting for whichever setup comes first.
As of now, imo, the setup is short to 189 and then, provided this level holds, a long for a bounce.
We will see how it plays out next week, we do have that GT on the month as with SPY. I am curious how this is all going to unfold.
Those are my thoughts on IWM!
If you have any ticker you are interested in and want me to cover for next week, leave a comment and I will make a point of going over it!
Thanks all,
Safe trades :-)
IWM - Shot Put - Feb16 '24 Happy New Year!
After a strong Christmas rally, the market is in a correction.
The trend is still up unless the market tells us otherwise.
Yesterday, I opened new Positions in IWM.
I expect the upward trend to continue after breakout at $198. With a short put I would like to participate in an upward movement.
Facts:
Short Put - $188
Credit: $1,75
45 DTE - Feb16 '24
IVR: 34 with historical IV above 20%
best regards
toni
IWM - Russell 2000 - SHORT (Wyckoff Re-Distribution)IWM looks to be reaching the UTAD stage of a Wyckoff Re-distribution schematic.
Lowering volume in the lead up to UTAD provides confluence to the idea. Expecting price to return to linear regression trend line around 120. Price could extend further, but I expect we are nearing the top of this rally and a sharp correction in 2024.
Take profit level of 120 coincides with a fibo extension of 1.618, so further confluence there.
Markets are overinflated and this move would revert price back to the long term mean.
IWM: A $240 Target in 2024. Here's Why It's Doable.Flip on financial TV and you will likely hear a plethora of sellside strategists and buyside portfolio managers voice optimism about small-cap US stocks. Consider that the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) was easily in negative territory on the year back in October. Fast forward just two months and the small-cap ETF is up close to 20% total return in 2023. The quick switch has come about amid the group’s fastest move from a 52-week low to a 52-week high in its history. IWM is now poised to print its third-best two-month rally since its inception more than 20 years ago.
Is there more room to run? I think so. A breakout above the $200 mark, particularly on a weekly, monthly, and yes, even a yearly closing basis, is significant. Recall that IWM found support in the low $160s on a few occasions in the last year and a half after printing an all-time high above $240 in November 2021. Sellers flexed their muscles three separate times in 2022 and 2023 at the $200 mark. This $40 zone appears to be breaking in the bulls’ favor. That suggests a measured move upside target to $240 – close to the all-time high on IWM.
I see some near-term resistance in the $210 to $215 area – the range lows from 2021. Indeed, there is likely a significant amount of ‘dead bodies’ lingering above $210 that may look to supply the market with shares in order to sell at the breakeven mark. Still, the technicals appear positive despite some near-term overbought readings on IWM. Another cautionary signal is that the January through mid-March stretch has featured some volatility at times for the broad market, so the pace of the advance will likely slow. I remain constructive on small caps looking into 2024, though.
Small caps hitting the wall vs. goldWhile the small caps have provided fuel for a bull run in stocks to close 2023, they look to be running on empty when priced in gold.
Since breaking down in late 2021, the Russell 2000 has previously tested the Ichimoku cloud 3 times, swiftly bouncing downward on each attempt. In tandem with price, momentum has been rejected by a resistance level of 60% on the RSI chart.
Both indicators now are recurring, with momentum flattening at horizontal resistance and a doji reversal candle forming at the top of the Ichimoku cloud. While the Russell may continue to run in nominal terms going into the new year, its real value looks to roll over and continue into a secular downtrend.