From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to the 2 to 100 Club.

As many of you know, something we've been working on internally is using various bottom-up tools and scans to complement our top-down approach. It's really been working for us!

One way we're doing this is by identifying the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega-cap status (over $200B).

Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.

But the scan doesn't just end there.

We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.

Some of the best performers in recent decades – stocks like Priceline, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, and myriad others – would have been on this list at some point during their journey...

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

Key Takeaway: In July, consumer expectations for stocks dropped to their lowest level since March 2009.  Excessive optimism is clearly not an issue for stocks right here. But bulls need to be resilient if the market is going to move higher. Recent breadth and momentum thrusts are fodder for optimism, but the persistent downtrend in stocks is dampening rally attempts. The latest numbers from AAII, II and NAAIM suggest questions about bullish resolve are well-founded. All have rolled over and are showing increased caution. If that continues, a broader re-set becomes more likely - one in which positioning (which has been resilient) gets more in line with sentiment.

Sentiment Report Chart of the Week: Expectations For Stocks Have Tanked

Among the questions asked in the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers is one regarding expectations about the direction of stocks over the coming year. Specifically it asks about the perceived likelihood that stocks will rise over the...

With the rise in $VIX (the "fear gauge") over the past several trading days continuing to persist, we've been on the hunt for options premium selling opportunities. Higher volatility environments lend themselves to better opportunities for premium sellers who can manage their risks and size their positions conservatively.

As such, we're going to sell some premium in the banking sector to take advantage of elevated premiums and what appears to be a high likelihood of continuing sideways action.

We had a resting GTC order filled at our profit target and we pre-emptively closed another position to book a profit in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

From the Desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

One of the hallmarks that's defined crypto is its sheer innovative and scalable nature.

Blockchains are bringing tremendous benefits to traditional industries; self-sovereignty of massive sums of capital, incredibly efficient payment methods, digital collectibles, play-to-earn, and decentralization are all great examples.

Perhaps one of the more overlooked outcomes of this asset class blossoming is the promotion of finance among disenfranchised youth.

The most significant insider activity on today's list comes in a Form 4 filing by Ryan M. Lance, the CEO at ConocoPhillips $COP.

However, it wasn’t COP shares that Lance just reported purchases worth roughly $1 million in.

These are the registration details for our Live Monthly Candlestick Strategy Session for Premium Members of All Star Charts.

This month’s Video Conference Call will be held on Tuesday September 6th @ 6PM ET. As always, if you cannot make the call live, the video and slides will be archived and published here along with every other live call since 2015.

Here are the details for Tuesday evening:

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

We look at a lot of charts. And believe it or not, many of them are absolute messes. Sideways, choppy, and trendless describe most markets right now.

It’s just a fact.

But we always find those big bases and tight continuation patterns on the verge of breaking out that keep us turning on our computers every morning. And the market I want to share with you today has both!

Lets’ take a look at coffee.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Currency markets have provided stellar trading opportunities this year. 

It isn't always this way.

Last year was rough. False breakouts and whipsaws were the norm, as most forex pairs and crosses chopped sideways in trendless ranges.

Many of those consolidations have now resolved, as currency markets have begun to trend again. And it’s hard to find a stronger primary trend to bet against than the declining Japanese yen. 

We’ve written about the yen multiple times in the past few months, pointing out that The Yen Provides the Base and joking that we could profit by simply buying Anything in Yen.

Today, we’ll follow up by outlining three tactical setups to bet on further yen weakness.

Boy do I have a treat for you today.

Last week I was a guest on the Investopedia Express Podcast with Caleb Silver and Kenny Polcari.

Kenny is known around wall street and the floor of the NYSE as the guy who would include recipes in his research notes.

How do you not already love the guy!

Caleb and I have also gotten to know each other well over the years.

So this was a ton of fun.

Between the market conversation, Kenny's recipe and Dex McBean rapping, this was one of the best podcasts to ever be a part of.

I think you'll enjoy this one:

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

Key Takeaways:

• Thrust signals are typically reliable indicators of strength
• Lack of risk appetite and rising yields working against stocks
• Without marked deterioration in macro health, we still trust the thrust

The mid-August momentum thrust was just two weeks ago, but it seems longer than that. The S&P 500 has gone from up 4% for the month to down 3% for the month, in the process giving back half of the entire rally off of the June lows. It is possible that the volatility environment produced false signals of strength, but we are not ready to jump to that conclusion. The combination momentum and breadth strength seen prior to the mid-month peak has been a typically reliable indicator that further strength lies ahead for stocks. Two weeks of price action is not enough for me to throw out 40-years worth of data. 

That being said, the market could struggle to display the strength that these indicators have signaled in the past as long as we remain in a risk off environment. Moreover, the...

We've adjusted a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today: