From the desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza

This is one of our favorite bottom-up scans: Follow the Flow.

In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish, but not both.

We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients.

Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.

We also weed out hedging activity and ensure there are no offsetting trades that either neutralize or cap the risk on these unusual options trades.

What remains is a list of stocks that large financial institutions are putting big money behind.

And they’re doing so for one reason only: because they think the stock is about to move in...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Top 10 Charts Report was just published.

In this weekly note, we highlight 10 of the most important charts or themes we're currently seeing in asset classes around the world.

Real Yields Roll in Favor of Gold

There has been plenty of evidence suggesting a significant breakdown in one of the world’s most critical inflationary assets, Gold. Miners look terrible, Silver and Platinum are weak, and the Silver/Gold ratio recently hit multi-year lows. These aren’t the type of data points that support higher gold prices. Real yields are another piece of evidence we can add to that list. The chart below shows the US 10-year real rate inverted and a chart of Gold. They look almost identical. Gold futures tend to trend lower when real rates rise (moving lower on the chart). Despite every reason to break down, Gold has remained resilient. And now, as many of the negative data points mentioned above begin to reverse, including real yields, a rally in gold could ensue. 

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the big picture context and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Macro Universe:

• This week, our macro universe was positive as 87% of our list closed higher with a median return of 3.06%.
• Silver $SI was this week's winner, closing with an 8.49% gain.
• The biggest loser was Lumber $LB, with a loss of -9.94 %.
• There was a 2% gain in the percentage of assets on our list within 5% of their 52-week highs – currently at 6%.
• 74% of our macro list made fresh 4-week highs.
• Meanwhile, only 9% of...

Did you see what just happened last month?

Financials went back and kissed the same prices they hit at their peak just before the Great Financial Crisis.

This is easily one of the most important price levels in stock market history. And I heard no one talking about it.

Meanwhile, the Home Construction Index did the exact same thing. In this case, even more special. The peak in Home Construction was when the fund launched, which is both classic and hilarious.

Here's what these retests look like:

While I prefer to let stocks prove themselves to me before taking a position, sometimes a situation sets up where the stars are aligning for a low risk bet that makes it worth the effort to get ahead of the crowd.

One such situation has developed in a name discussed recently in our Hall of Famers report.

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

Bitcoin price action has been a slow grind higher over the last month, while Ethereum and other altcoins have posted notable gains.

This very much remains an environment where crypto capital markets are moving in lockstep with legacy markets.

The relationship between long-duration assets (growth stocks) and the US dollar remains integral to our macro crypto thesis.

We continue to maintain the view that the US dollar is the single biggest driver of risk assets and, by extension, cryptocurrencies.

Further USD weakness would be a tailwind, while a stronger dollar would place pressure on crypto.

CD&R Investment Associates disclosed the purchase of approximately $6 million worth of Beacon Roofing Supply $BECN in a Form 4 on Friday.

The firm now owns 24,348,048 shares, which represents a roughly 35% ownership stake in the mid-cap building products company.

Last week I jumped on to Fox Business to talk markets with Charles.

He asked me about S&Ps, Russell2000 Small-caps, US 10yr Yield and Bitcoin.

It's funny, I don't think I've ever agreed this much with a TV anchor in my life.

His Technical Analysis was spot on.

So the setups are certainly there. But I think the catalysts are where we focus. And I believe that continues to be the Dollar and Rates.

Here's the full clip:

Are you watching?

Look what stocks and Crypto do with just a little tiny bit of Dollar weakness.

In fact, US Dollar Index Futures are only down 3.0% off the highs.

And look how stocks have done since the Dollar stopped going up a couple of weeks ago:

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.