3800 Support on the Nifty May Not Hold

The Nifty on Friday closed at 3985 after giving bearish signals (breaking of the 4000 support). The next support was there at 3800, 185 points away from the previous close. On Sunday night, I chose to upload a webinar for my readers rather than do any analysis on the Nifty, mainly because I had been talking of a target of 3800 since a number of days and secondly, I didn’t feel Nifty could lose 185 points in one single day. And yet, it did. After losing 208 points intraday (from Friday’s close), the Nifty bounced back a little to close at 3850 with a loss of 135 points. The markets were expected to be better after the Federal Reserve’s bailout bill, which plans to induct $700 billion into the global financial system, went to the Congress for voting. But after reports that Wachovia and three other European banks were banking on the Fed rescue, the markets slumped fearing that the $700 billion bailout package may not be enough to ride over the current financial crisis.

Today, the Nifty made a low of 3777, breaking the previous 52 week low of 3790.20 made on 16th July 2008. After making a low at 3777, the Nifty immediately made a recovery, and a good one at that, to end the day at 3850. Today’s closing price became the second lowest close in the last 52 weeks, the lowest being 3816, again on 16th July 2008. Making a new 52 week low is negative for the markets, and even though the market recovered to close above 3800 today, it seems quite possible that 3800 may be broken on the downside.

Seen above is the monthly chart of the Nifty. The chart shows the Fibonacci retracement levels of the rise from the much remembered low of 920 in April 2003 to the much much remembered high of 6357 made in January this year. The 38.2% retracement level support was at 4300 which was broken through, a few months ago. Since 3800 now seems to be under danger, it is important to know what the next support levels are. What provides support now is the 50% retracement level which is at 3640. Just below the 50% retracement level, is a black trendline which may act as another support if the 50% retracement level is breached. This trendline connects a few closes, a few opens and a low in the candles formed in the last couple of years. This trendline stands at 3558 and below this there is the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at 3000, which provides support and then the final support comes at 2600.

Of course, supports are just supports and are important only to identify where the market may stop its downmove. But the markets have a mind of their own and can decide to stop the downmove anywhere, no matter whether a support is there or not. Knowing a support level in advance helps us a bit because if the markets do decide to find support near a support level identified by us, we are better prepared to convert our ideas into an actionable long trade. I have mentioned above that it does not seem likely that the 3800 support will hold. Though, the markets suggest otherwise, I would be happy, and I’m sure a lot of other people will be happy too, if the markets prove us wrong this time and keep respecting the 3800 support.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Webinar on MACD

This is the third of the series of my webinars. The first webinar was about moving averages and trendlines, the second was about Fibonacci numbers and Fibonacci ratios and this one is about the MACD. To view the old webinars, just go below this post and under the section "Other Posts That May Interest You", click on the posts given under the subsection webinars. In case you have any questions about the topic after you see the webinar, feel free to post your questions under the comments section below and I'll make it a point to come back to you as soon as possible.



Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Stochastics Too Gives Sell Signal

After flat American and Asian markets, nothing much was expected from the Indian markets too. And, as expected, the opening was nothing to talk about. Today was F&O expiry day and on F&O expiry days markets generally remain volatile. That was not the case this expiry. The Nifty, after a week opening, started going down and it wasn’t until 1:45pm that the fall stopped. But by that time, the NSE index had already shed about 80 points. A little bit of recovery came about post 2 but as the market neared closing, the movement too stopped and the Nifty slipped into a 10-15 points range after that. Today, Thursday, was a good day for the European markets and so does it look for the American markets. The London FTSE and the German DAX closed with gains of 2% while the French CAC was up 3%. The Dow Jones, at the time of writing, was trading with gains of almost 3%. Crude had increased to $108.65 intra day but had come back to $106.90.

Attached above is the daily chart of Nifty along with two moving averages and a stochastics oscillator. The chart has been zoomed in to show only 3 months data so that we get a closer look at the moving averages. The thick green line at the bottom is the support that the Nifty respected twice at 3800. Among the moving averages, the green one is the 21 day moving average while the brown one is the 10 day moving average. Both moving averages are important and provide good signals in their respective time frames. Here, as discussed in one of my previous newsletters, the prices had come below the 21 day exponential moving average and had given a sell signal on 11th Sep 2008. The 10 day moving average also gives similar signals, except that it gives a quicker response than a 21 day moving average. Here, the prices are below both the moving averages and both of them should provide resistance to the Nifty. The 10 day moving average provides resistance near 4170 while 4229 happens to be the level for the 21 day moving average. As regards stochastics, the 5,3 day stochastics slowed to 3 days has given us a sell signal yesterday.

With the American and European markets good today, chances are that we might open strong too. In case we don’t, or if we do and then come down then support comes in near the green line (the thinner one) near 4073-4075. A move below this level should, rather could, bring us to levels of 4000, 3950 and possibly 3800. With the new F&O series taking over tomorrow, let us see how it makes the Nifty behave.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Nifty Inside Contracting Triangle, Wait For Breakout

The Nifty remained range bound today. After opening with a slight positive gap it went up a little further but shortly before 1pm, it started its downward journey. Around 3pm, after it recorded its low of the day, a little bit of recovery came about, especially in the last 30 minutes, which helped the Nifty close with a gain of about 34 points. International cues too do not suggest anything. Asian markets closed flat with a slight positive bias while European markets had a slight negative bias in them. American markets, at the moment stand completely unchanged and the Dow Jones, till now today, has had a small intraday movement of about 100 points. Crude is flat too and is currently trading near $105.

Seen above is the 30 minutes chart of the Nifty. As can be seen, the Nifty is making a pattern of a right angled triangle with a straight bottom. The prices, for the last four days have been contracting within this triangle. Such straight bottom triangles are essentially bearish patterns but my experience tells me that with them the direction cannot be predicted. The best way would be to wait to let the prices break out of the triangle and we then take a position in the direction of the triangle. For tomorrow, the levels are between 4115 and 4200. Buy above 4200 or sell below 4115. If the pattern is broken on the downside, then we could have a target of 3990 on the charts.

At the moment, the MACD is hovering around zero and the MACD line is moving so close to its signal line that it suggests a lot of confusion and indecision in the markets. And obviously, a contracting triangle and trend channels, in themselves, are signs of confusion.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Nifty Falls, Ignores Island Reversal Pattern

The Nifty opened weak today, as was expected, because of the weak American and Asian markets. The Dow Jones was down 372 points overnight while all Asian markets, except Nikkei, were trading in the red with Hang Seng leading the pack, which finally closed with a loss of 759 points, down 3.87%. Followed by a weak opening, the Nifty did try to recover but the happiness lasting only about an hour or so, after which the index started its decline. Another attempt at recovery came shortly after noon but that too didn’t last long and from there it was a steady decline for the Nifty through the day. The island reversal pattern seen on the Nifty two days back was completely ignored today.

Seen above is the tick by tick chart of the Nifty. As seen from the chart, the Nifty, early in the morning, after going to 4150 started going up, made a top near 4190, and came down to 4171.35. Then a small recovery took it past its highs of the day, went up to 4224.60 came down to 4171.35 again, climbed to 4203.30 and finally broke through 4171.35, thus completing a bearish head and shoulders pattern. With the top of the head at 4224.60 and the neckline at 4171.35, the target was 53.25 points (4224.60-4171.35) below 4171.35. This gave us a target level of 4118.10 (4171.35-53.25) on the Nifty. So, we saw a bearish head and shoulders pattern being formed, being confirmed and the target achieved, all in one day. And we can see that after this head and shoulders pattern target was achieved, there was an immediate bounce in the price from that level. This case was more like a case of a perfect head and shoulders pattern. In most cases, either the neckline is not straight, or the shoulders are not perfect or the target is not achieved or the price overshoots the target. But then, life is never perfect. One has to live it the way it is offered to us and make the best of it.

Well, that was the intra day chart for today only, but what is the forecast for tomorrow or the days after that? To try and forecast what the market would do is like trying and forecasting whether the next toss of a coin would be a heads or a tail. The market remains as unpredictable as ever and most of the times move against our wishes/forecast. But we also know that when it does move in our favour, most of the times we get a move big enough to wipe off most of our losses. That is where technical analysis comes in handy, where 7 trades out of 10 turn out to be loss making trades, but the remaining three trades are big enough to wipe the 7 losses and giving us a net profit. Technical Analysis only helps us increase the probability of making a profit. One of my previous posts title “The Probability of Profitability” very well explains this. Well, and to do that we have to analyse to see what our analysis says.

Attached above is the 30 minutes chart of the Nifty, which gives us a slightly longer term view than what the intra day chart gives us. Notice that in this chart, the bearish head and shoulders pattern, which was so clear in the tick by tick chart, is not visible here. Last week we had seen the Nifty slip into a narrow range between 3950 and 4100. This range has been marked by a trend channel/rectangle. Notice that the upper end of the rectangle lies somewhere between 4090 and 4100 and not exactly 4100. Also shown in this chart is the Moving Averages Convergence Divergence (MACD) and the upper line of the rectangle extended till date. This extended line tells us that there is support available between 4090 and 4100. The MACD, which had given a sell signal yesterday, reaffirmed it today by going below the equilibrium line at 0. Notice that there is a blue coloured trendline here too which shows that there maybe support available for the MACD at current levels, which, if broken, would have bearish implications. There are also Fibonacci retracement levels drawn on the chart for the two day rise from 3800 to 4300. These Fibonacci levels tell us that the 38.2% level is still intact may (or may not) provide support at 4112. If this is breached, the next Fibonacci levels of support are at 4050 and 3995, being the 50% and the 61.8% retracement levels, respectively. For now, we can just wait and watch, which of these levels does the Nifty feel worthy enough to respect.

As far as the international markets are concerned, the London FTSE and French CAC closed with a loss of about 2% while the German DAX lost 1% of its value. American markets are more or less flat at the moment while the crude has come off its yesterday's highs and was today in the vicinity of $106 a barrel.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Outlook Good for the Nifty After Island Reversal

After a fascinating run up in the Nifty in the last two days, it sure had some breath catching to do. Markets are half human, which means that if we get exhausted after a brisk run, so do the markets. And the run up seen in the last two days was much more than what we can call a ‘brisk run’. So, obviously, the markets needed some rest and they got it today. The Nifty managed to go about 50 points up in the first 30 minutes of the day and made a high of 4303 (as compared to my analysis yesterday that it had resistance at 4300). Soon enough, it started coming down and finally ended the day with a loss of 22 points while the BSE Sensex closed 47 points down. As of now, European markets closed in the red with prices paring upto 1.5% while the Dow Jones is more than 2% down. Crude has shot up to almost $128, a jump of $25 in a day. So, all international cues, at the time of writing this post, are negative.

Seen above is the 30 minutes chart of the Nifty. We shall discuss island reversal techniques here. The Nifty on Monday last (15th Sep 2008) opened with a huge negative gap when Delhi was rocked by serial bomb blasts on Saturday, 13th Sep 2008, and Lehman Brothers in the USA declared bankruptcy. Three days later, on 18th Sep 2008, the markets opened with another big downward gap but soon recovered and the very next day it opened with a big positive gap after the US government bailed out insurance giant AIG by granting them a loan of $85 billion in return for 80% stake in the company. These gaps created a pattern known as an island reversal pattern. In such a pattern the prices open with a downward/upward gap, trade in a narrow range for sometime, and then open with another gap on the opposite side thus creating a candle or a cluster of candles to be separated from the rest of the candles. A cluster at the bottom is a bullish sign while a cluster on the top is a bearish sign. It is usually said that in case of an island reversal, chances are reasonably high that prices would return to the point from where the previous trend started. In this case the last downtrend started from 4540, so the charts suggest a rally to that level. More on island reversals can be read on Bedford and Associates and Incredible Charts. There are lot of other sites with information on island reversals. The chart above has today’s price candles inside a square which has been zoomed into and that shows another candle today which is separated from the rest of the prices, another short term bullish sign. Needless to say that an island cluster holds more significance and is more reliable than a single candle formed as an island.

Seen above is the same 30 minutes chart of Nifty but with another set of information. We are trying to use some Fibonacci rules on this chart. The prices started coming down from a high of 4538 on 8th Sep 2008 and touched a low of 3800 on 18th Sep 2008. Then the trend reversed and the prices rallied and retraced almost 61.8% in a matter of two days as shown by the Fibonacci retracement levels in dark green and in large brown numbers. A small rest is being taken by the Nifty currently. There are two possibilities. If we are in a bear market, we could see all these gains wiped out and should see prices coming below 3800. But if we are in a bull market then the most reasonable ‘rest’ that we can expect is a retracement of 23.6% or 38.2% of the rise seen in the last two days. As seen by the Fibonacci retracement levels in light green, a 23.6% retracement should see prices down to 4190 levels while a 38.2% retracement would bring us down to 4115. As already mentioned, international cues are all negative at the moment.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Minor Resistances Close By, Short Term Trend Up

The Indian markets saw two days of amazing gains when all the world markets were displaying weakness. Bad news now does bring the markets down but the markets are not being able to sustain the weakness. The bulls have a clear advantage now, at least in the short term. On Friday the Nifty opened with an upward gap of about 100 points and surprisingly continued in the same direction. Friday, in fact, was a good day for all markets over the world. The Asian markets were between 4% and 10% up with Hang Seng leading the pack with gains of 9.61% and Shanghai following a close second with 9.46% gains. The Indian markets, as we all know, were more than 5% up with Nifty closing with gains of 207 points and BSE Sensex jumping 726 points. The European markets also closed with gains between 5 and 10% with the French CAC jumping 9.2% and London FTSE gaining 8.8%.

Seen above is the daily chart of the Nifty, which shows the big jump in the last two days. 450 points in 2 days. This rally came after the head and shoulders target was achieved at 3800, which also happened to be a major support as the lowest low (actually 3790) formed in recent times (July 2008). A rally should have come back and found resistance near the neckline at 4200 but there was not even a hint of resistance at those levels. The Nifty easily crossed 4200 and after making a high at 4262, finally ended the day at 4245. There is some bit of resistance near current levels at 4250, at 4300 and then 4350. A major resistance comes in at or near 4500. An indicator added on the charts today is a 21 day exponential moving average which usually gives very good support/resistance levels in trending markets. This can be seen on the chart shown above too. The 21 day EMA level for Friday was 4264 and the Nifty made a high of 4262.65. Coincidence? No, it happens a number of times. If this indeed is a trending market then a break above this should be decisive. Not only that, it will also then act as a support if the price were to come down. But what if it is a sideways market? Well, then we should see the price coming down below it soon enough. The moving averages have also proved, time and again, that they are useless in sideways markets.

Now since 4200 was a significant level for us and since the price has now managed to move above it on Friday, it should now act as a good support for the Nifty. One could consider buying in the short term with a stop loss at 4200. One may think of using the ‘trailing stop loss’ technique as each level of 4250, 4300 and 4350 is ticked off by the Nifty. Consider exiting beween 4450 and 4500.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Positive On the Markets

Since a number of days now, I have been talking of a target of 3800 on the Nifty. This morning because of the global weakness the Nifty opened weak and touched that target of 3800. In fact, so close was the prediction that today’s low on the Nifty happened to be 3799.55. And once the target was achieved, the Nifty started moving up. The move up was steady and consistent and so good was the recovery that the Nifty finally managed to close near the highs of the day with a gain of 30 points. The high made today was 4050.10, which means an intraday recovery of 250.55 points. Such a good day changes the outlook totally. Crude, as of now, is trading flat near $96 while gold, after a stunning $70 rise yesterday is up again by $46 or 6%.

Seen above is the daily chart of the Nifty. Three days out of the last four have displayed candles with long lower shadows, as marked by the green arrows. Two of these candles have very small bodies and, in comparison, very long lower shadows. Today’s candle, in candlestick charting parlance, is also called a hammer. And it is named a hammer not only because it looks like one but also because such candles are found near the end of a downtrend and it is said that such candles are ‘hammering out a base’. Options outlet says the following about a hammer.

So, is this the end of the bear market? Well, we can’t say for sure. The prices have started ‘hammering out a base’, inflation has stabilized, crude prices have softened and India does not seem to be having too much of an impact of the credit crisis in the US. Who knows, this may be the end of the bear market. But hey, look at the world around you. There is so much of pessimism around. Surely, India cannot remain insulated from the problems in the rest of the world. Hmm, maybe it cannot. Or maybe it can. But as far as pessimism around the world is concerned, I would again like to point out what Sir John Templeton said. He said that “Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria.”

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, according to Moneycontrol says that India is still in a long term bull market and that the current phase is only an interruption to that bull market. His logic is simple. That had we seen the market rise from 3000 to 13000 and then come down to 11000, it would have been termed as a correction. Now when we have seen so much of greed and so many excesses that the markets went to 22000 and then came down to 13000 then why are we not calling this phase a correction too? Shireen Bhan, in that context, in conversation with him mentioned that we have recently seen ‘the mother of all bull markets’ to which Rakesh Jhunjhunwala immediately disagreed and said the ‘the mother of all bull markets’ was yet to come. This conversation with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala will be telecast on CNBC this Saturday at 7:30 pm or Sunday at 10:30 pm. Watch it.

Shankar Sharma of First Global, though, remains a bear and says that the Sensex may not be able to reconquer its previous highs for the next 2-3 years and that it may come down to 10000-11000 levels.

But Vikas, where does that leave us? Do we remain bullish or bearish? Well, I have given you both sides of the market. You decide for yourself what you want to be. I, personally, am not too bearish on the markets, especially after seeing the candles formed in the last four days.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Nifty Slips Into Another Range, Gold Shoots Up

The Nifty today opened weak, stayed weak, made a weak attempt to recover after noon but failed and became weaker after the European markets opened weak. So, there is weakness all around. The only thing that’s not weak is Gold, which went up sharply today rising $84, almost 11%.

After breaking down from the double top pattern formed on the 30 minutes charts a few days ago, the Nifty achieved its target at the opening bell of the third day. After achieving the target, the Nifty has now slipped into another range, this time on the 30 minutes charts, as seen above. This range is between 3950 and 4100. While the target on the daily charts remains 3800, it will be only after this range is broken through on the downside. In case the prices break out decisively above this range, that target of 3800 will be cancelled, at least for the time being.

If the prices do break out of this range on the downside, what will be the target on the 30 minutes charts? Well, this range is 150 points wide (4100-3950) and a breakdown will give us an additional 150 points which gives us a target of 3800 (3950-150). So, well, that conforms to our views/target on the daily charts.

That’s fine, but which side is the market likely to break out on? Well, we don’t know. That is what happens in a range. In a range, not only is the market confused/unsure, it confuses us too. Well, we may get some early indication from oscillator indicators when there is a divergence visible, but in this case the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is also not showing any visible divergences. This means, that we shall have to wait till a divergence is visible (which may or may not come) or for the market to come out of the range. So, for now, it is buy above 4100 and sell below 3950 (in the short term). Investors are advised to wait for now and not take any long positions, at least not till the market either achieves 3800 or breaks out on the upside above 4100.

But the international markets may provide some cues. There is some good news from the US. The Fed government has agreed to bail out AIG by giving them a $85 billion loan (that will be repaid by liquidating the company) in exchange for a 80% stake in the company. But there are fresh concerns about Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs (the two remaining independent securities firms), the result being that, at the moment, Dow Jones is trading 240 points in the red while the Nasdaq has lost 75 points. Crude remains flat near $97 a barrel. So, all in all, it looks like we are going to have a downside breakout from the range that we are in.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here

Head and Shoulders Confirmed, Pullback to 4200 Possible

First of all I would like to apologise to my readers for not being able to post my comments on the markets yesterday. Though, I love writing and sharing my technical views with my readers, but there are days when I have meetings with clients in the evening and sometimes over dinner and those days it becomes difficult for me to post my views. Anyways, I am back today.

Saturday evening, Delhi was rocked by serial bomb blasts. By opening on Monday morning there was news that Lehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy and that Merrill Lynch was being sold out to Bank of America. The US government confirmed today that Lehman Brothers would not be bailed out. Insurance giant, American International Group (AIG), has asked the Fed for a loan of $40 billion and it is uncertain as yet whether it would help or not. With such news floating around in the market, the markets were bound to go down and the trading range between 4200-4650 was finally broken, but on the downside.

As of today, the London FTSE closed 120 points down losing 2.3%, the German DAX lost 1.12% while the French CAC was virtually unaffected losing only 0.81%. The Asian markets were much worse today (Tuesday) with the Hong Kong Hang Seng losing 5.44%, the Japanese Nikkei 4.95%, the Shanghai index 4.47% and the Korean Kospi losing 4.6%. Compared to them, the feat which the Nifty accomplished was mind boggling. After losing more than 153 points at one point during the day, the Nifty still managed to close in the green, albeit only 2 points.

Attached above is the daily chart of Nifty with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at the bottom. As seen from the chart, the Nifty has displayed a large head and shoulders pattern formed over a period of almost two months. This bearish head and shoulders pattern gives us a target of 3800 on the charts and it is quite possible that we may achieve that. Looking at the candles formed over the last two days. Both these candles have long lower shadows and today’s candle was a doji with a very long lower shadow. This should be bullish for the market in the short term. And, technically too, in all patterns which witness a breakout, on a number of occasions there are pullbacks. In this head and shoulders breakout too, we may see a pullback which means that the prices may retrace back to 4200 or nearabouts before continuing on their way to 3800.

A few days back I received, on my blog, a comment from Krishnamurthy, who said that he is short in Nifty since 4500 levels because he believed that Nifty had completed the 2nd wave zig zag and that had started the 3rd wave down. Krishnamurthy once sent me an e-book on Elliott Waves and gave me a couple of helpful tips. While I am a novice in Elliott Waves, Krishnamurthy has done a lot of research on it. Krishna, if you are reading this may I please invite you to contribute on my blog from time to time so that not only me, but all my readers too may benefit from your analysis. Please send in your articles to me by e-mail and I’ll post them on to the blog.

Please do subscribe to my posts, so that all posts are delivered free to your inbox and you don't miss any useful analysis of the markets in the future.

Happy Investing!!!

Read the Full Post Here