{"id":19404,"date":"2022-02-09T07:30:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T12:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/?p=19404"},"modified":"2022-02-09T07:30:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T12:30:08","slug":"when-its-best-to-keep-your-powder-dry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/when-its-best-to-keep-your-powder-dry\/","title":{"rendered":"When It\u2019s Best to Keep Your Powder Dry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One important index that&rsquo;s always on my watchlist is the Core Commodity Index (CRB).<\/p>\n<p>I look at the CRB to give me a snapshot of how the various commodity markets move.<\/p>\n<p>The CRB basket holds 19 different commodities, with the largest holdings in energy and agriculture. Precious and industrial metals make up the rest.<\/p>\n<p>As you might already know, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/why-trading-commodities-can-be-so-lucrative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I love to trade commodities<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Because of its potential for big moves, there&rsquo;s also the potential to capture big gains trading commodities&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>I use the CRB the same way I use the S&amp;P 500.<\/p>\n<p>First, I look at the broad market to develop a general sense of where the market is going.<\/p>\n<p>Then, once I have a directional bias, I can narrow down the individual stocks or commodities for the best opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I want to see if it&rsquo;s a good time to buy into the energy sector.<\/p>\n<p>So, let&rsquo;s start with a weekly timeframe chart of the CRB&hellip;<\/p>\n<div class=\"text-center mb-4\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jeffclarktrader.com\/JMU\/images\/202202\/20220209-jmu-01_frx452.png\" alt=\"Chart\" class=\"img-fluid\" \/><\/div>\n<p>As you can see, the CRB bottomed out in 2020 and has been ripping higher ever since.<\/p>\n<p>The combination of low interest rates and a flood of new money printed by the Fed has been a perfect storm for commodity inflation.<\/p>\n<table bgcolor=\"#eeeeee\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"10\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\" style=\"border: 1px solid #D7D7D7; margin-bottom:20px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding-left: 15px;padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 15px; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px; line-height:24px;\">\n<p align=\"center\"><strong>Free Trading Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Have you checked out Jeff&#8217;s free trading resources on his website? It contains a selection of special reports, training videos, and a full trading glossary to help kickstart your trading career \u2013 at zero cost to you. Just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">click here<\/a> to check it out.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>And while I think that the CRB has higher to go, it&rsquo;s also time for this index to take a breather&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s going on with the CRB&rsquo;s price chart:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p>The CRB is about to trade into a very significant level of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/glossary\/#resistance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">resistance<\/a> at 274.87. This level bounced prices in 2013, before the index crashed through it in 2014. This led to an eventual decline of 59%, with the CRB eventually bottoming out in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Markets have long memories, and this prior <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/glossary\/#support\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">support<\/a> level should now act as resistance as the market trades back towards it.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The price action has blown right through the upper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/glossary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bollinger Band<\/a> (blue shaded area between the lines), telling us the CRB&rsquo;s rally is now extreme. The last time prices traded through the upper band was in October. Shortly afterwards, the CRB pulled back almost 8%.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If we put it all together, the technical case suggests that even if prices trade higher in the short term towards that 274.87 level, the CRB is due for a significant correction.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at the CRB supports Jeff Clark&rsquo;s analysis that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/time-to-hit-pause-on-this-strong-sector\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">energy sector is likely overbought<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes the hardest thing to do as a trader is to wait patiently for the market to come to you&hellip; but it pays off.<\/p>\n<p>Doing nothing and keeping your powder dry is just as valid a trading decision as putting your money to work.<\/p>\n<p>If the market respects the technical levels we&rsquo;ve outlined, then we&rsquo;ll have the opportunity to buy into a hot energy market at significantly better prices.<\/p>\n<p>Happy trading,<\/p>\n<p>Imre Gams<br \/>Analyst, <em>Market Minute<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- MAILBAG BEGIN --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align:center\">Reader Mailbag<\/h2>\n<p>What other commodities have you been following lately?<\/p>\n<p>Let us know your thoughts &ndash; and any questions you have &ndash; at <a href=\"mailto:feedback@jeffclarktrader.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">feedback@jeffclarktrader.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- MAILBAG END --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why the energy sector is due for a pullback&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"service":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"publication":[10],"person":[76],"newsletter-type":[],"ticker":[],"class_list":["post-19404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-minute","publication-market-minute","person-imre-gams"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19404"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=19404"},{"taxonomy":"person","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person?post=19404"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-type?post=19404"},{"taxonomy":"ticker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ticker?post=19404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}