{"id":5955,"date":"2017-10-25T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/market-minute\/brace-yourself-for-a-quick-decline\/"},"modified":"2017-10-25T07:30:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T07:30:00","slug":"brace-yourself-for-a-quick-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/brace-yourself-for-a-quick-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Brace Yourself for a Quick Decline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \tThe stock market is set up for a one- or two-day smackdown, similar to what we saw in mid-April and mid-August.<\/p>\n<p> \tThe Volatility Index (VIX) has spiked more than 10% since Friday&rsquo;s closing level, even though the S&amp;P 500 hasn&rsquo;t budged. This sort of rise in the VIX while the stock market doesn&rsquo;t go anywhere is often a warning sign that there&rsquo;s a big, quick drop coming.<\/p>\n<p> \tLook at this updated chart of the VIX&hellip;<\/p>\n<p> \t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/assets.jeffclarktrader.com\/ee-assets\/channels\/articles\/Screen_Shot_2017-10-25_at_11.36.19.png\" style=\"width:100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p> \tYou&rsquo;ll recall I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/why-im-preparing-for-volatility-this-week\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">showed you this chart just last week<\/a>. Back then, we noted that the width of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/glossary#bollingerbands\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bollinger Bands<\/a> was at the smallest distance of the year. A similar condition in August occurred just before the VIX surged 60% higher.<\/p>\n<p> \tNow we have another similar condition on the chart&hellip;<\/p>\n<p> \tOn Monday, the VIX closed above its upper Bollinger Band. This is a rare condition that only happens a few times each year. It means that volatility has increased rapidly.<\/p>\n<p> \tIt often occurs with oversold conditions in the broad stock market. And it eventually leads to a buy signal for stocks when the VIX closes back inside the bands.<\/p>\n<p> \tBut&hellip; and this is a really big BUT&hellip; when the Bollinger Bands are tight &ndash; as they are today and as they were in August &ndash; the first move above the bands is a breakout move for the VIX. It&rsquo;s the beginning of a big move higher in volatility. And that usually comes with a big move lower in the stock market.<\/p>\n<p> \tHere&rsquo;s how the S&amp;P 500 performed when the VIX made this move back in August&hellip;<\/p>\n<p> \t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/assets.jeffclarktrader.com\/ee-assets\/channels\/articles\/Screen_Shot_2017-10-25_at_11.53.16.png\" style=\"width:100%; \" \/><\/p>\n<p> \tThe S&amp;P 500 dropped from 2480 down to 2440 in just three days. That&rsquo;s 40 points, or almost 2% &ndash; with the bulk of the drop happening two days after the VIX first closed above its upper Bollinger Band.<\/p>\n<p> \tA similar move this time around would knock the S&amp;P 500 down to about the 2530 level over the next day or two.<\/p>\n<p> \tIt doesn&rsquo;t have to play out that way, of course. But I like the odds of a quick decline from here. And I&rsquo;ve added some small short exposure to my portfolio, just in case.<\/p>\n<p> \tBest regards and good trading,<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:20px;\"> \t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/casey-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/images\/misc\/jeff-clark-signature.png\" style=\"max-width: 150px; width:150px\" width=\"150\" \/><\/div>\n<p> \tJeff Clark<\/p>\n<p> \t<strong>P.S.<\/strong>&nbsp;Did you see what happened to bitcoin yesterday?<\/p>\n<p> \tAfter trading as high as &#36;5,895, the price of a single bitcoin dropped to &#36;5,460. That&rsquo;s a 7% drop in just a few hours. Is this the start of a big correction in the cryptocurrency space? Or is this a buying opportunity ahead of a major rally?<\/p>\n<p> \tI can&rsquo;t tell you. <a href=\"https:\/\/research.palmbeachgroup.com\/789088\">But my colleague Teeka Tiwari can<\/a>. Teeka is my go-to expert for everything related to digital currencies.<\/p>\n<p> \tIf you&rsquo;ve ever considered trading bitcoin, or any of the dozens of other cryptocurrencies, then you should follow Teeka&rsquo;s lead.<\/p>\n<p> \tTeeka is hosting a special educational webinar on digital currencies on November 2 at 8 p.m. ET\/PT. <a href=\"https:\/\/research.palmbeachgroup.com\/789088\">You can sign up for it right here&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n<h2> \tReader Mailbag<\/h2>\n<p> \tIn today&rsquo;s Mailbag, we hear about two readers&rsquo; experiences with the recent HOG earnings trade&hellip;<\/p>\n<p> \tFor Jeff&#39;s latest guidance on this trade, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/jeff-clark-direct\/hog-earnings-trade-update-v\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"    padding: 10px 20px;     margin: 0 0 20px;     font-size: 17.15px;     border-left: 5px solid #eee;\">\n<p> \t\tThe HOG trade was too thin. You could hardly get in and out. I would not have recommended it to us.<\/p>\n<p align=\"right\"> \t\t<span align=\"right\" style=\"width:100%;display:block;clear:both;float:right;text-align:right\"><strong style=\"width:100%;display:block;clear:both;float:right;text-align:right\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\">&ndash;<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"> Otis I.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"    padding: 10px 20px;     margin: 0 0 20px;     font-size: 17.15px;     border-left: 5px solid #eee;\">\n<p> \t\tJeff, just read your latest update, I don&#39;t understand why subscribers don&#39;t get it!<\/p>\n<p> \t\tIs being a subscriber of a newsletter mean that YOU hold their hand through the entire trade and common sense goes out the window? If folks got stuck in the trade then they were not watching it. Earnings trades are risky. You even said to be ready to sell quickly! If you (the subscriber) were actually watching the trade, you would have seen that the option was hitting a lot of resistance at &#36;2.05&mdash;it went back and forth for half an hour before it pulled back. That is when you should have sold during this resistance. It was a scalp\/day\/earnings trade. I was able to sell at &#36;2.00 today after my internet came back up.<\/p>\n<p> \t\tIt cracks me up. I have traded with you on the Congo using a puck, 30,000 feet on Wi-Fi from a plane, and now here in Baghdad and somehow I manage to trade.<\/p>\n<p align=\"right\"> \t\t<span align=\"right\" style=\"width:100%;display:block;clear:both;float:right;text-align:right\"><strong style=\"width:100%;display:block;clear:both;float:right;text-align:right\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\">&ndash;<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\">&nbsp;Karl H.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> \tLately we&rsquo;ve been getting a lot of feedback related to the Jeff Clark Trader mobile app (here are the links for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/jeff-clark-trader\/id1217417792?mt=8\" target=\"_BLANK\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.jeffclarktrader.mobile&amp;hl=en\" target=\"_BLANK\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Android<\/a>) the website, and how they can be improved. For those having issues, just know that there&rsquo;s a massive update in the works which should be in your hands in the coming months&hellip;<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"    padding: 10px 20px;     margin: 0 0 20px;     font-size: 17.15px;     border-left: 5px solid #eee;\">\n<p> \t\tThanks for the great trades. Learning from you and profiting.<\/p>\n<p> \t\tI am confused about today&rsquo;s trade not getting an alert and not being able to see it on Android. I am in no way blaming anyone just found it very odd I could not find the recent <em>Delta Report<\/em> issue. No place could I find the new trade you mentioned you would be sending in email in 30 minutes. Never saw the email either. Searched through it everywhere.<\/p>\n<p> \t\tWas this just me? On my desktop I did find the alert and created a limit order. Thanks again and I want to repeat, I am not accusing you or the site of any issues only asking if this was an issue only for me or was something up?<\/p>\n<p align=\"right\"> \t\t<span align=\"right\" style=\"width:100%;display:block;clear:both;float:right;text-align:right\"><strong style=\"width:100%;display:block;clear:both;float:right;text-align:right\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\">&ndash;<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 17.15px; width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\"><strong style=\"width: 100%; clear: both; display: inline !important;\">&nbsp;Douglas C.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> \t<strong>Editor&rsquo;s note:<\/strong> Thanks for writing in, Douglas. There was a minor technical issue with the site which caused yesterday&rsquo;s web posting to be delayed. But the good news is, you can still enter the position at the recommended price&hellip;<\/p>\n<p> \tAlso, <i>Delta Report<\/i> issues are always mailed out at 10 a.m. ET. And you should have the domain whitelisted from when you started your service. If you&rsquo;re still having issues receiving your letter, make sure to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffclarktrader.com\/contact-us\" target=\"_BLANK\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">contact customer service here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> \tAnd as always, be sure to send in your trading stories &ndash; along with any questions, suggestions, or concerns &ndash; <a href=\"mailto:mailto:feedback@jeffclarktrader.com\">right here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The stock market is set up for a one- or two-day smackdown\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"service":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"publication":[10],"person":[7],"newsletter-type":[],"ticker":[],"class_list":["post-5955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-minute","publication-market-minute","person-jeff-clark"],"acf":[],"ai_tts_audio_outdated":false,"ai_tts_legacy_post":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5955"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=5955"},{"taxonomy":"person","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person?post=5955"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-type?post=5955"},{"taxonomy":"ticker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ticker?post=5955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}