Overbought/Oversold Indicators
Yelling “Fire” In A Crowded Theater?
The latest market down-leg triggered one of our short-term breadth oscillators into super-oversold territory. While “oversold” may sound bullish to most contrarians, when SPX becomes as internally weak on a 10-day basis as it did in early October, there’s usually another shoe to drop.
Down—But Not Washed Out
Based on a short-term perspective, stocks may be ripe for a bounce. However, the S&P 500 has not reached “oversold” territory since early 2016, and it is still a long way from doing so. Of the major indexes, only the Russell 2000 is now positioning to soon claim a “low-risk buy” signal.
Nothing Close To A “Thrust”
Many technicians claim that the rallies of late March and late May generated impressive “breadth thrusts.” We’re skeptical: We’ve tested many tools that attempt to capture such a phenomenon, and found that the most reliable thrust signals aren’t ones that show up every couple of months.
Isn’t That Super?
Washed-out investor sentiment and “oversold” stock market oscillators are usually good reasons to get more invested in stocks. But in the case of super-oversold conditions, it is commonly a forewarning that another wave of selling is yet to come.
“Oversold” Doesn’t Mean “BUY”
In difficult market periods, Steve Leuthold liked to distinguish between conventionally oversold markets and those that had become “Jesus Christ oversold.” Recent action clearly qualifies as the latter. There are many ways to define a “dangerously” oversold condition, but the one that always raises our antenna is now flashing extreme selling pressure that might take longer than usual to mitigate.
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