Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Four Bear Markets and a Setup

By -

As I’ve been working on my post today to look at downside patterns on US equity indices I have realised that this too needs to be split into two posts, so this first TA post will just look at the historical and very compelling current setups on SPX, while the second post will also look at the current setups and targets on QQQ, DIA and IWM.

In my last post overnight, Brave New World, I was looking at the economic reasons why I think that the planned tariff war on the world due to start tomorrow may have a very serious economic impact, particularly on the US economy.

In this post I am looking at last four big bear markets / crash setups on SPX and how they played out, and looking at the setup and targets currently on SPX if we are about to see something similar play out here, as I think we well might.

(more…)

Brave New World

By -

I’ve been mulling over how to do this post for a while because I don’t want to offend readers who might be very sensitive to any criticism, direct or implied, of the Trump administration, and I tend to stay away from any political discussions. However, any objective review of the likely effect of some of that administration’s policies requires an honest discussion of those policies and their likely impact.

Given that I now believe that the odds of seeing a serious bear market this year are high and that a full market crash is increasingly on the cards. I need to do that objective review, and my apologies if anyone is offended. I am just describing the geopolitical and economic realities here as I see them and am not planning to make political commentary a regular feature in my analysis going forward.

(more…)

Taking Stock on Crypto

By -

In my last post on Monday I was looking at the rally setup on Crypto which was decent but looked fragile, and that setup didn’t deliver, with Bitcoin (BTCUSD), Solana (SOLUSD) and Ethereum (ETHUSD) making lower lows and those bottoming setups disintegrating.

I want to have a look at the bigger picture on Crypto today as there are some reasons to think that a larger low may be forming, though with Crypto tied as closely as it is to equity prices, there is an obvious large risk that further equity declines may drag Crypto down into a larger decline.

That risk is very clear on the chart below, where you can see that historically Bitcoin regularly makes a high before equities, but tends strongly to make significant lows with equities.

(more…)

Cry Havoc …….

By -

In my post yesterday I was looking at the very nice rally setup that triggered with the rally on Friday and that looked very promising. It might have failed in any case but yesterday Trump delivered a major news bomb when he confirmed that the threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico would be implemented today, and that further tariffs would be implemented on China, and markets have been dropping hard since then. There is currently every reason to expect that these will be followed by further tariffs on the EU next month, so we may well be looking here at the start of a global trade war. Canada had already announced retaliatory tariffs against the US, in the event of the US imposing 25% tariffs, that will now also be implemented and there is good reason to expect that the EU will react the same way. China is already retaliating of course.

(more…)

Crypto – Crisis? What Crisis?

By -

In my post on 20th February I was looking at the big support levels on Bitcoin (BTCUSD), Solana (SOLUSD) and Ethereum (ETHUSD). I was leaning towards seeing a retracement / consolidation on Crypto in the first half of this year and then strong new highs towards the end of the year with possible bull market highs pencilled in for Nov/Dec 2025.

On Solana I gave three big support ranges and we were testing the second 180-216 range on a weekly close basis at the time. The third level is the 120-150 support/resistance range and by the time of my last post on Tuesday Solana was testing that and, with the low so far today at 125.43, is still holding the lower end of that range. I added that on a break below there is a last level at the Aug 2024 low at 110.02 that, if broken, would then raise a very real question as to whether the bull market is over.

(more…)