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The question on many investors’ minds is “are we in a bond bear market?” Given that long-term treasuries have lost roughly 17% since July of 2016 it is a fair question.

The main model that I use is still bearish on bonds (more on this topic below). Still, there are a few potential “lights at the end of the bond tunnel” – at least potentially in the near-term.

Long-Term Rates

My mega long-term “fail-safe” bond trend indicator appears in Figure 1. It is the yield on 30 year treasuries (ticker TYX – which is multiplied by 10 for some unknown reason) with a 120-month exponential moving average.

Figure 1 – 30-Yr. Treasury yields (Ticker TYX) with 120-month average (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

When the day comes that TYX breaks out above the 120-month moving average I for one will officially designate the great bond bull market as “over.” And that day is coming. But for what it’s worth – it’s not quite here yet.

Metals Positive for Bonds

In this article I wrote about a bond timing model that uses the relationship between gold and copper. Like a lot of timing models of all stripes it does a good job of differentiating good times for bonds from bad times for bonds, but is very far from perfect.

It goes like this:

A = Gold / Copper

B = 30-day moving average of A

C = 80-day moving average of A

D = B – C

If D > 0 = Bullish for bonds*

If D < 0 = Bearish for bonds*

*- with a 1-day lag

This indicator flipped to bullish at the close on 2/7/18 after being bearish since 7/10/2017.

Figure 2 displays the action of ticker TLT since the last “sell” signal in July 2017. As you can see, in the end it ended up being “correct” as TLT was lower on 2/7/18 than it was on 7/10/17. But that was not the case until the last week or so. So for most of the time during this bearish period TLT traded higher.

Figure 2 – Ticker TLT with recent Jay’s Metal Model signals (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

What is most important however is to focus on the long-term results. In Figure 2 the blue line depicts the growth of equity achieved by holding long 1 t-bond futures contract ONLY when the model is bullish while the red line depicts the growth of equity achieved by holding long 1 t-bonds futures contract ONLY when the model is bearish (red line).

Figure 2 – T-bond futures $ gain/loss when Jay’s Metal Model is bullish (blue line) versus when model is bearish (red line)

The long-term difference in performance is fairly obvious. That being said it should also be noted that the blue line is by no means a series of straight line advances, i.e., there is no guarantee that this latest bullish signal will prove fortuitous, especially given that we may be transitioning from a long-term bond bull market to a long-term bond near market.

One More Possible Piece of Good News

In this article I applied an indicator I originally learned from Tom McClellan at http://www.mcoscillator.com to weekly TLT. This indicator looks at the number of times TLT has been up minus the number of times down over the past 20 weeks. Very often a drop to -2 or below followed by an upside reversal of 2 points (i.e., it drops to -2 then subsequently rises to 0, or drops to -3 then rises to -1 and so on) has presaged a favorable up move in bonds. This indicator applied to TLT recently fell to -2 and may flash a favorable signal soon (please note that it HAS NOT given a buy signal yet and that it could take several weeks before it does).

Figure 3 – Weekly TLT with UpDays20 Indicator (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

One Piece of “Still Bad News”

In this article I wrote about one of the main bond models I use that uses the trend in Japanese stocks to trade bonds inversely, i.e., if Japanese stocks are bearish it is bullish for bonds and vice versa. I use a 5-week and 30-week moving average to quantify Japanese stocks as “bullish” or “bearish”.

In Figure 4 when the blue line in the top clip is above the red line this is considered bearish for bonds and when the blue line is below the red line it is considered bullish for bonds. For now the blue 5-week average line is still well above the red 30-week average, so this indicator still designates the trend for bonds as “bearish”.

Figure 4 – Ticker TLT tends to trade inversely to ticker EWJ (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

Summary

So are bonds due to rally? Well, it seems like at least a short-term bounce could be in the offing. That being said, with bonds breaking down sharply at the moment, 1) this “idea” is geared for “traders” who are not afraid of (and are unacquainted with) taking risks, 2) it might make sense to wait for the UpDays20 indicator discussed above to tick higher by two points – which could take up to several weeks to play out – before “taking the plunge.”

As always I am not “recommending” anything, just highlighting what I see. For longer-term investors the “Boring Bond Index” bond strategy I wrote about here remains a viable long-term approach to bond investing.

Jay Kaeppel

Disclaimer: The data presented herein were obtained from various third-party sources. While I believe the data to be reliable, no representation is made as to, and no responsibility, warranty or liability is accepted for the accuracy or completeness of such information. The information, opinions and ideas expressed herein are for informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute and should not be construed as investment advice, an advertisement or offering of investment advisory services, or an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.

In the article linked below, investor and Forbes columnist Kenneth Fisher writes about what to look for at a market top (How to Tell a Bull Market from a Bear Market Blip). One piece of advice that I have heard him offer before is to wait at least 3 months after a top in price to worry about whether or not we are in a bear market. That is good advice and provided the impetus for a simple trend-following model I follow based on that “wait 3 months” idea.

First, a few key points:

*Trend-following is NOT about picking tops and bottoms or timing the market with “uncanny accuracy”. So don’t expect any trend-following system to do so.

*The primary edge in any trend-following method is simply missing as much of the major soul – and capital – crushing bear markets as possible, with the understanding that you will miss some of the upside during bull markets.

The Good News:

*Starting in November 1970 this system has beaten a buy and hold strategy

*This system requires no math. There are no moving averages, etc. Anyone can look at a monthly S&P 500 bar chart and generate the signals. And it literally takes less than 1 minute per month to update.

The Bad News:

*Every trend-following method known to man experiences whipsaws, i.e., a sell signal followed by a buy signal at a higher price. This system is no exception.

*Due to said whipsaws this system has significantly underperformed the S&P 500 buy-and-hold since the low in early 2009.

For what it’s worth, my educated guess is that following the next prolonged bear market, that will change. But there are no guarantees.

OK, all the caveats in place, here goes.

Jay’s Monthly SPX Bar Chart Trend-Following System

*This system uses a monthly price bar chart for the S&P 500 (SPX) to generate trading signals.

*For the purposes of this method, no action is taken until the end of the month, even if a trend change is signaled earlier in the month.

*A buy signal occurs when during the current month, SPX exceeds its highest price for the previous 6 calendar months.

A sell signal occurs as follows:

a) SPX registers a month where the high for the month if above the high of the previous month. We will call this the “swing high”.

b) SPX then goes 3 consecutive monthly bars without exceeding the “swing high.” When this happens, note the lowest low price registered during those 3 months. We will call this price the “sell trigger price.”

c) An actual sell trigger occurs at the end of a month when SPX register a low that is below the “sell trigger price”, HOWEVER,

d) If SPX makes a new monthly high above the previous “swing high” BEFORE it registers a low below the “sell trigger price” the sell signal alert is aborted

Sounds complicated right? It’s not. Let’s illustrate on some charts.

In the charts that follow:

*An Up green arrow marks a buy signal

*A Down red arrow marks a sell signal

*A horizontal red line marks a “sell trigger price”.

Sometimes a sell trigger price is hit and is marked by a down red arrow as a sell signal. Other times a sell trigger price is aborted by SPX making a new high and negating the potential sell signal.

Figure 1 – SPX signals 1970-1979 (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

Figure 2 – SPX signals 1980-1989 (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

Figure 3 – SPX signals 1990-1999 (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

Figure 4 – SPX signals 2000-2009 (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

Figure 5 – SPX signals 2010-present (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

To demonstrate results we will use monthly close price data for SPX. If the system is bullish then the system will hold SPX for that month. If the system is bearish we will assume interest is earned at an annual rate of 1% per year.

Figure 6 displays the results of the System versus Buy and Hold starting with $1,000 starting November 1970 through 1994 (roughly 24 years).

Figure 6 – Growth of $1,000 invested using System versus Buy-and-Hold; Nov-1970 through Dec-1994

Figure 7 displays the results of the System versus Buy and Hold starting with $1,000 starting at the end of 1994 through the most recent close.

Figure 7 – Growth of $1,000 invested using System versus Buy-and-Hold; Dec-1994 through Feb-2018

Figure 8 displays the growth of $1,000 generated by holding the S&P 500 Index ONLY when the trend-following system is bearish. In Figure 8 you will see exactly what I mentioned at the outset – that the key is simply to miss some of the more severe effects of bear markets along the way.

Figure 8 – Growth of $1,000 invested ONLY when trend-following model is Bearish; 1970-2018

Finally, Figure 9 displays trade-by-trade results (using month-end price data).

Figure 9 – Trade-by-trade results; Month end price data

Summary

So is this “The World Beater, Best Thing Since Sliced Bread” system? Not at all. If you had started using this system in real time in March of 2009 chances are by now you would have abandoned it and moved on to something else, as the whip saw signals in 2011-2012 and 2016 has the System performing worse than buy and hold over a 9 year period.

But here is the thing to remember. Chances are prolonged bear markets have not been eradicated, never to occur again. 100+ years of market history demonstrates that bear markets of 12 to 36 months in duration are simply “part of the game”. And it is riding these bear markets to the depths that try investors souls – and wipe out a lot of their net worth in the process.

Chances are when the next 12 to 36 month bear market rolls around – and it will – a trend-following method similar to the one detailed here may help you to “save your sorry assets” (so to speak).

Jay Kaeppel

The post Trend Following in One Minute a Month appeared first on AIQ TradingExpert Pro.

!WEEKLY & DAILY PPO !Author: Vitali Apirine, TASC Feb 2018 !Coded by: Richard Denning 12/17/17 !www.TradersEdgeSystems.com !INPUTS: S is 12. L is 26. EMA1 is expavg([Close],S). EMA2 is expavg([Close],L). EMA3 is expavg([Close],S*5). EMA4 is expavg([Close],L*5). DM is (EMA1 - EMA2)/EMA4*100. WM is (EMA3 - EMA4)/EMA4*100. WD_PPO is WM + DM.

Mid-Term	Pre-Election	Mid-Term Feb through Sep	Mid-Term Oct thru Pre-Election July
1934	1935	(18.5)	21.8
1938	1939	14.5	(1.6)
1942	1943	0.5	32.0
1946	1947	(19.4)	5.3
1950	1951	14.1	15.2
1954	1955	23.9	34.7
1958	1959	20.0	20.9
1962	1963	(18.3)	22.9
1966	1967	(17.6)	23.8
1970	1971	(0.8)	13.4
1974	1975	(34.2)	39.7
1978	1979	14.9	1.2
1982	1983	0.0	35.0
1986	1987	9.2	37.8
1990	1991	(7.0)	26.7
1994	1995	(3.9)	21.5
1998	1999	3.7	30.6
2002	2003	(27.9)	21.5
2006	2007	4.4	8.9
2010	2011	6.3	13.2
2014	2015	10.6	6.7

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