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We often discuss the NYA Index because that is where the big Institutional
Investors do most of their trading due to the volume of their transactions.
But, my favorite index measurement goes to the heart of what Institutional
Investors are really doing. For those who know about Pareto's Principle, it
makes a lot of sense. (For those unfamiliar with Pareto's Principle, here is
an explanatory link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle)
Pareto's Principle therefore suggests that 20% of Institutional stock holdings
would represent 80% of their invested dollars. (The actual percentages are
closer to 30% and 70% right now.)
Since Institutional Investors represent over 50% of any given day's trading
volume, they are a key controlling element in the stock market. It never
pays to go against what Institutional Investors are doing. If they are selling
and you are buying or holding, you will get hurt. If they are buying and you
are selling, you will miss a rally.
So, that is why we monitor the top investments held by Institutional Investors.
Because it is not really an index like the S&P or the Dow, it can't be
manipulated of played with. You can't invest in it, there is no ETF for it,
and there are no options for it.
It changes according to how Institutional Investors redistribute their assets
among different stocks during different market cycles. From a technical analysis
standpoint, it behaves the way indexes used to decades ago without the hedging
and stop running that often goes on. In fact, the top of the recent Bull Market
was signaled after the Institutional "core holdings" index hit a perfect 61.8%
Fibonacci Retracement.
For our paid subscribers, today's update will not be anything new, since they
see an update of our Institutional data every morning. So, today's Institutional
Index update is a courtesy update for our visiting free members.
Below is a 2005-2009 chart of the Institutional "core holdings". The data
for 2009 clearly shows how the index bottomed and has been having a nice rally
... just like the other indexes.
What is going on now, is what is important.
If you take a moment to look at the lower left hand corner of the chart, you
will see a close up of the current rally's movement.
If you look closely, you will see a light blue support line for this rally.
It has 5 touch points, points where the index held and then proceeded to move
higher from there. None of the touch points violated the support line ... except
for the current one which briefly slipped below the support line and then rebounded
last Friday by closing slightly above it.
Here is what it means: It means that the brief support line breach
is a caution notice for investors. It means that the Institutional Index
is once again "testing the rally's support line".
It also means that the current rally did not signal a new Bull Market yet.
Why? Because the current rally's up move has not yet made a "higher/high" over
the previous high ... so technically, this is still part of a longer term down
trend.
What is important now, is for the Institutional Index to hold its current
support line. If it doesn't, that would open up the possibility for the
index to move into a correction modality, taking the other indexes down with
it.
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