Why I Have Targeted Shorts in GRNY and JOET

* Among other reasons, I now want to be short momentum. 

I plan to aggressively expand my ($GRNY) short now and to continue to modestly expand my ($JOET) short (despite my fondness for its portfolio manager Joe Terranova).

Let me give you two straightforward reasons for my tactics:

* Both ETFS are grounded in momentum-based investing. Here are the holdings of GRNY (GRNY Holdings – GRNY GRNJ GRNI | Fundstrat Granny Shots ETFs)  and JOET (JOET – Portfolio – Virtus Terranova US Quality Momentum ETF | Morningstar).  Given my increasingly negative near term market view  I want to now be short momentum (i.e., the leading edge of market leadership).  Shorting these ETFs satisfies my objective of shorting momentum and conforms to my conservative risk profile and appetite, as, for me, it is too dangerous (save very very short term forays on the short side) to position short in SNDK ($SNDK), MU ($MU), AMD ($AMD), INTC ($INTC), AMAT ($AMAT) et al.    

* Both ETFs rebalance with strict multi month disciplines. This disadvantages both ETFs in the event of a violent change in sector leadership. In other words, why be long a momentum based ETF if one hand is tied behind its back?

Any questions about this, please comment in The Comments Section.

Short GRNY M JOET S

 

My Impulse to More Aggressively Short the Indices at 4 AM

When I awoke at 3:30 AM I saw S&P futures +20 handles and the Nasdaq futures +255 handles.

What caught my eye was the outsized gain in the Nasdaq — even though Mag 7 stocks were flat to slightly lower at around 4 AM — it was all due to gaps in semi and memory stocks (especially $MU, $AMD and $SNDK): 

I shorted $SPY and $QQQ because I don’t think that outsized influence and divergence continue for a host of reasons. 

Position: Short SPY (M), QQQ (M)

Basket of Shorts Covered

Housekeeping item.

Into the afternoon swoon I have covered the basket of high-octane/beta shorts I recently put on.

Some of the stocks in the basket include $MU, $AMAT, $SNDK, $AVGO, $MRVL and $TSM.

As I have noted in the Comments Section, this strategy is not recommended for home gamers!

Position: None

Speculative Short Basket Doubled

I doubled the size of my speculative short basket this morning — and not for most homegamers.

My half life on these baskets are short and I am disciplined as this package includes such high-octane stocks as $SNDK, $MU, $AMD, $AMAT, $MRVL and $TSM among others!

In all likelihood I will cover the package by the end of the day — especially if the market averages keep falling.