Digital gold has churned sideways at its prior cycle high, while gold and risk assets have enjoyed a sweet leg higher over the last half-year.

It would be strange for this bull market cycle to end without Bitcoin enjoying a blue-sky breakout.

So, if it's a bull market, shouldn't Bitcoin and friends be participating?

Yes. We're betting that crypto is about to reach escape velocity and have an epic catch up.

Let's talk about it:

Uranium stocks have been screaming higher and show no signs of slowing down.

As the AI Revolution demands more and more power, big technology companies are turning to nuclear energy.

The market is sending a very clear message... we (as investors) need to increase our exposure to uranium stocks.

Check out the recent performance from uranium stocks:

Each bubble's location is determined by its 10-day change on the x-axis, the trailing 3-month return on the y-axis, and the 14-day RSI is the size.

LEU, OKLO, and SMR are the stocks that stand out the most amongst their peers. Each of these 3 leaders is involved with nuclear energy for the AI boom.

The VanEck Uranium Energy ETF $NLR is decisively resolving a multi-decade base:

This fund holds large positions in the largest uranium stocks like Constellation Energy $CEG, Cameco $CCJ, and BWX Technologies $BWXT.

The breakout to new multi-decade highs is happening as breadth in the industry is expanding.

The GlobalX Uranium ETF $URA has a large Cameco...

Earlier this year we wrote about platinum futures gearing up for a breakout as gold futures were printing fresh all-time highs.

So far the trade has been a dud as the price action has been a rangebound mess.

But the former powerhouse is setting up for us to take another swing at it.

Let's talk about the little silver:

It has been two-years since the S&P 500 bottomed in October 2022 and stocks began a new bull market. 

During this time, many sectors and industry groups have enjoyed tremendous uptrends while materials stocks have gone sideways.

But materials stocks are starting to look interesting...

The SPDR Materials Sector ETF $XLB is making new all-time highs:

As you can see, the prior cycle high coincides with a major Fibonacci extension level going back to the Great Financial Crisis, which adds to the significance of this breakout.

This market-capitalization weighted fund has a large exposure to Linde $LIN amongst several other bellwether materials stocks.

We want to be long XLB if it's above 93, with a target of 139.

The Materials Sector holds a lot of the same stocks as the S&P Chemicals Index:

The S&P Chemicals Index is consolidating below a major Fibonacci extension level going back to the Great Financial Crisis and we're betting it will breakout to new all-time highs like XLB.

If CEX is above 985, the path of least resistance is higher toward 1,500.

Representing over 17% of the Materials Sector...

A couple of weeks ago, we talked about Silver futures attempting to emerge from a multi-year accumulation pattern and potentially retesting the former all-time high.

Last week,  Silver made a new multi-decade high in absolute terms and broke a multi-year downtrend line relative to Gold. 

And if the 47th element is about to blast off, we should look closer at the Junior Silver Miners.

But first, check out this chart of the Silver/Gold ratio:

Last week, we discussed China and Gold futures as potential catalysts for resolving a multi-decade basing pattern in Dr. Copper.

If we're in an environment where Copper futures are printing fresh all-time highs, then we should spend some time identifying opportunities in the equities market that benefit from rising base and industrial metal prices globally.

Over the last 6-months, the Steel $SLX, Copper $COPX, and Metals and Mining $XME ETFs have underperformed the S&P 500:

However, the weekly RRG is hinting at a potential rotation back into these stocks during this final quarter of 2024. All 3 of these ETFs are pointing higher and rotating out of the lagging quadrant and into the improving and leading quadrants.

Despite the recent volatility, gold continues its steady ascent, unaffected by the broader market noise. 

As seasonals have shifted and new leadership has come and gone this year, gold remains resilient, moving through market regimes with ease.

Whether stocks rally or risk-off sentiment prevails, gold thrives. The yellow metal has been red-hot all year.

In these times, the saying goes, "there is no fever like gold fever." 

But, is there any evidence of this kind of euphoria among investors yet?

While the COT report suggests sentiment may be overstretched, let’s talk about what we’re seeing on the ground.

There’s little buzz about gold in the financial media. No bold predictions of $10K gold on magazine covers, no headlines touting it as the ultimate safe haven in an impending crisis—signals that often show up at market tops. We’re just not seeing it.

For context, in 2011, fears of currency depreciation were rampant. The covers of TIME magazine and Smart Money allow us to remember this moment. They came right at the top.

...

Large Speculators haven't owned this much Gold since 2020. We have the data.

In precious metal bull markets, it's perfectly normal for Commercial Hedgers to offset their physical positions by shorting the underlying futures contracts.

We also tend to see the Speculators build massive net-long positions.

Check out the extreme Commercial Hedger net-short position in Gold and Silver futures:

This is as extreme as it gets. So, with the positioning so stretched, who is left to buy?

Let's talk about it:

Gold futures have been relentlessly rising and printing new all-time highs. The precious metal is now overbought on a 14-day, week, and month RSI. 

We've recently seen Palladium rip over 20% in a few days and momentum thrusts for the Junior Gold & Silver Miners ETFs.

With this new Gold bull market now almost 7 months old, maybe it's time for Silver futures to break out of their multi-year range.

Let's talk about it:

Last week, Palladium surged nearly 20% after we discussed buying the futures, and Gold reached a new all-time high.

In response, precious metals mining stocks ripped higher for their best week since 2020.

The momentum behind some of these moves is absurd. For example, CDE, GATO, AG, and NGD all rallied over 30% last week.

Let's talk about what we're doing about it:

Last month, we discussed the Palladium ETF $PALL hitting fresh 7-year lows, breaching a critical support level.

However, the bears could not gain any downside momentum, and it seems like we're nearing a cyclical trough.

Commercial hedgers have never carried a larger net-long position. Historically, it has been prudent to not bet against the smart money in commodities markets.

And one of our favorite long-term momentum indicators, the monthly MACD, has now given us a buy signal. That said, it's still a bit messy in the short term.

Let's talk about it.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Precious metals stocks have been ripping since Gold futures resolved a multi-decade accumulation pattern earlier this year.

But most of these stocks don't have much short interest...

We love to trade stocks with high short interest as there is a built in catalyst of forced buyers when the stock makes an upside move.

Today, we're outlining a trade for a precious metals stock with an extremely high days-to-cover ratio and short interest.

First, check out this long-term uptrend in A-Mark Precious Metals $AMRK:

There aren't many precious metals stocks that look this good...

Here's how we're trading it: