Lecture 9 (relative strength & flow of funds) Flashcards
What is relative strength?
It is the idea of comparing one or a group of stocks to the market as a whole to determine if the stock or group of stocks is outperforming or underperforming the market in general
How is relative strength calculated?
It is done by dividing one market over the othe
What does a rising ratio relative strength mean?
the numerator is stronger than the denominator
What does a falling ratio relative strength mean?
the denominator is stronger than the numerator
What is the presumption of relative strength? (similar to the trends)
Presumption that relative strength will continue
In relative strength, If the numerator is rising, what do you do?
You would buy the numerator and sell the denominator
In relative strength, if the the denominator is rising, what do you do?
You would buy the denominator and sell the numerator
What relationship can relative strength be used for?
intermarket relationships, compare investments, sectors, industries, index averages, commodities, etc.
This is done to see which is outperforming the other
What does the trend in the Relative strength indicate?
Indicates whether or not a stock or a group of stock is acting better than or worse than the general market
When may TA’s use relative strength
TA’s may use RS to determine future market leadership or the potential loss of leadership
What can be said about groups of stocks that end well in the tail end of a bear market?
They often emerge as the new bull market’s leaders
What happens to the leaders in a bull market if RS “divergence” beginds to profile a mature trend?
Leaders in the bull market may show signs of losing their status
What do you use to see if sub sectors of the market are outperforming or underperforming the general market?
You divide these sub sectors against the S&P 500
What may trendlines or moving averages on the RS line do?
May be used to spot important changes
What is the idea with the sectors that have rising and falling relative strengths?
Idea is to rotate your funds into these sectors with rising RS and rotate out of the ones with falling RS
What is an important conclusion regarding RS
Like other tools, it should probably not be a sole application or the only tool used
What is the idea of studying flow of funds?
Looking at where funds are spend. These indicators are not typically a buy/sell signal but examine the current conditions and their effect on the stock market
What characterstics do investors have at the beginnning of a major uptrend
investors are risk averse. Small percentage in financial assets and high percentage in bonds & cash
Who starts an uptrend?
Investors, people with long-term horizons, willing to look beyond the current uncertainties. These people are motivated by price & value
What motivates traders
Motivated by the trend, and tend to gain greater and greater confidence as a trend persists
When money is unavailable or expensive, what happens to the supply of stocks?
The supply of stocks increases as investors sell their stocks to raise funds for other purposes.
So: Money less available = more stocks available
When money is available or less expensive, what happens to the supply of stocks?
more money is available to be put into the stock market
What are the 4 major topics in the study of flow of funds?
1) money available
2) availability of funds not currently invested in the market
3) the cost of funds
4) influence of the U.S. federal reserve’s policy on these variables
What are the 3 sub sections that make up “money available”
1) money market mutual funds
2) margin debt
3) secondary offerings