David Keller

David Keller


David is President and Chief Strategist at Sierra Alpha Research LLC, where he helps active investors make better decisions using behavioral finance and technical analysis. He is a former President of the CMT Association. Learn More 

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Overbought Means Up A Lot

Overbought Means Up A Lot

I've received many questions recently on stocks experiencing overbought conditions, from stocks like Activision Blizzard (ATVI), which recently broke above RSI 70, to Amazon (AMZN), which has an RSI that has breached 80. What does it mean to be overbought? Is that a sell signal? What do I...   READ MORE 

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Introducing "The Mindful Six" Stocks Threatening Breakouts

Introducing "The Mindful Six" Stocks Threatening Breakouts

The S&P 500 index has remained in consolidation mode, spending the shortened holiday week in a rally back to the upper end of the recent trading range. Last week on The Final Bar, I announced "The Mindful Six", a group of six stocks that I feel...   READ MORE 

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The Mindful Six Stocks to Follow Here

The Mindful Six Stocks to Follow Here

The S&P 500 index has remained in consolidation mode, spending the shortened holiday week in a rally back to the upper end of the recent trading range. Last week on The Final Bar,I announced "The Mindful Six", a group of six stocks that I feel...   READ MORE 

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Extremes in Sentiment Mean Extreme Bullishness

Extremes in Sentiment Mean Extreme Bullishness

When I'm prioritizing information to help me understand the broad market environment, I tend to consider this as the order of importance: 1. Price 2. Breadth 3. Sentiment I've found sentiment readings such as the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) and Investors Intelligence (II) surveys...   READ MORE 

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Extremes in Sentiment Show Bullish Tilt

Extremes in Sentiment Show Bullish Tilt

When I'm prioritizing information to help me understand the broad market environment, I tend to consider this as the order of importance: 1. Price 2. Breadth 3. Sentiment I've found sentiment readings such as the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) and Investors Intelligence (II) surveys...   READ MORE 

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Three Stocks That Tell You Everything

Three Stocks That Tell You Everything

I've often said that by looking at individual stocks, you can get a deeper level of understanding of what's moving the overall equity markets. While some investors insist that "a rising tide lifts all boats" and you're better off just following the...   READ MORE 

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Stocks Overbought... Bonds Oversold... Impending Reversal?

Stocks Overbought... Bonds Oversold... Impending Reversal?

Every Friday on The Final Bar, I conduct a weekly chart routine called "Wrap the Week" where we review macro charts and how they've evolved over the previous seven days. This week was focused on the unrelenting uptrend in stocks, but a deeper analysis after the...   READ MORE 

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Stocks Overbought, Bonds Oversold (Almost)

Stocks Overbought, Bonds Oversold (Almost)

Every Friday on The Final Bar,I conduct a weekly chart routine called "Wrap the Week" where we review macro charts and how they've evolved over the previous seven days. This week was focused on the unrelenting uptrend in stocks, but a deeper analysis after the...   READ MORE 

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Limited Time Offer on Consumer Discretionary

Limited Time Offer on Consumer Discretionary

One of my favorite ratios to track offense vs. defense within the equity markets is the Consumer Discretionary sector (XLY) divided by the Consumer Staples sector (XLP). But a look under the hood shares narrow leadership and questionable upside. Below, we see the S&P 500 ETF along with...   READ MORE 

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Limited-Time Offer on Consumer Discretionary

Limited-Time Offer on Consumer Discretionary

One of my favorite ratios to track offense vs. defense within the equity markets is the Consumer Discretionary sector (XLY) divided by the Consumer Staples sector (XLP). But a look under the hood shares narrow leadership and questionable upside. Below, we see the S&P 500 ETF along with...   READ MORE 

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Breadth Improves as Bear Market Rally Exhausts

Breadth Improves as Bear Market Rally Exhausts

Most of my guests in recent weeks on The Final Barhave embraced the "we're due for a pullback" thesis. From the very bullish (S&P 3600) to the quite bearish (S&P 2000) and everyone in between, it seems most people feel that the...   READ MORE 

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Breadth Improves as Uptrend Persists

Breadth Improves as Uptrend Persists

Most of my guests in recent weeks on The Final Barhave embraced the "we're due for a pullback" thesis. From the very bullish (S&P 3600) to the quite bearish (S&P 2000) and everyone in between, it seems most people feel that the...   READ MORE 

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Consumer Sectors Threaten Bullish Breakout

Consumer Sectors Threaten Bullish Breakout

One of the ways I like to measure offensive vs. defensive pressure in the equity market is using the ratio of Consumer Discretionary to Consumer Staples. Watching this ratio can tell you whether institutions are betting more on the "offense," like retail and travel names, or the traditional...   READ MORE 

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Three Sector Charts Turn Bearish

Three Sector Charts Turn Bearish

Every Monday on StockCharts TV's The Final Bar, we look at the markets from three perspectives: top-down macro, sector rotation and bottom-up stock selection. In this week's review, we identified three sector charts that are potentially turning bearish and suggest broader weakness in the...   READ MORE 

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Seven Bear Market Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Seven Bear Market Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

As a technical analyst who started my career just after the market top in March 2000, I've had the pleasure (I guess?) of living through a number of previous bear market cycles. I first learned about and started to apply technical analysis during the 2001-2002 bear market,...   READ MORE 

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Seven Bear Market Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Seven Bear Market Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

As a technical analyst who started my career just after the market top in March 2000, I've had the pleasure (I guess?) of living through a number of previous bear market cycles. I first learned about and started to apply technical analysis during the 2001-2002 bear market,...   READ MORE 

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Three Surprise Charts Facing Huge Resistance

Three Surprise Charts Facing Huge Resistance

My weekly routine involves two important steps. First, in preparation for Friday's edition of The Final Bar, I go through a series of long-term macro charts for my Wrap the Week segment. Second, over the weekend I review the individual stock charts for all the S&...   READ MORE 

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The Charts That Speak to Further Downside

The Charts That Speak to Further Downside

I very much enjoyed participating in our StockCharts TV special event "Navigating a Bear Market" along with many of my fellow StockCharts contributors. In this article, I'll provide my comments and charts from that special, along with some brief updates on what has changed in the...   READ MORE 

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Bullish Divergences Can Be Hazardous to Your Portfolio

Bullish Divergences Can Be Hazardous to Your Portfolio

For this weekend's ChartWatchers newsletter, I shared some perspective on the bullish divergence appearing on the daily S&P 500 chart. It's worth noting that Monday's selloff pushed the S&P down to new lows, invalidating the bullish divergence. As price continues...   READ MORE 

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Bullish Divergence Suggests Short-Term Upside

Bullish Divergence Suggests Short-Term Upside

Every Friday on my show The Final Bar, we answer viewer questions from throughout the past week. One of today's questions related to the potential bullish divergence on the S&P 500 using price and RSI. In this article, I'll share how I think about...   READ MORE 

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Three Charts Suggesting Further Downside

Three Charts Suggesting Further Downside

Are the markets oversold? Yes. Is it reasonable to expect that next week will see the markets recover at least a bit after this week's mayhem? Absolutely. But here are three charts suggesting that any short-term market bounce will most likely be followed by further downside for...   READ MORE 

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Struggling Small Caps

Struggling Small Caps

"How come small-caps aren't doing better when the market's making new highs?" I've heard some version of this question many times over the last couple years, starting with the emergence of the FAANG trade. Once that subsided and the market resumed...   READ MORE 

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High Returns and Low Correlations: The Case for Gold

High Returns and Low Correlations: The Case for Gold

With stock markets in rapid decline this week, mindful investors should be looking around for opportunities. What asset classes are thriving while others are struggling? A quick survey of the asset allocation will indicate that, while oil has been in freefall and stocks are now testing and failing at support,...   READ MORE 

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The Shiny (and Bullish) Yellow Metal

The Shiny (and Bullish) Yellow Metal

With stock markets in rapid decline this week, mindful investors should be looking around for opportunities. What asset classes are thriving while others are struggling? A quick survey of the asset allocation will indicate that, while oil has been in freefall and stocks are now testing and failing at support,...   READ MORE 

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Ten Quotes on Extended Bull Markets

Ten Quotes on Extended Bull Markets

I keep reminding viewers of my daily show, The Final Bar(new episodes every weekday at 4pm ET!), that extended bull markets can actually be a little frustrating. While a consistent uptrend in prices tends to be a good thing for long-term investors, two things present quite a challenge....   READ MORE 

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Healthy Prognosis for Health Care

Healthy Prognosis for Health Care

While sectors like Technology of received much of the praise for leading the recent market upswing, the Health Care sector is comprised of a group of five industries that all have fairly attractive chart setups. (Earlier this week, on my daily closing bell show The Final Bar, I conducted a...   READ MORE 

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What Gold's Pullback Means for the 2020 Outlook

What Gold's Pullback Means for the 2020 Outlook

The final chart that I shared in my portion of the StockCharts 2020 Market Outlook (coming soon to our YouTube channel!) was a two-year chart of gold. After a pullback in the fall to Fibonacci support, gold appeared to be resuming its long-term uptrend.Later, gold reached an...   READ MORE 

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Gold Enters Extreme Overbought Zone

Gold Enters Extreme Overbought Zone

The final chart that I shared in my portion of the StockCharts 2020 Market Outlook (coming soon to our YouTube channel!) was a two-year chart of gold. After a pullback in the fall to Fibonacci support, gold appeared to be resuming its long-term uptrend. Now, gold has reached...   READ MORE 

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Coffee, Charts and a Proper Perspective

Coffee, Charts and a Proper Perspective

You pour yourself a cup and coffee, fire up the computer and begin your daily investment process. What do you look at first? What's the last thing you review before moving on to other things? Most importantly, is your daily process consistent from one day to the next?...   READ MORE 

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Coffee, Charts and a Proper Perspective

Coffee, Charts and a Proper Perspective

You pour yourself a cup and coffee, fire up the computer and begin your daily investment process. What do you look at first? What's the last thing you review before moving on to other things? Most importantly, is your daily process consistent from one day to the next?...   READ MORE 

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What's Your Second Chart of the Day?

What's Your Second Chart of the Day?

I've written before about the importance of a good morning coffee routine. These are the charts you review first thing in the morning as a way of enhancing your market awareness. The first chart on your list, given that you're a long-term investor, should be...   READ MORE 

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Stock Market Rallies Under Narrowing Sentiment

Stock Market Rallies Under Narrowing Sentiment

During an interview I took part in for a podcast this week, I was asked to define technical analysis. I immediately provided John Murphy's summary that technical analysis is the study of "market action" and is based on a visual analysis of price and sentiment. After...   READ MORE 

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Stock Market Rallies Under Narrowing Sentiment

Stock Market Rallies Under Narrowing Sentiment

During an interview I took part in for a podcast this week, I was asked to define technical analysis. I immediately provided John Murphy's summary that technical analysis is the study of "market action" and is based on a visual analysis of price and sentiment. After...   READ MORE 

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Never Confuse the Bottom of the Page With Support

Never Confuse the Bottom of the Page With Support

When I worked for a large asset management firm, we had a number of fantastic digital displays that allowed us to view stock charts on a massive scale. The size of the screens made the work of identifying trends and inflection points much easier - and also way more fun. We...   READ MORE 

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Three Tips to Upgrade Your Chart Routine

Three Tips to Upgrade Your Chart Routine

As of this article's writing, I have just passed the two-month mark after joining StockCharts.com as Chief Market Strategist. Let me tell you, it's been an absolute pleasure getting to know all of the developers that are building and maintaining the powerful set of...   READ MORE 

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The Emerging Performance of Global Markets

The Emerging Performance of Global Markets

I wrote a while back about Home Bias, which describes how investors tend to stay "close to home" when making their investment decisions. Not only do US-based investors often invest exclusively in American companies, they also overweight companies that are closer to them geographically within the U....   READ MORE 

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Three Ways to Think About Relative Strength

Three Ways to Think About Relative Strength

We just completed our second week of The Final Bar, the new closing bell show on StockCharts TV. During our Friday mailbag segment, I was asked about how institutional investors think about relative strength. To be honest, relative strength is of vital importance to institutions because, well, that is how...   READ MORE 

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Three Reasons Why Resistance Works

Three Reasons Why Resistance Works

Recently, a reader responded to one of my articles on the S&P 500 and asked about the value of support and resistance levels on a broad market index. He explained that support and resistance seems to make sense for individual stocks, as they're based on people&...   READ MORE 

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Enlightened, Engaged, and Impressed: A Recap of the 2019 TSAA Conference

Enlightened, Engaged, and Impressed: A Recap of the 2019 TSAA Conference

I've been using technical analysis professionally for almost twenty years now. Though I have learned a great deal from putting the technical toolkit into action, some of my favorite learning experiences have come from attending industry conferences. Not only do you get to hear presentations from knowledgeable experts,...   READ MORE 

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Sticking With Stocks Over Bonds

Sticking With Stocks Over Bonds

I've written before about RSI and the difference between "good" overbought and "bad" overbought. In the future, we may see the bond prices of these past few weeks used as examples of how to interpret extreme overbought conditions. A review of the stock-to-...   READ MORE