KBE daily July 21st
Nearly identical to the recent KRE (regional banking sector ETF) short trade idea, the KBE (KBW Bank ETF) has two distinct but not unrelated bearish pattern formations: The blue lines show a breakdown & backtest of the primary uptrend line/bearish rising wedge pattern (complete with a divergent top) while the black annotations show a Head & Shoulders topping pattern with prices currently forming the right shoulder.
The fact that all of the recent short trade ideas are financial stocks (all regional banks plus one REIT) coupled with the warning signs that I’ve been pointing out in the credit markets is most likely not a coincidence. Although I only posted the recent bank & REIT short trade ideas based on their bearish technical patterns, if there are problems brewing in the credit markets, many of the financial related stocks (banks, brokers, REITs, insurance co’s, credit card companies, etc…) will most likely come under selling pressure.
I still plan to add a few more individual regional banks as short trade ideas although I’m still narrowing down my short-list of the most attractive names in the sector. While I’ve been focusing on the regional banking sector, the banking sector as a whole, including the some of the mega-cap TBTF institutions, are starting to look precarious from a technical perspective. As such, I’m going to go ahead and add KBE as an Active Short Trade at current levels with a sole profit target of 27.60 and a suggested stop above 34.00, which is the top of the right shoulder on this potential H&S pattern.
As with the recent KRE (Regional Bank ETF) short, this is only a potential H&S pattern as the right shoulder has yet to be fully formed. Therefore, more conservative or conventional traders might wait to see prices break below the neckline, assuming that the pattern fully develops. Although KBE holds multinational, mega-cap banks in addition to regional banks, the charts of KRE & KBE are nearly identical as there is a large overlap of holdings. Keep this in mind regarding portfolio or position diversification if already short KRE one or more of the regional banking stocks.
On a final note, the popular XLF (Financial Sector ETF) is also on my radar as one of the more promising swing-short candidates. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet but there are several large financial companies, in fact many of the largest components of the XLF, including banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, & even the almighty BRK-B (Berkshire Hathaway cl.B) that although not ready yet, may be setting up as potentially lucrative swing-short trades.