Showing posts with label Lunar Cycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lunar Cycle. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Sell Rosh Hashanah & Buy Yom Kippur 2023 | Jeff Hirsch

Sell Rosh Hashanah, Buy Yom Kippur is aligning quite well this year with late September seasonal weakness and the notoriously treacherous week after quarterly options expiration, AKA Triple Witching (Fri, Sep 15th). It’s a few days before FOMC (Tue-Wed, Sep 19-20) with a market jittery on hotter inflation data.
 

Rosh Hashanah lands on Saturday 9/16 this year so we close the day before. This is right at the mid-month peak of the typical September pattern. Yom Kippur falls on 9/25 (Mon) which is the 16th trading day of the month, right around the seasonal monthly low point.


The thesis is that folks sell positions on Rosh Hashanah the first of the Days of Awe to rid themselves of financial commitments and then return to the market after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is no coincidence that this coincides with the seasonal September/October weakness. The market has been tracking the 4-year cycle and seasonal trends to a T this year and the past 3. So this should make a great entry for the Q4 pre-election year rally.

 

Friday, June 16, 2023

Financial Markets & Seasonal Geomagnetic Field Variation | Hans Hannula

Any grade-school pupil can tell you when the seasons begin. In the northern hemisphere, generally, spring begins March 21, while summer begins June 21. Autumn begins September 23, and winter begins December 21. Actual dates may vary by one day in a particular year. So step one is simple.

The physical reason behind the seasonal cycle is the tilt of the Earth's axis. The 23.5-degree tilt of the Earth's axis causes more direct heating of the northern hemisphere in the summer, when the Earth tilts toward the sun. It causes less heating in the winter, when the Earth tilts away from the sun. This change in heating and cooling causes the seasonal weather patterns that we are familiar with.
 
Charged particles from the sun form a teardrop-shaped envelope about the globe called the magnetosphere.

Not so well known is the effect of the seasonal variation on the Earth's geomagnetic field. As the sun emits energy, charged particles flow outward, carried by the solar wind. As these particles sweep past Earth, they form a teardrop-shaped envelope around the globe called the magnetosphere.

There is a seasonal variation in two important parts of the magnetosphere. When the Earth tilts toward the sun in the summer, the charged particles can more directly flow into the north pole, where they affect the Earth's magnetic field. This effect is lessened when the Earth tilts away from the sun in the winter.

The second magnetic effect is on the magneto-tail, that part of the magnetosphere which streams away from the sunny side of the Earth. As the Earth tilts toward the sun, this tail "rides higher." As the Earth tilts away from the sun, the tail "rides lower." This affects how our moon, which moves in and out of the magnetosphere, interacts with the Earth's magnetic field.

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology (2023):
The Seasonal Distribution of Geomagnetic Disturbances.

So what does this have to do with stocks and commodities? Scientific evidence suggests that these fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field affect humans. Studies show that magnetic field changes are linked to blood PH changes, which in turn cause mood swings. Perhaps the psychological mood swings of traders are also subject to these magnetic field changes.

More obviously, the seasonal cycle could be expected to affect crop prices, such as those of wheat, corn and other commodities. Similarly, with most businesses running on a quarterly profit cycle, seasonal variations in the buying and selling of materials and equipment can be expected. Thus, on both a fundamental and technical basis, a trader can expect season price variations in stocks and commodities.


To perform step 2, mark the dates of the cycle on a chart with solid dots, and place them above or below the price as you estimate that price is high or low relative to what it was approximately one-fourth cycle earlier. Points do not necessarily have to alternate between high and low.

Now look for cycle "inversions." If two lows or highs occur in succession, the cycle has "inverted" between the points. A normal inversion point is halfway through the cycle.

Quoted from:
Hans Hannula (1991) - The Seasonal Cycle. In: Stocks & Commodities V. 9:11 (458-460).
 
 

Thursday, November 17, 2022

S&P 500 Performance by Weekday

Bespoke (Mar 28, 2022) - On a trailing 12-month basis, the S&P 500 has performed poorly on Mondays and Tuesdays before gaining steam from Wednesday through Friday. This diverges from the patterns seen over the last thirty years, in which Thursday and Friday struggled relative to the performance over the first three trading days of the week. This year, oil has averaged gains on every day of the week, but the strongest performance has occurred early in the week, which is interesting as Monday and Tuesday have tended to be the worst days of the week for oil over the last 30 years. Bonds have performed poorly in the beginning of the week over the last twelve months but have partially recovered in the last two trading days. Over the long run, the safe asset has traded narrowly with only Wednesdays averaging a loss. Tuesdays and Thursdays have been strong days for the US Dollar over the last twelve months, but these days tend to result in flat to negative performance when looked at over the last 30 years.
 

Below we summarize the cumulative performance by weekday for the S&P 500 over the last 30 years. As you can see, Tuesday has been the best performing day by far, booking performance gains of 160.5%. Wednesday has posted a cumulative gain of 83.6%, which lands the day in second place. Friday and Thursday have been the weakest days, booking a cumulative gain of just 27.4% and 28.2%, respectively. Monday lands in the middle, recording a cumulative gain of 41.3%. As outlined above, the recent shift in weekday performance deviates from the norms of the last 30 years as investors have come out of the weekend with fears but concluded the week with optimism.
 
 
 
Quoted from:
 

Sunday, October 16, 2022

Panic & Stock Market Crash into End of October ? | Lars von Thienen

Lars von Thienen (Oct 16, 2022) - The coming weeks from October 17 to October 30 will be fascinating. One of the critical time cycles that will come into play next week are the so-called "Dark Days" cycles of past crashes.
 

[...] The chart shows us 4 cyclic patterns now in place surrounding market panics:
  1. The “Dark Days” fall on 21.-22. October next week. Compared to 1929 and even if the markets have already gone down, this has given the index another -30% correction with extremely heavy selling.
  2. The leading movement is synchronized with the Jewish High Holidays: From a leading top in the market (point 1), there is a correction to Rosh Hashanah (2). Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Jewish calendar. From there, a very small rally begins, ending on Yom Kippur (3). Yom Kippur is the emotional climax of the Jewish faith’s high holy days. This cyclical pattern is not well known - but has been seen in all major crashes in the past. See also the alignment in the chart in 1929.
  3. The next cyclical pattern which is seen at financial panics is the so called “Puetz crash window”. According to that pattern, all US crashed had the same important 6-weeks-window signature around a solar eclipse. According to that pattern a panic begins near a full moon that occurs within 6-weeks of a solar eclipse. This year, the solar eclipse occurs on 25. October.
[...] The cyclic configuration we recognize here is unique and does not occur frequently in this bundling.
 

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Astrological Methods of Forecasting the DJIA | Carol S. Mull

Carol S. Mull (1989) - Humankind moves through periods of optimism, expansion, anxiety, depression and panic, as dictated by the magnetic winds that govern the universe. These cycles affect market trading and can be forecast by observing and analyzing planetary phenomena. There are at least twenty different planetary, solar, or lunar movements that affect the market in a significant way. I know of no computer program that utilizes more than five or six of them. Below is a summary of the most useful, listed from those with the shortest effect through those lasting decades.
 
Cafe Astrology .com - This Month’s Ephemeris

A FEW HOURS OR MINUTES
Planet to Midheaven: You may have noticed that the DIJA will move up or down at about the same time each day for a week or more. This is because the planet and its aspects that is directly overhead the market location at any given time-of-day will affect the mood of the trader. Hence, if Saturn is crossing the Midheaven of the New York Stock Exchange location of Manhattan Island in New York at about 1:00 p.m., the market may have opened up, but will tend to drop from noon until 1:00 p.m., and may then turn up again. This trend will continue for about a week, with the timing being a little later each day until it finally moves beyond the time of the market closing. Jupiter in the same position will bring a rise in market prices. Neptune over the market Midheaven will bring increased trading in oil stocks. Uranus over the Midheaven will produce an erratic market. 
 
Planetary Hours Calculator

I know a daytrader who runs an astrological chart on his computer every fifteen minutes for New York City and then acts accordingly. This planet-to-Midheaven indicator is good for the hourly wobbles in the market and should always be considered against the general trend. 
 
Solar, Lunar and Planets Ephemerides - Rise - Midheaven Transit - Set

Sun and Moon Aspects
: The astrological aspects that are easiest to learn and use are those between the Sun and the Moon. These can be found in an Almanac, ephemeris or astrological calendar. The Sun and Moon are conjunct at the New Moon and, unless overshadowed by heavier aspects, the market can be expected to move upward at that time.
 
Monthly Lunation Cycle 8 Lunar Sun-Moon 45° Phases

The Sun and Moon are in square aspect (90°) at the first quarter and the last quarter and a bear market is the normal result. The Sun and Moon are in opposition (180°) at the Full Moon, which usually brings a somewhat bullish market, but is not as positive as the New Moon. Sun/Moon trines (120°) come halfway between the opposition and the first quarter or last quarter. They are indicators of bull markets.

Eclipses are really just super New or Full Moons and unless aspected, produce little market change at the time. However, they sensitize a certain degree in the sky and whenever another planet comes into aspect with that point, LOOK OUT. The Noon or Mercury to that point will produce an erratic unpredictable market. When Mars comes into aspect with that point, the market is likely to fall sharply.

TimeAndDate.com - Eclipses and Transits Visible in New York

The Total Picture - Positive or Negative: A tool used by several financial astrologers is to tally all the aspects in the sky on a given day. This method is described by both LCdr. David Williams in his book, Financial Astrology, and by Donald Bradley in his book, Stock Market Prediction, but most users put their own construction on the methods described by Williams and Bradley.

The usual method is to list the aspects that are within a degree of orb on a given day over New York City within market hours, plus the more important ones that fall after or before the market is open. A numerical value is then assigned to each aspect. Conjunctions are ten; sextiles are 3; trines 10; squares 8, and oppositions six. In general, conjunctions, sextiles and trines are positive, whiles squares and oppositions are negative but this can be overridden by the nature of the planets involved. Saturn and Mars are always negative. Jupiter, Venus and Sun are always positive.
 
Geocentric and Heliocentric Bradley Indices

When the list is complete, add your negative column and then your positive column. If you have -86 and +13, you should definitely expect a down-day at the market. Plus 72 and minus 14 would indicate a bull market. This same method of tallying aspects can be used on a hourly basis or even fifteen minutes.

A FEW DAYS
Moon’s Daily Motion: The average daily motion of the Moon is 13.17749 degrees, but it fluctuates from 11.54’ to 14.36’, gaining in daily speed for nine to thirteen days and then losing speed for nine to thirteen days, depending on the season of the year. Whenever the Moon is gaining in daily speed the market tends to move upward; whenever the Moon is losing daily velocity, the market tends to move downward. This can account for small wobbles on a general trend line. (I find it of interest that this average thirteen day motion correlates with the Mayan calendar of thirteen day cycles, which they grouped into 260 day cycles (13x20). I am working on an overall plan to tie the market to the Mayan calendar, but it is not complete.)
 
Sun-Moon Daily Arc Move on Sphere = Longitude Speed

Sunspots
: Periods of solar prominence (sunspots) pour forth energy, causing all earthly activities to increase, including stock market trading. The usual result of this stimulus is a major market turning point, either up or down. Increased sunspot activity occurs whenever the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are on the same side of the Sun as the Earth. The greatest influence of all this tidal-like force occurs when Jupiter and Venus are in a heliocentric line-up with the Earth at 0°, 45°, and 90°, but lesser activity produces the well-known Dow cycles of 89 weeks, 124 weeks, and 208 weeks [see also HERE].
 
Jan Alvestad - Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

A very good illustration of this market indicator occurred on October 19, 1987, when the market dropped 505 points. Jupiter was exactly opposite the Sun, increasing solar flares and market timing--thus forcing a market turning point. Another example is October 27, 1997, when Jupiter was square the Sun. So, be aware that heliocentric aspects to the Sun mark major market turning points, both up and down.

Powerful Aspects: Certain aspects are especially powerful and will influence the market for five to seven days. Examples of powerful benevolent aspects are Jupiter or Venus in aspect to Uranus, Sun, or Mercury. Powerful negative aspects are Saturn to any planet and Mars to anything except Venus and Jupiter.

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan - Celestial Phenomena

A FEW WEEKS
The Planet Mercury: Mercury does rule trading and it alone can give you a reasonably good forecast. Whenever you see a Sun-Mercury conjunction, you may expect a high volume day that is very bullish. These happen about every six weeks. Mercury's daily motion is a very important market indicator. That is, whatever the daily motion of Mercury is increasing, the market is likely to move upward and whenever Mercury's velocity is decreasing, the market trend is downward. This has nothing to do with retrograde or forward motion.
 
Retrograde Planets Calendar

It is the increase or decrease of velocity that counts and the direction does not matter. When Mercury is stationery or nearly so, the market has a very low volume and is bearish. If Mercury is rapidly gaining in velocity, the market gains rapidly. If Mercury is gaining velocity slowly, the market is up a little. The tone of the market can be discerned by the actions of Mercury .

Seasonal Highs and Lows: The market is usually up January 9th through the 18th. This is because the Sun reaches 23°-25° Capricorn in mid-January, which produces a grand trine with Mercury at 24° Taurus in the NY Stock Exchange chart, Sun at 26° Taurus in the NYSE chart, Neptune at 20° Virgo in the chart of the USA, and Pluto at 24° Capricorn in the chart of the USA. A similar effect happens each September, when transit Sun reaches 18°-27° Virgo.
 
In fact, the degree 24°-26° Taurus is important to stock exchanges around the world. The New York Stock Exchange has Sun and Mercury in that area, Tokyo Exchange has Sun, Amsterdam Exchange has Sun and Pluto, Budapest Exchange has Venus, Lisbon Exchange has Jupiter, London Exchange has Sun, Melbourne Exchange has Venus and Uranus, Toronto Exchange has Jupiter opposite, Zurich Exchange has Venus and Pluto. It is easy to see why the markets so often act in unison.

Jack Gillen's Sensitive Degrees of the Sun

LONG TERM TRENDS
Venus Daily Motion: For longer term trends, I depend upon the increasing and decreasing of the velocity of Venus in the same way as the velocity of Moon and Mercury were used. This indicator points toward a lower 1999 than 1998. 
 
Venus' Daily Motion

The Outer Planets
: Very long term trends changes are marked by the aspects of Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. A very good book about this is THE EGG OF COLUMBUS by George Bayer, which pretends to be describing a banquet or feast. If you set charts for the dates given in the book, you will find exact aspects of the outer planets. Enough said? These long-term trends have been charted as cycles of varying lengths, but for exact work, you will need to work from the helio-centric aspects of the outer planets.

HeavensAbove.com - Planet Summary

Mars Aspects: The planet Mars acts as a "trigger" for certain undesirable long-term stock market movements, whenever this planet is square or opposite one of the outer planets. That is, the outer planetary aspects set the long-term trends, but Mars produces the action. The following aspects are especially bad for the market: Mars conjunct Saturn, Mars square Neptune, Mars opposite Jupiter, Mars in opposition, regardless of the planet. In contrast, stock prices have consistently risen during the thirty days just before a conjunction of Mars with Jupiter or Mercury.

Geocentric and Heliocentric Aspect Search Engine (500BC - 2500AD)

CONCLUSION
These are some of the more important astro indicators of DJIA trends. Applying them is not a quick study. Instead, it requires several years of blending the various factors, until a certain "wisdom" develops. Above all, you should always be aware of both political and economic happenings around the world for these will provide the background for your research.

 
See also:

Monday, October 10, 2022

Lunar Phases and Stock Returns | Kathy Yuan et al.

Kathy Yuan, Lu Zheng & Qiaoqiao Zhu (2002) - This paper investigates the relation between lunar phases and stock returns for a sample of 48 countries. We find strong global evidence that stock returns are lower on days around a full moon than on days around a new moon. Constructing a lunar trading strategy, we find that the magnitude of this return difference is roughly 4.2 percent per annum.  
 
 
Since lunar phases are likely to be related to investor mood and are not related to economic activities, our findings are thus not consistent with the predictions of traditional asset pricing theories that assume fully rational investors. The positive association we find between lunar phases and stock returns suggests that it might be valuable to go beyond a rational asset pricing framework to explore the psychological effects of investor behavior on stock returns. 

Figure 1 - Average Daily Return of the Global Portfolio by Lunar Dates

Figure 2 - Average Daily Stock Returns of Global Portfolio by Lunar Windows

Figure 3 - Distribution of Full Moon Days on Days of Week

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Trading the S&P 500 with the Lunar Cycle | Randall Ashbourne

Randall Ashbourne (2011) - [...] stock prices tend to be higher around the time of the New Moon each month and reach a temporary low point around the time of the Full Moon. Now that’s statistically speaking. And there are Lies, Damned Lies - and Statistics! [...] Many of the Lunar trading articles found easily on the internet tend to suggest the potential gains are relatively minor, or that the phenomenon inverts so often that it can’t be used as a reliable trading technique.

[...] What I discovered was that, statistically, the old assertions not only hold up, but when traded consistently over time, produce big profits for small amounts of time exposed to market conditions [...] Buying a single share of the index at the closing price of our starting date on the January 4 New Moon and holding until the close of the June 1 Solar Eclipse New Moon, produced a profit of $44.35 - 3.49% (bottom left corner of the table).
 
 
However, going Long for one share from each Full Moon close to the next New Moon close, produced more than twice the profit - $90.96. So, we were in the market for half the time and twice the profit (the FM-NM green phase label).

[...] Staying OUT of the market during all New Moon-Full Moon phases would have protected us from losing some of our buy-and-hold gains … but delivered much better profits for our Loonytoons strategy by being profitable Short trades. We were in the market ALL the time, but continually reversing positions - to get three times the profit of buy-and-hold. The darker green coloring shows the very profitable trades, the light green shows profitable trades. The rose coloring shows that only ONE “assumed” Short phase would have resulted in a trading loss. But, remember … this is overall, taking into account the full 6 month period.

[...] take advantage of the Quarter Moon dates. So, our trading strategy now becomes to open 1 position at either the New Moon or Full Moon, but to add an extra position at the First Quarter or Third Quarter date. And the table below shows a significant boost to our potential profits: Instead of relying totally on the 14 day Short from NM-FM, we add one extra Short at the 1Q Moon - boosting the overall profit from Short trades from $46.61 to $109.36. And we adopt the same strategy when we reverse to Long trades at the Full Moon - 1 Long at Full Moon and one extra Long at 3Q Moon, boosting our Long profits to $152.56.
 

Taking advantage of the extra Long or Short position at the closing price on the day of the First Quarter or Third Quarter Moon dramatically increases the profits.
 

While the buy-and-hold strategy produced a profit of 3.5%, we could have made marginally more money by Shorting the index for a couple of weeks at each New Moon; twice as much money being exposed to the market for only half of each month from Full Moon to New - and almost six times as much money by playing the odds that the “statistics” will hold true when traded automatically, but consistently, over time.

The Lunar Cycle | Carol S. Mull

Carol S. Mull (198?) - The lunar cycle was first studied and presented to the faculty of the Graduate School of Pace University by Frank J. Guarino, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Business Administration degree. Later, his thesis was published by the American Federation of Astrologers. Modern cyclists have carried Guarino's work much farther. Today, it is possible to predict the market with 70% accuracy using only the lunar cycle.
 

The Sun and the Moon are in square aspect (90°) during the first and last quarters, in opposition (180°) at the Full Moon, and in conjunction (0°) at the New Moon. They are in sextile (60°) between the New Moon and the first quarter and between the last quarter and the New Moon. For precise work, compute a heliocentric chart for the times that the Moon, Earth, and Sun are in exact aspect. Unless there are other overshadowing influences, trines (120°) and conjunctions will be up, squares will be down, oppositions will be somewhat up, and sextiles can be either direction.

Most financial astrologers will tell you that oppositions (Full Moons) will sent the market down, but my experience does not verify this. Apparently, the momentum of being between two trines will carry the opposition along. If the next aspect following a sextile is a conjunction, the sextile is likely to correlate with an upward movement. But if the aspect following a sextile is a square, the sextile is likely to be accompanied by a downward-moving market. 

Another lunar cycle concerns the elements. The market tends to move up whenever the Moon is in an Air [Gemini, Libra, Aquarius] or Fire sign [Aries, Leo, Sagittarius] and to move downward whenever the Moon is in an Earth [Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn] or Water sign [Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces]. Other recent experiments have attempted to be the Moon's velocity and the angular rates of positive acceleration or negative acceleration to the market. These have been inconclusive. 

 
References:
Carol S. Mull (1988) - Short-Term Market Forecasting via Astrology. In: Traders World, #4903, Issue #3.
Carol S. Mull (1989) - Mercury and the Dow. In: Traders World, #4915, Issue #15.
 
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