News of tariffs being placed on China pushed the market into the red at the open but markets managed to close in the top end of their respective trading ranges. Volume was significantly higher across the board due to options expiration.

Futures are lower as trade tensions continue to escalate. Despite markets at or near new highs, don't let your guard down and keep stops tight. 

The rate hikes continue at home but as easy money continues to flow around the globe, bitcoin and ethereum, the king and queen of the cryptospace, continue their correction. Both should find major lows sometime later this year. With the number of tailwinds on the way including a potential major devaluation of fiat within the next 2 years, a major low in bitcoin as dictated by various metrics such as RSI and network value to transactions ratio should give the green light before the year is up. Bitcoin will then begin forming the right hand side of its base which could take as long or longer to form than its correction. In the case of its correction that began in Dec 2013 and lasted just over a year, it reached its major low in Jan 2015 then took two years to reach old highs around 1100 in early 2017. It was then off to the races once again where it enjoyed a near 20-fold gain before correcting again. 

Meanwhile, leading stocks including the FAANG stocks continue higher. All are trading at or near new highs. The risk-on small cap Russell 2000 continues to lead in terms of price strength while the S&P 500 and Dow Industrials catch up. 

A number of stocks continues to show constructive and profitable action. For example, we reported on ETSY on Feb 28 when it had a buyable gap up, then we reported again on Mar 4 when it was still in buying range. On May 25, ETSY then had a pocket pivot which culminated in another gap higher on Jun 14.

A number of such actionable plays continue in this bullish environment but always buy with as little risk as possible since the market has been known to turn on a dime to the downside.