The S&P 500 stalled and reversed off opening highs as well, but still managed to achieve a new all-time closing high. Meanwhile, the less tech-centric areas of the market, as represented by the Dow and NYSE Composite Indexes which posted new all-time highs on Friday. With all major market indexes remaining above 10-dma support, the market remains in an uptrend despite waves of selling that have hit the indexes at regular intervals over the past two months.
Precious metals continue to trend higher with Spot Gold closing at a new weekly high of $3,885.77 an ounce while Spot Silver closed at a new 14-year high of $47.97 an ounce. While many pundits cannot see past their historically confined box, calling the move in precious metals a safe haven or insurance policy against uncertainty, they miss the permanently altered dynamics driving both metals.Gold continues to benefit from a sea-change of central bank buying as gold has become the #2 reserve asset among global central banks, and gold holdings have now surpassed holdings of U.S. Treasuries by central banks. Silver may be getting an extra kicker as its monetary component perhaps comes into play, but dwindling silver supplies as demand continues to outstrip production also play a role in driving the white metal higher.
Two weeks ago Bitcoin ($BTCUSD) was slumping badly as it appeared set to test 200-dma support. At the time it was also in the throes of forming a head & shoulders formation, but in our experience H&S formations tend to be late as short-selling set-ups, which is why we prefer double-top short-sale (DTSS) set-ups as earlier and more optimal short-side set-ups when appropriate.Note that $BTCUSD topped in mid-August in a DTSS set-up. Over the past week, it has suddenly rocketed back to its prior highs where it is now running into logical double-top resistance. This does not, however, mean that it is headed straight back to the downside as it remains to be seen whether $BTCUSD will attempt to consolidate along its all-time highs.
October has historically been Bitcoin's best month (average +28% returns), and Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen explosive demand, with over $3.2 billion in inflows in the last week alone.
As the U.S. debt now clears the $37.55 trillion mark, with no signs of abating as the U.S. government is set to spend at least another $2 trillion more than it takes in, the race for life boats as investors sprint away from U.S. dollar hegemony and into alternative currencies and hard assets becomes more pronounced.
Our best-performing long stock idea in the Summer of 2025 has been IREN Ltd. (IREN), which began a sharp upside trend after shifting its business focus from crypto mining to data center infrastructure. Since we first discussed the stock at around $10 back in June, it has gone up five-fold. IREN has shown a tendency to obey the 10-day moving average for the past eight weeks, which allows for the use of the Seven-Week Rule. This implies that a violation of the 10-dma can be used as a sell signal, with the idea of letting the stock then consolidate and set up again. For now, as it continues to hold above 10-dma support the stock remains a hold.
As stocks have become ever more extended, it has become more difficult to find fresh set-ups on the long side. On Thursday we issued a Pocket Pivot Report on quantum computing name D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) as it posted a continuation pocket pivot back up through the 10-dma. The move also qualified as a moving average undercut & rally (MAU&R) move through the 10-dma and resulted in an additional 11.95% of upside the very next day as the group has again caught on fire this past week.
On the same day, Thursday, we issued a similar report on cloud name Snowflake (SNOW) as it popped off 10-dma support, but the move ran out of gas on Friday as the stock reversed to close down. It is extended as a long entry, but typical of the hit-or-miss nature of this market. Over the past week, a resurgence in speculative FOMO names like quantum computers, space stocks, and drone tech names has dominated the upside action. 
So far the government shutdown, which persists over the weekend as we write, has failed to derail the market in any meaningful way. We continue to favor the alternative-currency space, however, as a more fundamentally-based trend, while looking to trade hotter merchandise as appropriate.The Market Direction Model (MDM) remains on a BUY signal.