Mike said:
..... A bunch of very useful stuff (thanks) and ...
For me this continues to be a work in progress to refine my understanding. If you have comments or observations I'd love to hear them.
Mike,
There's a fairly logical, mathematical reason that stocks in an uptrend could give better returns. Let's make the following two assumptions:
1) The cycles are traverses within in a channel from the bottom to the top.
2) We expect that the cycle will end at the top of the channel.
3) A cycle is 20%
Excluding breakout cases there are now three possible channel configurations:
Horizontal Channel
if the channel were perfectly horizontal then we could expect our stock to cycle 20%.
Uptrending Channel
However, let's say that the channel is moving at a rate of 0.5% per day. In 4 days this would mean that the channel itself would rise about 2% in the 4 day hold period. Add to that the 20% cycle we assumed and you would have a 22% theoretical gain from edge to edge of the channel.
Downtrending Channel
The reverse would be true for a channel in a downtrend. You would subtract the channel rate from your 20% cycle.
When we measure the 20% cycling capability, we already include this effect in the measurement of the 20% move. Still, using this logic it would appear that an uptrend can only help.
One possibility is that a better measure of rally strength or rank might be to measure the average width of a channel exclusive of its slope. Look for 20% channel heights and then if you are in an uptrend it could only be gravy on top, but you would still have the potential for the 20% jump even in a downtrend.
Another thing to think about is that if all the 20% cycle measurements were made while the stock is in an uptrend, does it still have the capability to make that cycle while in a downtrend? Maybe not. The channel width is the true measure of the amplitude of the cycle, while the trend is additive (in a plus or minus sense).
Some fuel for thought. Have a merry Christmas everyone.
-ace