Many investors and traders make the mistake of looking at yesterday’s market action to try and get an idea of how it will move today or tomorrow. This is far too short a time frame. We zoom out and look at the long term (weekly) trends as these are the dominant trends that will dictate the overall direction that the market will follow for weeks or months and sometimes years ahead – with all of the daily vacillations being ‘noise’ and impossible to accurately read.

That is why we learned to use the ‘satellite approach’ to look down on the longer term dominant trends to establish how best to structure a current investment strategy.

Looking back over the last 13 years history of the FTSE 100 it has entered a ‘Stage 3’ Topping (or Distribution) trend a total of 6 times. The results have not, though, always been the same. Given that a ‘Stage 3’ trend can only set in after a ‘Stage 2’ Uptrend the danger to be aware of is that the ‘Stage 3’ trend itself is likely to be followed by a ‘Stage 4’ Downtrend but, and as can be seen from the chart below, that seems to depend on the strength and length of the preceding ‘Stage 2’ Uptrend -

( Click on the chart to enlarge it)

Working from left to right we can see that the first ‘Stage 3’ period persisted from June 1999 to Sep 2001, a total of some 27 months as the long Uptrend exhausted itself before it morphed into a strong ‘Stage 4’ Downtrend. Then, following the swing into a ‘Stage 2’ Uptrend after the March 203 bottom, the next two ‘Stage 3’s were comparatively short and were followed by a return to the (unfinished) Uptrend. The next topping ‘Stage 3’ trend occurred after the Uptrend had become exhausted and it ran from July 2007 to July 2008 before it too morphed into a another steep ‘Stage 4’ Downtrend.

The 2010 ‘Stage 3’ trend was followed by another Up leg and so the question now hangs there – will the 2011 ‘Stage 3’ be followed by another Up leg or by a swing into a ‘Stage 4’ Downtrend?

To answer that question, at least temporarily, we look to the various technical signals; these do still indicate that the balance of probability is that the 2011 ‘Stage 3’ trend will be followed by a return to the Uptrend.

Of course, this cannot be guaranteed but it is going to be relatively easy to read because a break back above the 30wk Moving Average will be the first signal of a return to the Uptrend; whereas a new top forming at or below the 30 wk MA will be the first strong signal of an impending ‘Stage 4’ Downtrend.

A brief look across to Wall Street shows that the trend of the mighty S&P 500 might be swinging into the start of a ‘Stage 3’ trend although it is too early yet to be able to be definitive.

A look back over the last 13 years of the S&P 500 shows a similar picture to that presented by the FTSE 100 – that the longer ‘Stage 3’ trends tend to be followed by sharp, lengthy, ‘Stage 4’ Downtrends whereas the shorter ‘Stage 3’ periods tend to return to the dominant ‘Stage 2’ Uptrend -

Most people, respected market commentators included, tend to think that there are only two trends – Up and Down – and that any market move that does not fit into them is ‘trendless’. Wrong! There are 4 distinct trends with ‘Stage 1’ (Accumulation) trend and ‘Stage 3’ (Topping) trend being powerful technical indicators in their own right.

A ‘Stage 3’ Topping trend tends to reflect not just the balancing effect of the buying and selling activities of the ‘bulls’ and ‘bears’ but, particularly, it reflects the nervous environment prior to the market making a definitive move, up or down and, as commented above, the technical signals given towards the end of a ‘Stage 3’ trend will tend to be reliable indicators the likely future direction of the index.

At the moment the, so far short, ‘Stage 3’ trend of the FTSE 100 looks likely to be followed by a further up move – but please don’t put the children’s inheritance on it as it could change very quickly, such can be the market volatility during a ‘Stage 3’ Topping trend.