Silver Superspike

Clive Maund
April 17, 2006

As long-time subscribers to www.clivemaund.com are aware, I have a marked tendency to recommend the sale of things that become extremely overbought, which is generally a reasonable stance as I also have a similar tendency to recommend them long before they get to that state, in accordance with "The Prime Directive", which is to buy low and sell high. Thus, a wide range of silver stocks were recommended for purchase last year and early this year on www.clivemaund.com when they were on the bottom, including Avino Silver & Gold, Coeur d'Alene, ECU Silver, Excellon Resources and Silvercrest Mines. There are occasions, however, in the markets when humongous "once in a generation" superspikes develop, which are very hard to predict but stand out on the charts for years afterwards like monoliths. In the earlier stages of a superspike it is tempting - and normal - to take profits due to overbought limits having been attained, or exceeded, but these superspikes have no respect for normal parameters, and it is galling to make what seems to be a prudent sale, only to see the item you have sold go from one seemingly crazily overbought extreme to the next.

I'm not easily astonished these days, but I was pulled up sharp early this weekend by a truly astonishing chart sent to me by a very learned and experienced subscriber in California. This chart is reproduced in two sections below - it had to be split in half as an attempt to reduce its size to fit on the page resulted in serious loss of picture quality. [Editor's note: You can see the big chart here] The chart is self explanatory and reveals that, although silver is seriously overbought, it is in a similar technical situation to that which prevailed before the incredible superspike in 1979. Could we see a repeat performance? - well, yes, and if what is written about the fundamentals of silver by people such as Ted Butler is true, then we have fundamental justification for it, and some would argue that it could go significantly higher than in 1979.

Alright, so how, as speculators, do we handle this extraordinary situation? We know we are looking at a market which is already very overbought, but which has a fair chance of generating a superspike, in defiance of normal overbought parameters, resulting in huge gains. I believe the correct way to handle this situation is to put ourselves in position to make massive profits should this market go ballistic, but, should silver turn tail and go into reverse, losses are kept at a modest and acceptable level.

The correct speculative vehicle for maximising profit potential from this situation, and minimising damage in the event that the silver does not continue higher over the short to medium-term is call options in selected silver stocks. Options have the supreme advantage in the current situation in that they provide massive leverage on capital employed, while strictly limiting losses to the "stake money".

Coeur d'Alene is viewed as the large silver stock with the most upside potential, as it is still at a relatively modest price, and is arcing away from a massive Pan & Handle base, which it is important to note that it hasn't broken out of yet - when it does its rate of advance can be expected to accelerate significantly. This base area was identified a long time back and it was strongly recommended on www.clivemaund.com before the high-volume January breakout from the base. It was recommended to take profits in Coeur about a week ago on the site, but it has not reacted significantly which was considered a danger at the time, and is thus in position for rapid acceleration in the event that the silver spike intensifies. A recommended Traded Option in Coeur is the September 7.50 at 0.75, a good price. The strike price of this option is not much above the current price of the stock, so gains should be immediate if the stock advances. Furthermore, a silver superspike, should it happen, can be expected to occur before the expiry of this option.

Other attractive Traded Option contracts in the large silver stocks are described in the full version of this article in www.clivemaund.com in addition to several silver stocks that look relatively safe here and set to do very well indeed should a superspike develop.

Does what is written here represent an about-face from the cautious stance adopted by the writer some days back? Well, partly, because I don't KNOW whether silver will react here or whether it will continue to accelerate to even more extremely overbought levels. Most reasonable people would agree that a cautious stance at this juncture is quite understandable in view of the fact that the superspike scenario described here is a very rare occurrence - a once in a generation event. The purpose of this article is to outline an effective way to put yourself in position to capitalize on a superspike BIG TIME should it occur, without having to "bet the farm" on it. If you follow the strategy outlined here you will make huge gains if the superspike occurs. If it doesn't, it will cost you, but not very much.

Apr 16, 2006
Clive Maund
email: support@clivemaund.com
website: www.clivemaund.com

Charts courtesy of StockCharts.com.

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