The Week Ahead 5/3/26
Hello All,
I hope you’re all enjoying the weekend and getting some time away from the screens & wishing you all a successful remainder of ‘26.
Looking back at this past week, it was a relatively quieter one considering the continued back-and-forth geopolitical headlines along with FOMC & majority of the Mag-7 having reported, but on the week, yet again both Spooz & the Nasdaq made new all-time-highs, with the Nasdaq being the best performing of the group, closing higher by just over 150bps on the week whereas the Dow was among the worst performing of the indices, although still closed higher by just over 50bps on the week.
- Economic Data for the Coming Week:
In regard to economic data into the upcoming week, the biggest event of the week is Friday’s payroll report, but besides that, there’s just some minor & scattered datapoints throughout the week & barring a geopolitical headline, it should be quieter week all around.
- STD Channels on Indices for Perspective: Weekly TF
- SPY
- QQQ
- IWM
- DJIA
Since starting this Substack back in June of ‘23, between individual names / tactical trades / baskets, we have netted a 191.02% return whilst in the same period, the Q’s have returned 91.50% / Spooz has returned 73.02% / Dow has returned 53.87% & Small-caps have returned 59.74%, so nice outperformance against all the indices whilst having a 81.8% win rate, averaging a 29.27% return on realized gains / winners & a 15.73% loss on realized losses / losers.
Looking forward to the future & continued success through ‘26.
And for anyone who wants to follow an actively managed portfolio in real time:
I’ve joined Plutus as the cleanest, day-to-day way to track an actively managed portfolio in real time. It’s a live dashboard that’s broader, more diversified, actively managed by me, & updated continuously.
The Eliant Flagship is published on RunPlutus.
Once your Plutus account is approved, you’ll have the option to allocate right away. If you do, it’s straightforward: create an account, link your brokerage (Available only for IBKR at this time), & select the Eliant Flagship (or any of the baskets I’ve built). Your money stays in your account, and trades, position changes, and rebalances are replicated automatically so there’s nothing manual to manage. The idea is to make it easier to access an actively managed portfolio run by me without the overhead of traditional fund structures or high minimums, whilst you keep full custody of your assets & I stay focused on research, positioning, and portfolio construction.
And just to be clear, NOTHING is changing with Substack. It’ll stay exactly what it’s always been since we originally launched in the Summer of ‘23: where I share the thinking, research, & select trades behind my personal PA, along with ongoing commentary across all markets.
Earlier in 2024, we launched a series titled Educational Pieces, covering a wide range of topics, many of which were suggested directly by you all (4-Part Series).
For those who may have missed the first installment, it covered topics including:
General background / knowledge on all option strategies
In-depth talk on risk / reversals & how to go about expressing / utilizing them
Options Structuring
When to used naked calls / puts vs. spreads
Choosing expiration dates
Identifying key pivots / supports / resistance zones
General briefing on stock gaps
What to look for in regards to fundamentals
Implementing fundamental / macro / technicals into a trade
Hedging
Creating risk/reward setups
Taking profits / managing losses
Overall Process
Book recommendations
A link to the original Educational Piece can be found here .
Given the positive feedback and how useful many of you found the first installment, we followed up with Educational Piece: Part Deux earlier in 2025 & for those who may have missed, a link to the piece can be found here & we then went on to release Educational Piece: Part Trois which can be found here.
And finally, the most recent installment, Educational Piece: Part Quatre, can be found here.
‘Risk management is the silent prerequisite for compounding & true wealth is built not by chasing the highest returns but by ensuring the survival necessary to realize them.’
Before we jump into the week ahead, following the historic 2-week rally stretch, after initially undergoing a digestion / consolidation phase for the last few weeks, the indices have resumed upward back in their uptrend, with both Spooz & the Nasdaq having closed at all-time-highs & in regard to specific factor performance, Momentum was the best performing group whereas Quality & IPOs were among the worst performing factors on the week.
And in regard to the specific factors and or ‘baskets’ we’ve built on Plutus, here are the best performers year-to-date:
1. Rebuilding U.S. Industrial Sovereignty
2. Industrial and Auto Analog Recovery
Whereas on the flip side, the worst-performing baskets year-to-date have been:
Moving along, despite Spooz & the Q’s having made a new all-time-high this past week, breadth & upside participation, in general, has been on the weaker side, which has more so been reflected in the % of stocks above the 20D, which currently sits at 60%; essentially neutral territory:
And on a broader timeframe, a similar statement can be made as 63% of stocks currently remain above the 50D, which isn’t necessarily extreme, & more so reflects a market still within neutral territory (Working out of overbought territory):
And although Spooz & the Q’s closed at new all-time-highs & have been on a historic 4-week stretch, markets still only remain within ‘Greed’ territory, after having sat within ‘Fear’ & ‘Extreme Fear’ for practically the entirety of the year:
Historical context of the Fear-Greed Index overlaid with the S&P:
