Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Call, your trusted source for high-quality commodity setups and trading strategies. Since October 2016, our approach has delivered an impressive 777% return, and we continue to share the insights and methodologies that drive these results with this post #522. This week, we’ll explore the latest market trends, actionable trade setups, and global economic factors influencing commodities like sugar, coffee, live cattle, and gold.
U.S. Markets (Friday, August 21 Close)
S&P 500: Closed at 7,674.37, gaining approximately 0.4% Friday but declining about 1.4% for the week.
Nasdaq Composite: Closed at 26,180.46, rising approximately 0.4% Friday but falling roughly 2.1% for the week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: Closed at 53,277.01, gaining approximately 1.0% Friday while finishing about 0.9% lower for the week.
U.S. equities recovered Friday after a volatile week, but the rebound was not enough to prevent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq from ending three-week winning streaks.
Rising long-term Treasury yields were the biggest pressure point early in the week. The 30-year Treasury yield briefly reached its highest level since 2007, putting particular pressure on technology and semiconductor shares.
The Treasury Department’s decision to increase purchases of longer-duration government bonds helped stabilize yields later in the week and supported Friday’s rebound.
Economic data also remained constructive. U.S. services activity accelerated to its strongest pace in nearly two years, while manufacturing continued benefiting from artificial-intelligence-related investment despite supply disruptions.
Global Markets
FTSE 100 (United Kingdom): Closed at 10,816.60, gaining approximately 0.6% Friday and 0.6% for the week.
DAX (Germany): Finished near 26,100, rising approximately 0.6% Friday but remaining under pressure from higher European bond yields and energy costs.
Nikkei 225 (Japan): Closed at 66,016.36, declining approximately 0.3% Friday as investors took profits after a powerful summer rally.
Shanghai Composite (China): Closed near 3,905, essentially flat Friday and declining modestly for the week.
European markets rebounded Friday as stronger business activity and corporate earnings outweighed persistent concerns surrounding energy prices and inflation.
Japan remained historically elevated but experienced increased volatility as Japanese bond yields climbed and semiconductor stocks followed weakness in U.S. technology shares.
Chinese equities remained mixed as Beijing continued signaling fiscal support while domestic consumption and property conditions remained uneven.
Commodities Snapshot (Friday Close)
Gold: Approximately $4,624/oz, surging more than 5% for the week and reaching its highest level in more than three months.
Silver: Approximately $69.62/oz, gaining more than 2% Friday and finishing another strong week.
Copper: Approximately $6.50–$6.70/lb, remaining near record territory following an extreme squeeze in physical copper markets.
WTI Crude Oil: Settled at $87.06/barrel, gaining approximately 5.7% for the week.
Brent Crude Oil: Settled at $94.39/barrel, rising approximately 6.4% for the week.
Natural Gas: Settled near $2.77/MMBtu, posting a modest weekly gain as hot weather increased power demand while strong production limited the upside.
Precious metals were among the strongest-performing major assets.
Gold benefited from a weaker dollar, lower expectations for additional Federal Reserve tightening, Treasury-market concerns, and renewed demand for monetary hedges.
Copper remained extremely tight. A short squeeze in London pushed physical copper prices to record levels during the week, highlighting structural supply constraints at the same time that demand from power infrastructure, electrification, AI data centers, and manufacturing continues increasing.
Oil rose for a second consecutive week as tensions with Iran escalated and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remained well below normal levels.
Cryptocurrency Market (Saturday, August 22)
Bitcoin (BTC): Approximately $77,000, consolidating after breaking decisively above $70,000 and trading close to $80,000 during the week.
Ethereum (ETH): Approximately $2,414, continuing a powerful recovery and substantially outperforming its early-August levels.
Solana (SOL): Approximately $93–$94, rallying sharply as liquidity broadened across higher-beta cryptocurrencies.
XRP: Approximately $1.49, posting one of the strongest rallies among large-cap digital assets.
BNB: Approximately $691, continuing to demonstrate strong relative performance.
Cardano (ADA): Approximately $0.224, rebounding strongly as altcoin participation improved.
Dogecoin (DOGE): Approximately $0.090, rising sharply as speculative retail activity returned.
This was the most significant cryptocurrency breakout of the summer.
Bitcoin exited the prolonged $62,000–$66,000 trading range, crossed $70,000 for the first time since June, and continued toward the upper-$70,000 area.
More importantly, the rally broadened. Ethereum, Solana, XRP, BNB, Cardano, Dogecoin, DeFi assets, and crypto-related equities all participated.
That broader market participation distinguishes this move from several earlier Bitcoin rallies.
Key Market Drivers
- Treasury yields drove markets. Long-duration yields reached levels not seen since 2007, pressuring technology and other high-valuation assets.
- Treasury bond buybacks stabilized markets. The government doubled planned purchases of longer-duration bonds, helping calm the bond selloff and improve liquidity expectations.
- Technology stocks corrected. Semiconductor shares experienced one of their weakest weeks of the summer as investors reduced exposure ahead of Nvidia earnings.
- AI investment remains extraordinarily strong. Manufacturing data showed AI-related investment helping push U.S. manufacturing production to its highest level in more than four years.
- Corporate earnings remained strong. Approximately 85% of reporting S&P 500 companies exceeded analyst earnings expectations.
- Oil prices rose sharply. Renewed U.S.-Iran tensions and sanctions threats increased concerns about supply through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Gold surged above $4,600. A weaker dollar, fiscal uncertainty, Treasury-market instability, and softer rate expectations created strong demand for precious metals.
- Bitcoin broke above $70,000. Improving liquidity conditions and short covering accelerated the move.
- Crypto-related stocks surged. Coinbase, Robinhood, Strategy, Circle, and Bitcoin mining companies participated strongly in the crypto rebound.
- Regulatory optimism improved. Renewed White House pressure to advance the CLARITY Act increased expectations that Congress may eventually establish clearer digital-asset regulation.
The week represented a significant rotation. Mega-cap technology cooled while capital moved toward precious metals, commodities, financials, materials, cryptocurrency, and selected cyclical sectors.
Emerging Crypto Projects & Ecosystem News
- The CLARITY Act returned to center stage. The White House publicly urged Congress to advance legislation defining whether digital assets fall under SEC or CFTC jurisdiction.
- Treasury intervention provided an unexpected crypto catalyst. Increased Treasury bond repurchases improved liquidity expectations and helped push Bitcoin through $70,000.
- Ethereum institutional activity strengthened. ETH moved above $2,400 as investors returned to tokenization, stablecoin, and decentralized-finance themes.
- Tokenized securities continued expanding. Treasury securities, money-market funds, equities, private credit, commodities, and other traditional assets continue moving toward blockchain-based issuance and settlement.
- Tokenized bank deposits emerged as an important new theme. Traditional financial institutions are developing blockchain-based deposit products that retain the regulatory structure of bank deposits while gaining programmable settlement capabilities.
- Stablecoin infrastructure continued growing. Payments, treasury management, custody, reserve management, and cross-border settlement remain among the fastest-growing institutional blockchain applications.
- Chainlink remained important to institutional tokenization. Pricing, interoperability, proof-of-reserves, and cross-chain settlement services become increasingly important as institutions deploy assets across multiple blockchain networks.
- Bitcoin treasury strategies continued evolving. Corporate Bitcoin holders are increasingly developing credit products, preferred securities, and other financial structures around their Bitcoin reserves.
- Bitcoin miners continued moving toward AI infrastructure. Power, land, fiber, and data-center assets originally developed for mining are increasingly being repurposed for high-performance computing and artificial-intelligence workloads.
- DeFi activity improved sharply. Uniswap and other decentralized-finance protocols benefited as liquidity and risk appetite returned.
The strongest long-term crypto themes remain Bitcoin, Ethereum, regulated stablecoins, tokenized deposits, tokenized securities, institutional custody, interoperability, and blockchain-based financial settlement.
Outlook for the Week Ahead
- Nvidia earnings: Nvidia reports this week and will provide the most important near-term test of the artificial-intelligence investment cycle. Data-center demand, margins, order growth, and forward guidance will be closely watched.
- Jackson Hole: Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s remarks will be a major macro catalyst as investors look for guidance regarding inflation, bond markets, and future policy.
- PCE inflation: The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge will help determine whether another rate increase remains a meaningful possibility.
- Treasury yields: Bond-market volatility remains one of the biggest risks to equities. Sustained yields above recent highs would again pressure technology valuations.
- Artificial intelligence: Investors increasingly require evidence that massive AI capital expenditures are generating revenue and cash flow.
- Oil and geopolitics: Iran, U.S. sanctions policy, and shipping conditions through the Strait of Hormuz remain capable of producing significant energy-market volatility.
- Gold and silver: Both metals have strong momentum but have become increasingly extended following several weeks of rapid gains.
- Copper: Tight physical inventories and structural infrastructure demand remain supportive, although recent price action is highly volatile.
- Cryptocurrency: The primary question is whether Bitcoin can hold the breakout while Ethereum and altcoins continue broadening participation.
Key Levels to Watch
S&P 500: Support 7,550–7,600 | Resistance 7,750–7,800
Nasdaq Composite: Support 25,900–26,000 | Resistance 26,500–26,700
Bitcoin: Support $74,000–$75,000 | Major Support $70,000–$72,000 | Resistance $79,000–$80,000
Ethereum: Support $2,300–$2,350 | Resistance $2,500–$2,600
Solana: Support $88–$90 | Resistance $98–$100
Gold: Support $4,500–$4,550 | Resistance $4,650–$4,700
Silver: Support $66–$67 | Resistance $70–$72
Copper: Support $6.40–$6.50 | Resistance $6.70–$6.80
WTI Crude Oil: Support $84–$85 | Resistance $90
As always, stay informed and adjust your strategies based on the evolving market conditions. All trades are posted on our Private Twitter Feed for subscribers and are included in the track record posted below under Completed Trades. I am currently trading 15 lots given the account balance and will adjust as necessary based on market developments.
Trading futures contracts and commodity options involves substantial risk of loss, and may not be appropriate for all investors. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please see our Disclaimer for more information.
The trades below are discussed on the Daily Update: – Click Here for a FREE Trial
Sugar
Coffee
Live Cattle
Gold (GC)
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COMPLETED TRADES
Track Record of Completed Trades
The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate how to swing trade futures using our methodology to select high-quality setups and manage the trade with our risk management approach. This track record is based on entries and exits as posted in this blog. I am currently using 15 lots for the Striker trades which is based on this account being over $375,000. Each lot for auto trading at Striker requires $25,000 per lot. See the videos below for more information.
Track Record January 2022 thru December 2022 Click Here.
Track Record January 2021 thru December 2021 Click Here.
Track Record January 2020 thru December 2020 Click Here.
Track Record January 2019 thru December 2019 Click Here.
Track Record January 2018 thru December 2018 Click Here.
Track Record October 2016 – December 2017 Click Here.
*** Trading futures contracts and futures options involves substantial risk of loss, and may not be appropriate for all investors. By reading this web site, you acknowledge and accept that all trading decisions are your sole responsibility. Trading strategies referenced on this web site and associated documents and emails are only suggestions, no representation is being made that they will achieve profits or losses. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.. See our disclaimer here.
Completed trade in Cattle as of November 28th
We expect subscribers to have captured 60% of the swing in live cattle which is over $14,500 in profit using a margin of only $5,115. A great example of using leverage in futures.
Completed Trade in Coffee as of December 12th
The total swing was $37.00 and we expect subscribers to have captured 60% of a wing or $22 in coffee for a profit of over $25,500 using a margin of $8,850. A great example of using leverage in futures. See the video below for the review of the trade.
Completed Trade in Natural Gas as of January 2nd
We were stopped out of out last 1/3 position as weather-related news created a gap down on January 2nd and a possible flat with support at 3.196. This concludes our trade with natural gas; we exit with 550 ticks on 2/3s of a position with $8,500 in profit.
Completed Trade in Coffee as of January 19th
We exited the coffee trade on January 19th with $17 or over $15,000 in profit using a margin of $8,850. A great example of using leverage in futures.
Completed Trade in Gold as of February 8th
We exited the gold trade on February 8th with over $14,000 in profit. We entered on January 3rd and held the trade into the high window. We will re-enter gold in a few weeks after a backtest.
22nd Aug 2026
