Oil & Gas Stocks (Singapore, US, Hong Kong) with 100% Profit (火上加油)

Posted on June 14, 2021 Written by

Crude oil crashed to negative price 1 year ago, how many of you dare to buy oil or related stocks when others were fearful? Everyone knows “Buy Low Sell High” is the secret to make money in investment but in practice, not many people able to pluck the low-hanging fruits.

In this article, you will learn from Dr Tee on Giant Oil & Stocks of 3 Countries (over 100% profits in the past 1 year) for longer term investing and / or short term trading with COVID-19 recovery stock rally. Bonus for readers who could read every word of the entire article, learning unique strategy to position in each giant stocks, including Ein55 Optimism level and Ein55 Intrinsic Value.

1) US Giant Oil & Gas Funds

Energy Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE ARCA: XLE) / US Oil Fund (NYSE ARCA: USO)

– 100% capital gains after oil price surged over 3 times in last 1 year

2) Singapore Giant Oil & Gas Stock: Union Gas Holdings (SGX: 1F2)

– over 100% profit since sharing in 5 months after sharing with Ein55 graduates & public webinars

3) Hong Kong / China Giant Oil & Gas Stock: Kunlun Energy Company (HKEX: 135)

– over 30% special dividend yield and over 20% capital gains since Ex-Dividend on 31 May 2021

Crude oil is a major commodity, therefore a giant by default (similar to property market which is also a form of commodity) as it is not possible for the world to live without energy supply.  Crude oil experienced bearish market due to natural market cycle since Year 2014 when WTI crude oil prices fell from high optimism of over US$100/barrel to low optimism of US$20/barrel, even crashed to negative price (only for 1 day due to abnormal oil futures contract, mostly from USO oil fund) during pandemic in Apr 2020.

For cyclic giant such as crude oil and related Oil & Gas stocks, the entire market was reborn after the worst time of negative oil price.  OPEC and non-OPEC oil producer countries learn to collaborate to stabilize the oil price during this crisis of century. Since then, oil price and related stocks start to rebound from low Ein55 Optimism but mainly limited to long term value investors. During recovery of pandemic over the past 1 year with more energy consumption (industries, transportation, household, etc), oil price and related stocks have gone up steadily, even approaching fair prices with mid Ein55 Optimism. With support of more short term traders who join the game recently (火上加油), oil and gas stocks are enjoying strong uptrend momentum in prices.

A giant stock may not need to be big in size, even a small company could be a giant stock. There are hundreds of Oil & Gas stocks globally but some could be junk stocks, Buy Low may become lower in share prices with declining businesses. Let’s study Global Giant Oil & Gas Stocks (following Dr Tee criteria), some are recovering from lower optimism in 3 global stock exchanges interested by readers:

1) US Giant Oil & Gas Funds

Energy Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE ARCA: XLE) / US Oil Fund (NYSE ARCA: USO)

There is no direct way of investing in crude oil market, some investors may consider either investing through oil futures fund, eg. United States Oil ETF (NYSE ACRA: USO) or Energy Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE ARCA: XLE).

USO oil fund applies rollover of WTI oil futures contracts to invest in oil indirectly.  Due to Contango in most of the time over the past few years, USO has underperformed actual oil price due to the additional loss (reducing overall capital gains) when rollover to future contracts with higher prices. However, current oil futures is under Backwardation, rollover of monthly futures contracts with lower prices would give extra capital gains, therefore higher probability of winning for trading crude oil with USO.

During pandemic in Q2 2020, WTI fell to $20/barrel, an investor may apply average down strategy (see earlier educational article by Dr Tee during the worst time of pandemic: https://www.ein55.com/2020/03/10-bullets-of-crude-oil-uso-etf-investing/), even if following oil prices to $0 (excluding negative price), average entry price is only $10/barrel (average of $20 + $15 + $10 + $5 + $0), now is already over $70/barrel, over 7 times.

Even if an investor invested in WTI oil price at the highest price of low optimism level, $20/barrel, the corresponding USO fund price was about $33/unit (after 8 to 1 stock consolidation), current price is about $48/unit (with WTI price of about $70/barrel), nearly 50% capital gains (not comparable with actual 3X oil price gains from $20/barrel to $70/barrel, mainly due to USO huge loss during negative oil price and Contango period). 

If reading most blogs or analysts reports during pandemic in Q2/2020 after negative oil price, most would write with hindsight that USO was in trouble, may even go bankrupt. Interest in Oil & Gas stocks was very low as well with so many bad news on crude oil market in the past.  In fact, this was a perfect time for oil & gas giant stock investing, especially for a few with strong business, supported by dividend yield over 10% (only known to Ein55 graduates), possible for contrarian investing with average down strategy to Buy Low, collecting quarterly dividend while waiting for the light at the end of tunnel for stock recovery to Sell High one day (currently is only a fair price for crude oil and related giant stocks).

After 1 year later, for investors who could take action with calculated risk on USO (despite this is not perfect for oil investing) or Oil & Gas giant stocks, they are rewarded now. For those who are still thinking or analyzing today (when others are not fearful anymore on oil market), the upside is limited, unless following short term momentum trading.

An alternative to oil futures fund or giant stock investing is to invest in a portfolio of large cap stocks (may not be giant stocks), diversifying the unsystematic business risks.  SPDR fund for Energy Sector Index (XLE) consists of big oil & gas companies such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), etc. These oil & gas stocks are too big to fail (although may not be true all the time but unlikely for all to go bankrupt together), having more reserves to last through the winter time with low Ein55 Optimism oil prices. XLE fund portfolio is supported by integrated oil businesses (upstream oil exploration, midstream oil delivery and storage, downstream oil refinery and processing).

When WTI oil price was $20/barrel, assuming an investor invested in XLE (was about $28/unit), potential capital gains so far is 100%, 2X with XLE at about $55/unit.  XLE could be a better option than USO for longer term investing as it is supported indirectly by big Oil & Gas companies (may not be giant stocks, following Dr Tee criteria) with interests affected by oil prices.  USO is fine for shorter term trading unless during Backwardation period with additional capital gains.

Current Brent or WTI crude oil price of $70+/barrel is still below the Ein55 Intrinsic Value of about $80+/barrel. When there is market greed (common for cyclic commodity market), there is further potential to go beyond $100+/barrel, especially with weaker US Dollar and strong global economy during pandemic recovery after global vaccination.  If so, a smart investor would know when to exit, taking profits at high Ein55 Optimism, waiting for the next market cycle to profit from crude oil and related stocks again.

For conservative investors, it is fine to exit earlier with fair price (after Buy Low last time), converting Oil & Gas stocks to cash (as future investment opportunity fund) or Change Horse to other more defensive dividend giant stocks in the phase 2 (greedy market cycle) of stock market. Cash is King when used at the right time (usually during bearish market with low Ein55 Optimism such as Year 2020 pandemic), an investor has to know when to convert between stocks and cash.

2) Singapore Giant Oil & Gas Stock: Union Gas Holdings (SGX: 1F2)

There are only about 40 Oil & Gas giant stocks globally, excluding marginal giant stocks with familiar names such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Keppel Corp (SGX: BN4).  In fact, many Oil & Gas giant stocks are small and medium cap stocks, businesses have been growing steadily even with bearish WTI crude oil prices over the past 6 years, falling from $100/barrel to $20/barrel to negative prices.  Value is what you get (barrel of crude oil) and price is what you pay, therefore abnormal negative price (seller has to pay to buyer) could not last over 1 day. It can be risky to invest in non-giant oil & gas stocks, especially in Singapore, Buy Low may get lower or even potentially going bankrupt in business, losing everything.

Union Gas is a young Oil & Gas Giant stock in Singapore (4 years after IPO) but having over 40 years of business in LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), business performance has been excellent before and after IPO till now, potential to expand from Singapore to other Southeast Asian countries. Major shareholder (Teo family) has over 70% ownership, paying steady dividend to themselves and also to other shareholders. However, Union Gas share price was stagnant since IPO until last 1 year of pandemic (crisis as opportunity due to higher demand for LPG when people staying longer at home), starting to break above low optimism level of $0.30/share, going up steadily.

When Dr Tee assigned this homework to Ein55 Graduates in Jan 2021, main strategy was positioning for trading with entry share price at $0.53/share or above after each intermediate price breakout.  The stock has gone up a few rounds over the past 5 months, trend-following trading may be applied, especially for giant stock at higher optimism with support by growing business in a promising sector with strong global economy. Based on current price of $1.10 on 14 June 2021 (another 10% rally today), it has doubled its share price with 100% profits.

Union Gas is both a growth stock for long term investing and momentum stock for short term trading.  Dr Tee has used the same stock as case study in free 4hr monthly webinars (www.ein55.com) over the past few months, even a trader may enter halfway at $0.80+, potential gains so far is already over 30%.  For shorter term trading of giant stocks, it is crucial to include S.E.T. (Stop Loss / Entry / Target Prices) in trading plan.

Union Gas is one of over 200 stocks in Singapore Catalist Market, mostly are penny stocks (many have weak business fundamentals), only 5 stocks have over $1/share price.  However, some strong price penny stocks in the past may not be sustainable in future. For example, both UG Healthcare Corporation (SGX: 8K7) and Medtecs International Corporation (SGX: 546) from Catalist market were over $1/share, now back to penny stock (below $1/share) after the market greed has subsided for pandemic beneficiary stocks. Those speculators who chase after the high prices would suffer huge loss when the momentum is stopped one day.

In the last rally of global stock market, usually penny stocks including many junk stocks would go to higher optimism level, speculators may buy up (especially when stock prices rising over 2-10 times) without consideration of businesses, ignorant of price vs value. Sadly to say, this group of speculators (mainly applying tips strategy in action taking) may make some pocket money with over small gains of 10-20% but eventually may need to pay back over big losses of 50-90% to Mr Market when show hands at wrong time with more capitals in future trades of junk stocks with consideration of prices alone (happened several times before, including penny stock crisis many years ago with Blumont (SGX: A33), LionGold (SGX: A78), etc.

3) Hong Kong / China Giant Oil & Gas Stock: Kunlun Energy Company (HKEX: 135)

Kunlun Energy was a Temasek stock who was lucky to sell the stocks many years ago while the stock prices falling from peak of over $16/share in Year 2013 to $4/share during pandemic 2020. In fact, Kunlun Energy has been a little giant stock under giant parent company, PetroChina (HKEX: 857), No 2 largest Oil & Gas stock in the world. Kunlun is a small cap company with integrated LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) businesses.

Kunlun Energy has strong business fundamental but share prices have been affected by bearish crude oil and natural gas prices. Natural gas usually is a byproduct of crude oil drilling, therefore both Oil & Gas stocks are strongly correlated in both businesses and share prices within similar sector, despite the applications are different. Even the future world may not need crude oil one day, becoming 100% green energy, still needs natural gas to produce electricity.

So, popularity of electric vehicles would not eliminate traditional energy sources of crude oil and natural gas. Buying technology giant stocks such as Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is mainly investing in future (pretty picture with higher uncertainty), while buying Oil & Gas giant stocks, are based on proven current business (low-hanging fruits).  An investor may make decision with known facts (which sometimes may last for decades, no need to predict into future which may not come within one’s lifetime.

Over the last 1 year of pandemic, Kunlun Energy recovers in share prices from $4/share to over $9/share with over 100% capital gains. Over the past few months, Dr Tee has shared Kunlun Energy with both Ein55 Graduates and monthly free 4hr public webinars (www.ein55.com), those who take actions recently could profit in both one-time special dividend yield of 32% (mainly due to disposal of an asset) and over 20% capital gains since Ex-Dividend on 31 May 2021 till now.

Kunlun Energy is still a momentum stock for trading, certain trading platform may not adjust for 32% dividend yield on 31 May 2021, then investor has to take note of the 30% price ($9 to $6) differences. It may also be considered for longer term investing (current price is still near to low Ein55 optimism level) with Ein55 Intrinsic Value nearly $18. However, this stock is highly cyclical, may not be suitable for low risk tolerance investor (even Temasek sold it in the last bearish cycle), despite business fundamental is excellent with strong sponsor (PetroChina), share price could fluctuate more than indices.

Volatility could be friend for traders while low optimism (price lower than value) could be friend for investors. So, an investor has to confirm PA (Personal Analysis), aligning the investing strategies with own unique personality (eg. short term trading or long term investing). PA is an anchor point to avoid drifting of position due to emotional stock market. “Copy and Paste” of other people’s best stocks or successes may not work without internalization.

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Due to sector rotation with weakening of USD, commodity market is recovering steadily from low optimism in last few years, now approaching mid optimism of fair value, attracting potential short term traders to follow the uptrend prices of commodity stocks (oil & gas, agricultural, precious metals, etc).

Value investor has option to enter these lower Ein55 Optimism stocks at much lower prices (Buy Low Sell High) with contrarian investing (supporting by high dividend yield). Short term traders would enter at much higher prices (Buy high sell higher), following trends.

Either long term investing or short term trading could make money in stocks. A common way could not make money is simply do nothing, waiting for inflation to depreciate the cash by -2% yearly which is sure loss over long term. Cash is King only when used at the right time, not keeping forever.

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There are over 2000 giant stocks in the world based on Dr Tee criteria, choice of 10 Dream Team giant stocks have to align with one’s unique personality, eg. for shorter term trading (eg. momentum or swing trading) or longer term investing (cyclic investing, undervalue investing or growth investing). Readers should not just “copy and paste” any stock (What to Buy, When to Buy/Sell) as successful action taking requires deeper consideration (LOFTP strategies – Level / Optimism / Fundamental / Technical / Personal Analysis) which you could learn further from Dr Tee Free 4-hr Webinar.

Drop by Dr Tee free 4hr webinar (learning at comfort of home with Zoom) to learn how to position in global giant stocks during COVID-19 stock crisis with 10 unique stock investing strategies, knowing What to Buy, When to Buy/Sell.

Zoom will be started 30 min before event, bonus talk (Q&A on any investment topics from readers) for early birds. There are many topics we will cover in this 4hr webinar, Dr Tee can have more time for Q&A if you could stay later after the webinar, you could ask on any global and local stocks including but not limited to 30 STI component stocks:

Ascendas Reit (SGX: A17U), CapitaLand (SGX: C31), CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (SGX: C38U), City Development (SGX: C09), ComfortDelGro (SGX: C52), Dairy Farm International (SGX: D01), DBS Bank (SGX: D05), Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust (SGX: BUOU), Genting Singapore (SGX: G13), Hongkong Land (SGX: H78), Jardine Cycle & Carriage (SGX: C07), Jardine Matheson Holdings JMH (SGX: J36), Keppel Corp (SGX: BN4), Keppel DC Reit (SGX: AJBU), Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX: N2IU), Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX: ME8U), Mapletree Logistics Trust (SGX: M44U), OCBC Bank (SGX: O39), SATS (SGX: S58), Sembcorp Industries (SGX: U96), Singapore Airlines (SGX: C6L), Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), Singtel (SGX: Z74), ST Engineering (SGX: S63), Thai Beverage (SGX: Y92), UOB Bank (SGX: U11), UOL (SGX: U14), Venture Corporation (SGX: V03), Wilmar International (SGX: F34), YZJ Shipbldg SGD (SGX: BS6).

Dr Tee will cover over 20 case studies, Singapore giant stocks, eg. CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (SGX: C38U), Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), Keppel Corp (SGX: BN4), Top Glove (SGX: BVA), Jardine Matheson Holdings JMH (SGX: J36), Vicom (SGX: WJP) and many others, Malaysia giant stocks, Hong Kong giant stocks and US giant stocks, both long term investing and short term trading.

There are limited tickets left for this 4hr free webinar, please ensure 100% you could join when register: www.ein55.com

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4 Forces on Crude Oil Funds (四面楚歌)

Posted on April 25, 2020 Written by
crude oil funds

Crude oil is a commodity giant, similar to gold, physical price should not drop to $0.  However, it is possible for derivatives of crude oil (eg. futures contracts) to drop below zero under special condition, eg. US oil price for WTI was negative $37/barrel for May 2020 futures contract during the most fearful time in Coronavirus pandemic with the lowest energy demand due to lockdown in US and global countries.

For gold commodity, investor could buy physical gold bar (if price drops below zero) and hide under pillow or as display at home. For crude oil commodity, investors could not keep the explosive materials at home, therefore need to have storage place which would incur high cost during the pandemic period as oil storage level is near to its maximum level, may be full by mid of May 2020.  Therefore, investors who buy oil, even at positive prices, may not able to store the oil unless demand is more than supply, only then there is new room for storage.

Nevertheless, oil commodity is still a giant for longer term investing. However, there is no ideal way to invest directly in oil, each option has its own pros and cons. Typical ways are through oil futures trading, oil ETF (eg. USO, UCO, BNO, etc), energy ETF (eg. XLE, VDE, etc) or major oil & gas stocks (eg. Exxon Mobil – NYSE: XOM, Chevron – NYSE: CVX, etc).

Among all options, USO oil ETF (the largest crude oil ETF fund in the world) is a compromised way for investing in short term to mid term to follow oil price but investors may need to pay for monthly holding cost due to losses in contango (reversed is holding gain during backwardation, search for past articles by Dr Tee for details). Oil & gas stocks are more suitable for long term investing (benefiting from oil price recovery indirectly through business) but investors has risk of weaker oil & gas companies may go bankrupt during oil crisis with prolonged low oil price, therefore safer to focus in giant oil & gas stocks with strong business fundamental, continue to be profitable even during last 5 years of oil crisis.

USO (WTI oil ETF) and oil commodity used to have good correlation within about 3 years (longer than that, contango will show significant difference, reducing the capital gains). The past few months of high contango (especially for May 2020 futures contract) has resulted in USO value declining significantly. If oil futures continue to drop to negative prices for June 2020 and a few more months, not only USO may have risk of going bankrupt (NAV approaching $0), even many global oil & gas companies may disappear (Hin Leong Trading of Singapore is just an example of victim).

The correlation between USO and WTI oil is used to be this way:

Oil  (WTI) / USO (ratio is about $1/barrel oil = $0.21 USO)
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$20 / $4.20

So, when oil price drops proportionally in a gradual way within months or years (not within 1 day), USO (without high contango) may follow closely in this manner:

Oil  (WTI) / USO (ratio is about $1/barrel oil = $0.21 USO)
=============
$20 / $4.20
$15 / $3.15
$10 / $2.10
$5 / $1.05
$1 / $0.21

However, oil market becomes speculative during Coronavirus pandemic, negative oil price (happened only for 1 day) becomes the victim. USO suffered great loss in that day of negative price. USO has about 20-25% risk exposures for May 2020 futures contracts, probably could still sell at low prices above $0, therefore overall losses are about 25% due to rollover to June 2020 futures contract with higher prices. USO is in a better shape than other oil fund, eg. Bank of China oil fund (Yuanyou Bao – 原油宝) which selling May 2020 futures contract at closing market price of negative $37/barrel), suffering permanent damage, risk is much higher (this fund is stopped for new investors). Despite oil prices fell to negative region, actual transaction are fewer, prices for nearby month futures contract (Jun 2020) quickly recover, now back to a more normal price of $17/barrel.

USO oil ETF is the largest oil ETF, could quickly get new investors with new funds whenever there is a new in oil prices. Even so, USO suffers major correction over the past 1 month, the new correlation (with USO contango losses) as of now is

Oil  (WTI) / USO (ratio is about $1/barrel oil = $0.15 USO), new ratio based on 24 Apr 2020

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$17.30 / $2.57

So, for every $1/barrel oil price, it means USO has depreciated from equivalent $0.21 (before negative oil price) to $0.15 (after negative oil price), about 25% loss due to contango during that day with negative oil price (rollover from May to Jun 2020 futures contract with historical high price gap). If June 2020 happens again for negative oil price (may or may not happen again, only knows about a few weeks later), USO would suffer more losses again.

Whether USO (and other oil ETFs) may go bankrupt (NAV approaching zero) in short term or could survive and recover together with oil commodity giant in longer term, depending on these 4 market forces:

1) Coronavirus (Demand vs Supply)

How long would Coronavirus last and when US would restart economy are keys. This determines when demand > supply for oil. Now oil supply < demand during pandemic. Based on the current Coronavirus trends, there is earlier sign that US has reached intermediate peak of new daily cases but downtrend is not so clear. With 50 states of US take turn to restart the economy, there is high risk of second peak with more infection (this is reflected in Europe countries as well with restart of economy too early).

If there is no major change in policy, Coronavirus could fade away in June for US but this implies at least 2 more months of low demand for oil price. So, there is at least 2 months of winter time for low demand for oil in US and even the world (similar trends as US).

2) Oil Storage Limit (Demand = Supply)

In the near term (eg. June – July 2020 futures contracts), it is possible for negative oil prices to happen again, especially oil storage in US will reach maximum limit by mid of May 2020, market sentiments with great fear (四面楚歌) may cause abnormal negative oil prices again. 

By then, new oil produced has no more storage. So, demand = supply for oil when there is no more new storage. It means most oil & gas companies would lose more money (no oil = no income), there is high expenses to shutdown the oil well.  When more oil & gas companies go bankrupt or stopping production, naturally supply will be less (even demand is still low), oil price could be supported but it would take months for some weaker companies with little cash reserves to burn out first.  When company goes bankrupt, it is bad news for energy sector ETF (eg. XLE) as it is business fundamental dependent but it could be good news for oil market (survival of the fittest).

During bearish market, for farmers, historically there were cases of some pour away milk (or destroy vegetables), instead of selling at low prices or given free. This is a way to reduce supply to support the “commodity” price. The idea is the same for oil but it could be a challenge to throw away oil as it requires proper way to dispose the explosive materials, any spill would be a high cost to clean.

3) Political Economy (Invisible Hands)

US government may intervene when more US shale oil companies go bankrupt with over 6 months without much production (no place to store oil if producing anymore) if demand is low during pandemic. Collapse of oil & gas industry (if not saved by global countries), may start with US shales oil company with production cost of $50/barrel, burning money each month when oil price is below $20/barrel. After that, it may extend globally to OPEC and non-OPEC (eg. Russia with production cost of $20/barrel), eventually even Saudi with the lowest production cost ($5/barrel) may not able to survive.

Historically, oil & gas companies are strong supporters of local government, contributing to local economy, creating jobs. Therefore, there is high possibility that global stimulus plans (including “unlimited QE” of US) would save this key industry for collapsing in short term, so that it could recover again in mid to long term with natural demand > supply when Coronavirus crisis is over.

In fact, there is no need for demand > supply for oil price to goes up. As long as oil storage reaches a limit, no new drop of oil could be produced before it is being used, so oil price would be stable. This is similar to 0% car growth rate in Singapore, for each car deregistered, only then a new car COE (Certificate of Entitlement) may be issued, therefore the car price would not drop to zero. However, under extreme fearful condition, it is still possible for car COE to drop to $1 but car price would never drop to zero unless there is a derivate for car such as “futures contracts of Singapore cars”, only then it is possible to have negative prices, implying car buyer would get paid when buying a car.

If oil market is speculative (eg. negative oil price by right should not happen), when oil is at very low price, eg $10 or $5 or $1/barrel, then shorting won’t help much as even USO may go bankrupt, then not much “meat” of profits left. If so, the “invisible hands” (big boys) may start to turn to long oil price to profits again from oil, but using reserved direction.  So, who are these invisible hands? It could be big investment funds (non-oil related), major oil producers themselves (covering the losses in oil prices with investing in giant oil & gas stocks at very low prices). In the next 6-12 months, we may know who are the big gainers in oil market, then invisible hands would be clearer. Usually they could affect the oil prices, therefore there could be major news in next few months if they decide to turn the oil market around again.

4) Size of Oil Funds (Strength of Fund)

New global investment would keep on coming to oil ETF funds (including USO, the largest and most popular fund, despite it has contango issue with high holding cost), especially whenever oil prices coming to new low. The reason is there is no other better way to invest in crude oil, unlike some people could buy gold or silver and keep at home for price appreciation one day.

If USO losses in contango is supported by new funds (entering at lower unit price), the fund still has positive NAV, could still continue follow the oil prices for possible recovery. It means this is a mind game between high rollover cost (monthly holding cost) vs tremendous high potential of oil prices (when demand > supply with no market threat one day). If USO could last until oil prices reverse the mega trend (from the worst case, could be negative $37 or even lower), then the high rollover cost of contango is a good issue to have because capital gains from higher oil price could offset this holding cost. However, an USO investor may not expect 100% capital gains when oil prices recovers from $15 to $30/barrel as there was cost incurred during the holding period.

However, when fewer new funds come in, USO continues to lose in contango for 6-12 months with negative oil prices or large monthly prices gaps, then possible even for USO to go bankrupt but this will be a very severe market condition as it means many oil & gas companies may also bankrupt at the same time (even XLE would have serious correction, many oil & gas stocks would disappear).  Before that, smaller oil funds which are less popular would go bankrupt first if could not last through the winter of high contango with low oil prices.

USO plans for 1-for-8 reverse share split (stock consolidation to 8x higher price by reducing the number of shares), price gap from $0 (psychological limit) would be further, giving more rooms for contango to erode the prices with monthly holding cost. In addition, USO also could rollover to 2 months later, not just to next month of futures contracts which could avoid high right of negative oil prices. However, if so, correlation of USO and oil commodity would be weaker, may not benefit fully when oil prices recover in very short term (eg. certain unexpected good news from major forces mentioned).

In short, size does matter for oil ETF. USO could not be 100% protected as it is based on derivatives of oil futures contracts, therefore it is not the same as oil commodity which is a giant. USO is a conditional giant when the rising oil prices could offset the contango cost. If contango cost is more and faster than the rising oil prices, then any oil funds (including USO and many other oil funds) or even oil producer countries (not just companies) have to go bankrupt.

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In short, whether USO and other global oil ETF funds or even many oil & gas companies may go bankrupt depends mainly on 4 factors above, a power struggling among big funds, invisible hands, Coronavirus and oil storage limit. If USO could still survive and reverse the trend, due to recent contango losses, the capital gains (eg. when oil price is over $30/barrel again) would be less. For an investor entering USO around $4 with oil price around $20/barrel, after 25% contango loss (could be more), may need to wait for oil price to recover to about $30/barrel to breakeven.

It will be a mind game among the earlier 4 market forces to determine up and down and mega direction of oil prices. Oil commodity is still a giant but it has become a tool for speculation, behaving in an abnormal way. USO oil ETF is based on oil commodity derivative, not a giant during contango period with low oil prices, especially during negative oil price which is very abnormal, mainly due to complex interaction of 4 market forces.

So, investors of oil funds must understand own personality, how much risk tolerances (any diversification or position sizing or cut loss measure) could take as crude oil is a high volatile and speculative market due to unpredictable market forces, especially during this period. Hope the sharing on oil market has helped readers. Please make your own decision for investing.

There is no need for investors to take risk to invest in crisis commodity or crisis stocks. There are many giant global giant stocks which could continue to grow in business and remain profitable during Coronavirus pandemic. Dr Tee spends about half a day to prepare this article as some readers may be worrying about the crude oil market, including chance of survival of oil ETF funds. When I finish the article, it is about 8pm, very touched to hear the cheering sounds all over the neighbourhood, motivating one another during this pandemic crisis. Even we may not know when the health or financial crisis may be over but we have faith that it will be over one time, so we need to ensure we are safe during this period of uncertainty, staying healthy by exercise more and enriching mind with valuable investment knowledge.

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Filed Under: Commodity Market, Market Outlook, Stock Market Tagged: , , , , , , ,

10 Key Notes Before Investing in Oil (十年寒窗)

Posted on April 22, 2020 Written by
oil investing commodity stocks negative price

With oil price drops to negative recently (as if Singapore car COE drops to $1), some investors may be interested in investing in oil to buy at extremely low for tremendous potential capital gains. Before any action, readers may read through these 10 key notes carefully to identify the suitable way of investing in oil aligning to own unique personality.

1) Oil Commodity

Crude oil (WTI or Brent) is a pure commodity trading, based on buy low sell high to make money.  Unlike stock, there is no business supporting the commodity prices. The hidden fundamental is with demand vs supply of economic cycles and black swans (eg. oversupply with price war of oil producers countries and low demand during Coronavirus pandemic).

2) Oil Investing

There is no simple way to invest or trade oil commodity directly, usually could be done in 3 ways, each has own limitation:

– buy physical oil (not practical as need to store the oil which incurs additional cost)

– trade oil futures (more suitable for seasoned traders for short term trading, could be speculative)

– investing oil ETF (more suitable for short-term to mid-term investors without leveraging)

3) Oil ETF

For oil ETF, investment is through oil futures contracts, rollover in each month to track either WTI (US oil) or Brent (world oil outside US).  The alignment of oil ETF and oil price is acceptable within a few years (short term to mid term).  For longer term oil investing, oil ETF usually would underperform actual oil market due to rollover cost (holding cost) during contango which happened about 60-70% over the past 1 decade.

For oil ETF, there are 2 stages to take note: Contango (negative rollover yield) vs Backwardation (positive rollover yield).

4) Contango for Oil ETF (Rollover Cost – loss in holding)

This is when oil futures contacts prices of later months are higher than nearby month. It happens usually in lower level of oil prices (lower optimism) with outlook of higher prices in future. There is rollover cost each month for swapping the futures contacts, could be a few % higher prices each month. Contango effect is getting more serious over the past few months during Coronavirus period, over 10% from month to month.

Investors could make money when the potential capital gains from volatile oil prices (eg. 20-50% within 1 year) is much higher than Contango rollover cost. In longer term, if oil price remains at lower prices with Contango stage, the high rollover cost would offset the capital gains from appreciation of oil price. So, an investor has to weight between these 2 conflicting factors, potential high capital gains at lower optimism vs rollover cost (holding cost).

A compromised way is to buy only when there is clear reversal of low optimism oil price (eg. applying technical analysis) when price is more bullish (with uptrend). This way, potential capital gains could offset the rollover cost of Contango. Alternatively, avoid investing during period of high Contango (much higher prices for futures contracts in later months), although usually the oil price is usually having more discount during this time. Of course, investors have the choice to wait for Backwardation period to get positive gain from rollover for holding the oil ETF.

5) Backwardation for Oil ETF (Rollover Yield – gain in holding)

This is when oil futures contacts prices of later months are lower than nearby month. It happens usually in higher level of oil prices (higher optimism) with outlook of lower prices in future. There is rollover gain each month for swapping the futures contacts, could be a few % lower prices each new month (saving cost when rollover to cheaper contracts). Examples of Backwardation were in years 2012-2013, 2019, about 1/3 of the time.

Investors could make money when capital gains in oil prices is moderate (eg. less than 10-20% within 1 year) but combined additional positive gain in rollover yield (as if passive income as dividend stock), will be reasonable. Backwardation may not stay for long term, even if it does, the potential capital loss (oil price at higher level, more potential to fall in long term) is higher if hold long term. So, an investor has to weight between these 2 conflicting factors, capital gain / loss and rollover yield.

A compromised way for Backwardation is to buy only when oil price is still uptrend (despite higher level). This way, potential capital gains from trading (despite lower potential at higher price level) is reasonable as there is some rollover yield (at least no rollover cost as in Contango).

6) Negative Oil Price

Technically, it is possible for oil investors to apply multiple entries during low optimism (balance potential high capital gains with high rollover cost during Contango), eg

$20, $15, $10, $5, $1 per barrel. This way, there is no need to predict the bottom of oil price.

This is true with assumption that oil would not drop to $0 which is true for physical oil (similar to petrol in gas station, could be lower price but never could be $0).  However, due to human greed (political economy with price wars in oil producer company) and fear (Coronavirus with over 50% people in the world staying at home during lockdown with low energy consumption), together with nearly full storage of oil capacity, oil price dropped to negative $40/barrel. This is as if a buyer could get a barrel of oil, not only free, but additional $40 reward for buying.

This is against human nature but negative oil price actually happened on 20 Apr 2020 as Apr-May 2020 are likely the peak of Coronavrus pandemic in the world (especially US with which US oil consumption would be the lowest during this period). The negative oil price may happen again for June 2020 oil futures contract if there is no significant improvement in oil market sentiment.

Negative oil price is as if a complex number (i) in mathematics which is not real but could have its effect.  So, for very conservative oil investors, instead of $0, need to consider negative $40 as new bottom in multiple entries:

$20, $0, negative $20, negative $40 per barrel.

In addition, the investors at such crisis time also need to suffer the potential high Contango (over 10-30% monthly rollover cost). Therefore, oil investing is more speculative than it should (if one could go to gas station to buy 1 barrel of oil at $1, selling back at $10 after 1 year later). In the physical world, buying oil requires transportation, storage and other costs, not as simple as buying 1 ounce of gold (another commodity but different condition as crude oil) which can be kept safely at home for long term investing.

7) USO ETF (WTI)

USO ETF is a way to invest WTI (US Oil) which one has to consider al the points 4-6 above with Contango, Backwardation and even negative oil price. Since an investor could not buy oil directly, the multiple entries have to be based on USO prices, eg:

Assuming the USO price is $/unit, multiple entries could be around:

$4, $3, $2, $1, $0.10 per unit of USO

Which is corresponding to oil prices of

$20, $15, $10, $5, $1 per barrel

Since oil price could fall into negative, therefore prices targets based on USO is more exact than based on oil price (especially when it falls momentarily to negative, no reference in USO price). With time, USO would approach similar scale as above (eg. USO $2 when oil price is around $10/barrel, USO $4 when oil price is around $20/barrel) with exception of sudden drop to negative price (which would recover the next few days).

For investors who could take higher risk of high contango during Coronavirus crisis need to take note that negative oil price may not mean super low price for USO ETF as the physical world could not take negative fund which means bankruptcy. An investor may wait until oil price to stabilize first (over Coronavirus period), even if oil price could be higher, safer for positioning. 

Of course, one has the option to totally ignore oil investing through future contracts or oil ETF (see other options in later points). Oil could drop to negative number or near to $0 but oil ETF could not stay at near $0 for too long as there is rollover cost. To minimize high volatility in nearby month futures contract, USO ETF may need to rollover to 2 months later, not just on nearby month, to minimize the risk of negative price. However, it means USO and oil price will not be so closely correlated during those blind spots of time.

8) Potential of Oil Market

Similar to global stock market, oil market also depends on black swan, Coronavirus, whether it could end on time by summer, in US and also for the whole world. If so, people could step out from the home, could travel (cars, trains, cruise, flights, etc), could work (manufacturing plants) and many other activities that need more energy. Based on the Coronavirus analysis so far, there is a high possibility that the pandemic may end or fade away by summer. However,

Oil produces may not let the oil market (the largest commodity market in the world) to fall to low for a long period of time as it means these countries would suffer losses at national level.

US – largest oil producer (production cost is about $50/barrel), mainly shale oil companies would go bankrupt if oil is below $20/barrel, not to mention at negative price or near to $0. Trump may use the low oil price to top up the national oil reserves and support US oil price at the same time but it subjects to congress approval. If shale oil companies go bankrupt, US economy would be serious affected.

Saudi (with OPEC) – second largest oil producer (production cost is about $5/barrel), despite it is the only country which could last the longest with lower price, high national expenses with high dependency on oil revenue, the oil price could not stay at low level below $20 for a few years. Currently lower oil price is partially supported by high US dollar strength (higher revenue when converted to local currency) but when USD is weaker, it would become double blows to Saudi and also entire OPEC.

Russia (with OPEC+) – third largest oil producer (production cost is about $20/barrel), it is already a loss for current oil price, when Russia economy remains weak, this will be a high pressure. This is also true for all other oil producers countries.

These top 3 oil producers countries control about half of the world oil production and having influence over other smaller oil producers countries. The production cut starting in May 2020 is below market expectation, therefore more cut may be required to fight against the immediate risk of storage capacity issue (which will be full in May 2020 for most places in the world, no place to keep for new oil produced).

Price is moved by demand vs supply. Oil producers countries could control the supply but another 50% is dependent on demand which mainly depends on Coronavirus. Therefore, commodity has a natural market cycle of low and high, only uncertainty is duration and timing of low and high is a variable.

So, oil commodity investing may not be suitable for those without holding power, not to mention there is no suitable investing tool as oil ETF would incur high rollover cost during Contango period. A safer compromise is not to buy oil at the lowest point with the most uncertain period with the highest rollover cost. Instead, wait for some light at the end of tunnel with higher oil price, lower rollover cost, higher uptrend price which is an insurance premium for extra safety.

9) XLE (Energy ETF)

An alternative to oil commodity investing is to investing in a portfolio of oil & gas stocks through XLE (SPDR Energy ETF) or similar energy ETF with energy related stocks.  Many of the composition stocks are oil & gas companies (integrated, upstream, midstream, downstream) which has certain correlation to oil prices. The up and down in oil prices would affect the businesses of these XLE sector companies, therefore an investor could benefit indirectly the low oil price when investing these oil & gas companies through XLE.

XLE ETF provides diversification, suitable for lower capital investor for crisis sector investing. Even it is possible for a few companies may eventually go bankrupt (eg. if oil price below $10/barrel for a few years), energy fund is based on business, unlike USO ETF which has high rollover cost, XLE is more suitable for holding longer term. When oil price is at higher optimism level or just moderate optimism one day (assuming Coronavirus disappear), XLE would also benefit with capital gains in share prices, which are reflected in sector ETF. However, it is more suitable for longer term investors when investing at low optimism level (十年寒窗).

The bonus for XLE investor is to collect 3-10% dividend yield (which may not be stable, depending on the entry prices), as if Backwardation period USO oil ETF with positive rollover yield. Contango is as if negative dividend yield, more holding cost with longer term investing.

XLE investing requires alignment with optimism (entry at low optimism, exit at high optimism, collecting 5-10% dividend yield during waiting period). Management cost is relatively lower than USO but it won’t benefit from sudden surge in oil prices for short term, instead, profiting through the businesses with stocks in oil sector which benefits from higher oil price over mid to long term.

10) Oil & Gas Giant Stocks

For smart oil investor, one may not just invest in oil through ETF (rollover cost) or XLE (stable but requires holding power). One could become own fund manager to invest in oil & gas giant stocks (44 global giants based on Dr Tee giant criteria). Even when oil prices have been at lower optimism over the past 5 years of crisis, these giant stocks are strong in business fundamental, still can make money each year with consistent growth.

Some of these companies, for example, are in midstream segment of oil storage or delivery business, not affected much by oil prices. When oil is full storage capacity due to low demand, these companies could charge a higher price. They are also good candidates for longer term investing, investing at lower optimism, collecting dividend (over 5-10% yield) as passive income while holding during winter time, eventually better with growth investing with higher optimism when oil and share prices appreciate one day. At higher optimism, an investor has a choice to either sell for profits or even hold for longer term investing (if the stock is defensive in nature).

Crisis investing is not easy as it is not simply Buy Low or “Be Greedy when Others are Fearful”. It requires understanding the risks and opportunities of each option, then an investor may choose the right tool (eg. oil ETF, XLE energy ETF or oil & gas giant stock) with strategy aligned with own personality, either for short term trading or long term investing.

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Myth of Negative Oil Price (扑朔迷离)

Posted on April 21, 2020 Written by
negative oil price

US oil (WTI) May 2020 futures contract price crashed yesterday (20 Apr 2020 is the last day before May 2020 US oil future contract expires) to negative $37. Global investors may be confused, why it is possible for oil price to drop to negative, does it mean oil investment fund will go bankrupt? Global consumers may be excited, does it mean petrol from gas station is free from now? Here are the details to uncover this myth.

An oil futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a certain number of barrels set amount of oil at a predetermined price, on a predetermined date.  There are 2 main oil futures contracts: WTI (mainly US oil prices) and Brent (overseas oil prices, outside US). Oil investors would choose futures contracts over spot contracts which requires delivery / storage of physical crude oil in barrels which is not practical. 

An alternative is investing through oil ETFs (eg. USO, UCO, DBO, BON, etc) without actually owning a futures contract by investor (maximum risk is limited to investment on ETF), aiming to follow the oil price movement for capital gains. However, these oil ETFs are not suitable for holding long term (eg. more than 3 years) as there is high rollover cost for futures contracts, a strategy by oil ETF fund manager to keep the oil investment without need to physically store the oil. When futures contracts prices for later months are higher than nearby month, it is called “Contango”, would incur additional cost, when adding up over long term, could be significant to reduce the potential capital gains in actual oil price appreciation. Reversed process is called “Backwardation” which oil ETF would have positive rollover yield due to lower futures contract prices for later months.

In general, when oil price is volatile in short term (eg. up and down 20%-50%), these rollover cost or return may not be obvious. However, in May 2020 futures contract, there is a serious contango with low demand for oil price (due to global lockdown for Coronavirus, especially in US which affects WTI oil price) with over-supply of oil (global oil producers’ action to limit the production is not fast nor strong enough). Due to nearly full storage of oil in US, a buyer would have problem with high storage cost if buying in May. With tremendous sell by oil ETF for May 2020 futures contracts (rollover to buy later months futures contracts), oil price drops below $0 to negative $37, technically sellers are paying to buyers to collect the oil which is abnormal, never happened before.

This abnormality of negative oil price is a historical event, a combination both black swans of Coronavirus (low oil demand) and crude oil price war (high oil supply), breaking down near the worst time of US with severe Coronavirus condition in Apr 2020.  The nearby or front month futures contract now is Jun 2020, WTI oil price is back to a more normal of $21/barrel (usually within $5 difference with Brent oil price which is around $25). So, global consumers may be disappointed as gas station won’t give free petrol unless this negative price is over a longer period of time.

The same negative oil price may or may not happen before expiry date of June 2020 futures contract as oil investors have 1 more month to observe the changes in oil price demand and supply, especially the Coronavirus condition which affects the US economy when it be restarted. The production cut of global oil produces from May 2020 although limited, may help to a certain extent.

negative oil price

The global Coronavirus condition is improving with 5 days consistent downtrend in number of new daily cases. US has also shown a gradual downtrend in new daily Coronavirus cases over last 1 week which is an weak positive signal, if better results are seen by end of Apr 2020, more states in US would restart the economy. Most Americans drive, so when lockdown is stopped, US oil price (WTI) would recover naturally with more energy consumption. Trump may also consider to buy more unwanted US oil at low or negative prices to top up the national oil reserves. Europe countries have significantly lower number of new daily Coronavirus cases, lockdown may gradually be loosened, combined with more manufacturing activities in China, global demand for oil price would gradually pickup by summer. Singapore has a surge in number of Coronavirus cases over the past 1 week but mainly this is within foreign labour dormitories, risk of community infection is in fact lower with stricter partial lockdown.

Global consumers likely could continue to enjoy cheaper petrol prices but not free oil as the negative oil price is a rare product of 2 black swans of Coronavirus crisis and oil price war crisis. If oil prices are below $20/barrel over a longer period of time (eg. a few years), weaker oil producers countries would start to go bankrupt (see past example of Venezuela, even oil price was above $50 a few years ago), following by US shale oil producers (production cost is around $50/barrel), then Russia (production cost is around $20/barrel), finally only Saudi (despite production cost is $5/barrel, there is high national expenses, need much higher oil price to sustain the normal lifestyles).

So, what are the options for global oil investors? Oil ETF such as USO has reasonable correlation to WTI, eg. when oil price surged from $20 to $28 a few weeks ago, USO also went up by similar magnitude of 40% in short term. With yesterday negative oil price, USO is only partially affected as most contracts are already rollover to later months, USO is corrected by around 10%.  USO has some flexibility to rollover future contracts to 2 months later, instead of to nearby month (more volatile, negative oil price may have chance to happen again by 20 May 2020 before June 2020 futures contracts expire) but this would affect the tracking of WTI short term oil price (in exchange for smoother price movement). USO is not suitable for holding long time due to Contango effect, so for oil investors who see significant appreciation (eg. 20-50%) in future oil price in short to mid term (less than 1 year), may consider to take progressive profits as rollover cost is inherent to oil ETFs (similar to holding cost), hard to find other better way to invest in oil prices.

Oil investors may also consider indirect way of investing through energy ETF (eg. XLE, SPDR energy sector ETF) which invests in oil & gas stocks with reasonable correlation to oil prices but won’t be easily affected by such abnormality of negative oil price (XLE was only down by 3% yesterday with negative oil price).

A better oil investment option could be to focus in global oil & gas giant stocks (44 of them based on Dr Tee giant criteria), many are midstream oil 7 gas stocks, eg. storage or delivery of oil which is a more defensive business segment. Storage of oil is a consistent profitable business, some companies are strong in business despite oil & gas crisis over the past 5 years. Oil delivery business could be temporary affected due to lower demand of oil. These midstream oil & gas stocks could even pay consistent dividend, suitable for holding during low optimism of stock prices, waiting for recovery of oil price for potential capital gains indirectly.

Of course, one may do futures trading directly without oil ETF or oil & gas stocks. However, futures trading is speculative in nature for shorter term, may not be suitable for retail traders. Even Singapore oil trading company, Hin Leong, could go bankrupt after losing US$800M in oil futures trading. As a result, 3 major banks (DBS, OCBC, UOB) in Singapore would need to set aside provisions for this non-performing loan (NPL) but risks to these banks are lower than 5 years ago when more weak oil & gas companies were in trouble (eg. Swiber, Marco Polo Marine, etc).

Sharing above is for educational purpose. Readers have to make own decision after independent thinking, especially on risk tolerance level, always having the option not to consider any investment in crisis sectors with business seriously affected.

There are other sectors which business are relatively strong, eg. technology (especially internet related), consumer staples, healthcare, property, etc, many global giant stocks (over 1500) could be considered. Due to the uncertainty in Coronavirus condition (despite downtrends in last 5 days for world condition), stock investors may need to plan for capital allocation (investment in batches) with a portfolio of giant stocks supported by strong fundamental business, so that one could invest with a peace of mind, no need to worry of abnormality such as negative oil price.

==================================

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10 Bullets of Crude Oil USO ETF Investing (十重天机)

Posted on March 31, 2020 Written by
Crude Oil ETF Investing USO

If you stayed till 2am Singapore time last night, you would have chance to trigger the first silver bullet, entry to buy WTI crude oil below US$20/barrel (only lasted for less than 1hr, heavy correction of 9% in 1 day) through USO oil ETF. This is last 18 years low for crude oil, mainly due to combination of crude oil price war and low demand of crude oil during Coronavirus pandemic, a rare crisis with 2 black swans.

I have shared this rare opportunity of crude oil crisis with low optimism, the first target US$20/barrel in earlier post a few days ago. At this price, crude oil is much cheaper than mineral water of the same volume (about US$50/barrel or US$0.30 / liter if you are more used to this unit of 1 liter bottled water price). Does it make sense?

If you miss the opportunity last night, not to worry, there could be 10 levels of opportunities (十重天机) ahead. Let’s learn together from Dr Tee on how to trigger 10 silver bullets for crude oil investment.

Over the past 3 decades (with multiple global financial crisis in between), crude oil (WTI) price was ranging from the lowest of about $10/barrel to $140/barrel. For simplicity, we may take $1 – $100 as possible range of crude oil price for next 10 years.

$100 = High Price (Bullish Economy / high optimism stock)

$50 = Fair Price (Average Economy / mid optimism stock)

$25 = Low Price (Bearish Economy / global stock crisis with low optimism)

WTI Crude Oil Historical Prices

Below $25/barrel with very low optimism, an investor could position in 10 opportunities for investing with 5 levels of crisis (from severe to disaster, prices may not really follows the crisis, just an illustration of how crisis causes more downside of crude oil).

Initially, prices would move in downtrend (more suitable for long term value investing with contrarian approach or even short term trader for shorting when breaking below the support), 5 possible levels of crisis (Level 1 is confirmed):

$20 = L1a = Price War Crisis (record on 31 Mar 2020)

$15 = L2a = Coronavirus Crisis (low demand 6-12 months)

$10 = L3a = Global Financial Crisis (1-2 years bearish economy)

$5 = L4a = Great Depression (Coronavirus last over 1 year without vaccine, most human in the world stay at home)

$1 (or even lower price, $X) = L5a = Nearly end of the world (no need to have crude oil or a smart scientist found a way to get free or cheaper energy source)

After reaching the bottom (no one knows, only history could tell, $X-$20, may not go through all the 5 levels), then it will recover again in a reversed way (uptrend prices):

$1 = L5b = recovering from “human crisis”

$5 = L4b = recovering from Great Depression

$10 = L3b = recovering from Global Financial Crisis

$15 = L2b = recovering from Coronavirus Crisis

$20 = L1b = recovering from price war

Subsequently, crude oil may move higher to normal range of prices, between $20 – $100+/barrel, averaging around $50/barrel. For those who are patient with strong holding power of over 3 years, there is a good chance of capital gains in future if one believes the 5 levels of crisis above are possible but low chance. Even if price war continues, at $20/barrel, Russia would start to lose money as its production cost is $20/barrel. Saudi could last longer as production cost is only $5/barrel but high national expenses won’t allow oil price to remain at low level for too long and other OPEC / non-OPEC countries may go bankrupt at this price. US, China and big funds in the world may also use the opportunity of low oil price (below $20/barrel) to buy for storage as strategic energy weapon, or simply sell higher price in future.

Some traders may take action to short when $20 support is clearly broken down. Some investors (contrarian type) may take action to gradually buy at historical 18 years low price (perhaps next target will be $15, $10, $5, $1, etc).

Question is will crude oil drops to $0 and will human forever stay at home more than 1 year with Coronavirus?

If not, it means crude oil is a commodity giant, every crisis at low optimism is an opportunity. There are 3 different strategies, counter-trend and/or follow-trend. Assuming, all 5 levels of crisis (although unlike, actual case could be between L1-L5), then one may apply multiple entries, eg (10 times x 10% capital), (5 times x 20%), (2 times x 50%) or simply 1 x 100% (1 bullet, could be due to limited capital).

1) Counter-trend (eg. 5 x 20% in downtrend L1a-L5a)

1.1) Fixed quantity method (eg. 100 units for each price)

Average price

= ($20 + $15 + $10 + $5 + $1) / 5

= $10.20

It means there is no need to guess the levels of crisis, simple average down could get about $10/barrel easily. This is 50% discount compared with someone with 1 entry at $20 with 100% capital.

1.2) Fixed capital method (eg. $100 per entry)

Total units = ($100/$20) + ($100/$15) + ($100/$10) + ($100 / $5) + ($100 / $1) = 142

Average price = ($100 x 5) / 142 = $3.50

This average method allows more units purchased at lower prices, therefore achieving a even lower average entry price.

2) Follow-trend (eg. 5 x 20% in uptrend L1b-L5b)

Average price will be same as counter-trend, depending on which levels are experienced.

3) Counter-trend + Follow trend (eg. 10 x 10% in downtrend L1a-L5a + uptrend L5b-L1b).

Results will be same as above but with more entries (more diversification), depending on which levels are experienced.

Assume, only L1a-L3a ($20 – $10) with 3 levels of crisis, one could still get $13 as average price with fixed capital method over 3 entries. This method is different from dollar cost averaging which buys all the time (low and high prices). This method requires low optimism to trigger multiple entries, high optimism to trigger multiple exits (future topic when market is bullish again to sell one day).

Learn further from Dr Tee for both trading (eg. shorting crude oil in bearish market to make money) and investing (eg. buying crude oil in bearish market with value investing). Contrarian investing has risk of buy low get lower, therefore needs to be supported by giant investment (eg. crude oil, gold, property and over 1500 global giant stocks with strong business fundamental). An investor may also integrate trading into investing, only enter during uptrend phase but there is a risk of missing out (eg. price may touch $20 and rebound forever). So, align the strategy with own personality, either trading or shorting, there are many ways to profit from current crude oil crisis and global stock crisis.

Ideally, buying giant dividend stocks (about 100+ in the world) at low optimism prices with high dividend yield is even better than crude oil investing because one could collect over 5% dividend return in next few years (better than fixed deposit in bank with 1+% interest rate) while waiting for winter time is over, applying similar methods of entries but first silver bullet to trigger (first entry) will depend on unique optimism level of each stock, this is 1 of 55 investing styles developed by Dr Tee.

What is the chances of winning in crude oil for entries below $20/barrel if one has holding power of over 3 years (typical global financial crisis is 1-2 years)?

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3 Strategies for Crude Oil ETF (USO) 大小通吃

Posted on March 29, 2020 Written by
Crude Oil USO ETF Strategies

When WTI crude oil falls below US$20/barrel during current Crude oil price war (between OPEC and non-OPEC), price is cheaper than mineral water (same volume) for some countries, it is attractive to buy USO (WTI oil etf) for long term, I am not surprised if Jim Rogers (long term commodity lover) may be accumulating when crude oil prices are at low optimism.

OPEC (Saudi, etc) and Non-OPEC (Russia, etc) could not sustain for long term (over a few years) with WTI < U$20, despite low production cost (about US$5/barrel for Saudi, about US$20/barrel for Russia) as national expenses of oil produces countries are also high, money from crude oil is main source of national revenue.

One may leverage on crude oil crisis, either investor or trader could benefit if aligned with own personality. WTI and Brent crude oil prices correlate well, differences are about a few dollars per barrel of oil prices. When Brent is below US$25/barrel, WTI would be near to US$20/barrel, so either price may be used for analysis, then easy to take action through USO (WTI oil ETF).

Here are 3 main strategies to invest in USO crude oil ETF:

1) Long term investors

1.1) Contrarian investors

This is suitable only if one could hold more than 3 years, use low optimism and strong holding power on a commodity giant (oil won’t drop to $0, similar to property or land, also a giant by default). Risk management includes diversification (not just invest in crude oil) with position sizing and progressive entries (eg. 10 times x 10%).

Assuming $20/barrel is the first target (use either WTI or Brent for analysis, be consistent), trigger the first buy, then when drop to $15, $10, $5, $1 (similar to car COE drops to $1, assuming something nearly impossible happens), trigger possible more entries until extreme low optimism (no one would know the lowest point but likely not $0).

Saudi and Russia are pressing the oil price down but US & China and global giant funds, may standby to buy low as national reserves. Crude oil in the world is limited in supply, therefore it has its intrinsic value, especially world needs crude oil for energy (more demand when Coronavirus crisis is over).

1.2) Trend-following (short term traders / long term Investors)

After reaching lowest point one day (only history could tell), crude oil would start to recover. The same group of investors may use the remaining capital to add more positions (still low optimism). Traders who long would also join at this phase for short term trading

Since the market trend now is bearish, trend-following investors or investors who long the market would choose “Wait” action.

2) Short term traders (shorting)
This is suitable for short term trading, aligning with current bearish trend, aiming for every major support, eg $20, $15, $10, $5, etc (these levels are just for examples)… whenever breaking below, shorting would be initiated. Traders protected by position size and cutloss (risk could be high for leveraged trade in a volatile market). S&P 500 trend over the past 1 month of falling 30% following by over 10% of weekly gain is a good example of intense fight between bull and bear.

So, one could “Buy” (contrarian investors), one could “Wait” (trend-following investor or traders who long), one could “Short” (short term traders), all 3 actions are correct if aligned with own personality. If one follows others to take action, then all 3 actions could be wrong.

Since crude oil is a giant, crisis in price is an excellent opportunity to invest with at least 3 strategies. Learn from Dr Tee 4hr Free investment course on how to take actions in crude oil and global giant stocks.
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Filed Under: Commodity Market, Market Cycle Investing, Market Optimism, Market Outlook Tagged: , , ,

Crashes in Global Stock Market and Oil Market

Posted on March 10, 2020 Written by
Crashes in Global Stock Market and Oil Market

Global stock markets crashed yesterday, dropping as much as 7% (with protection of circuit breaker) for US stock market, 6% for Singapore stock market. There could be more downside if fearful emotion continues.

Oil crisis comes faster than Coronavirus spreading, Brent crude oil price dropped to about US$30/barrel overnight. Saudi could cut oil price because the production cost per barrel is the lowest. Price war is lose-lose for for both OPEC and non-OPEC, see who could last longer. Eventually, this could trigger Level 3 country financial crisis as national income would be reduced significantly.

Crude oil is a giant commodity by default, it could not drop to $0 (unless end of the world when energy is not required anymore, then investment or money is also no longer important) as a stock but it could stay at low optimism level for a long period of time, especially under manipulation of certain forces (eg. OPEC). This drama is not new, episode #1 was about 5 years ago, aiming to wipe out shale oil producers in US with higher production cost. Eventually, the shale oil producers still survive but becomes more efficient in operation, harder this time in Episode #2 of global oil price war.

It could be no-brainer investing when Brent crude oil dropped to or below US$30/barrel, one could position in crude oil through USO (oil ETF) as Saudi and Russia could not sustain in long term at this low price (perhaps only Saudi could still make a profit due to low production cost). However, such a contrarian investor (similar to Warren Buffett style) needs to have strong holding power, at least can hold longer than oil produce countries before they burned out first.

Similarly there are many blue chip stocks, buy low could get lower in bearish short term market, not suitable for speculator. Global stock market is not yet very bearish yet, so far is only a major correction. Again, shorter term trend-following strategy is safer during this uncertain market, either for exit (could have exited last week if following signal, eg. S&P 500 below 3000 points) or entry again.

Everything has 2 sides, when oil price is crashed, consumers such as car drivers are happier with lower petrol cost. However, one has to look at a bigger picture, lower inflation or cheaper price is not always a good news because when global economy is weak, one could even lose the job because company may be eventually losing money as well.

Learn further from Dr Tee to leverage on current Oil Crisis and potential global financial crisis with stock market crash. Register for Dr Tee Free 4hr Course to position with crash in global stock market: www.ein55.com

Dr Tee Investment Course (Stock, Property, Commodity, Forex, Bond)
Filed Under: Commodity Market, Macroeconomy, Market Cycle Investing, Stock Market Tagged: , ,

Triple Short Term Crisis of Oil & Gas Stocks （屋漏偏逢连夜雨）

Posted on March 9, 2020 Written by
oil & gas stock crisis

Global Oil & Gas sector has been under crisis mode over the past 6 years, Brent crude oil fell from US$115 (year 2014) to $27 (year 2016) per barrel, about 25% of peak price, a very low optimism for the past 2-3 decades, ending the mega bull run for commodity market (including crude oil, gold, agricultural products, etc).

Over the past 4 years, crude oil together with commodity market in general has been struggling with recovery in prices, achieving an intermediate high of US$86 (year 2018), falling down again to $50, then gradual growth, stable between $60-$70 in last 2 years with joint effort by OPEC and non-OPEC (eg. Russia) oil producer countries to control the oil supply, in an attempt to stabilize the market prices.

Unfortunately, Crude Oil is currently facing triple short term crisis over the past 2 months:

1) Coronavirus

There is less global demand for crude oil. There is less manufacturing in countries such as China which is a major energy consumption country. Some global airlines also cut down flights by more than 30%.

Less demand = Lower price for crude oil.

2) Fall in global stock market

Fear driven stock market fall (especially in US) has affected the confidence of global investors who also invest or trade crude oil, anticipating lower demand for crude oil.

Bearish emotion = Lower price for crude oil

3) Political Conflicts (OPEC vs non-OPEC)

After expiry (end of Mar 2020) of agreement on production cut, it is possible for supply for both OPEC and non-OPEC to increase significantly. Of course, it is possible for interested parties to extend the collaboration but their influence would be weaker each time. The global market share of crude oil could be taken by countries who may not follow the agreement (eg. Iran which needs cash or US with shale oil as new major exporter with lower cost per barrel).

Higher Supply = Lower price for crude oil

================

As a result of triple short term crisis, Brent Crude Oil drops to US$45/barrel currently. $40-$45 is an important support zone (low prices during 2009 global financial crisis), if breaking below $40 while there is no quick solution in a few months with reversal for 3 short term crisis above, it may challenge the last long term support, $27/barrel recorded in early 2016 during the earlier Oil & Gas Crisis.

If so, global Oil & Gas stocks would be under price pressure, falling back to low optimism again. Upstream Oil & Gas sector (eg. exploration of oil) would suffer the most from falling in oil price, following by integrated oil & gas companies. Mid-stream (eg. storage and delivery of oil & gas) and Down-stream sectors (eg. refinery, processing of petro-chemical) would have less impact on its business. Careful selection of Oil & Gas stocks are critical, especially if the current Level 2 (Oil & Gas sector) crisis may be combined with bigger scale of Level 4 black swan (Global Financial Crisis.

Oil & Gas stocks are generally cyclic in nature due to fluctuation of oil price, therefore better to position with Buy Low Sell High strategy, more suitable for trading.

“Crisis is Opportunity” is true only if one knows What to Buy (giant stocks), When to Buy (timing, too early may catch the falling knife) and When to Sell in future (taking profits or potential cut loss if trading in an uncertain global stock market at high optimism).

Learn from Dr Tee Free 4hr investment course to position in global giant stocks with discounted prices, mastering the investment clock for entry / exit. Register Here: www.ein55.com

Dr Tee Investment Course (Stock, Property, Commodity, Forex, Bond)
Filed Under: Commodity Market, Macroeconomy, Stock Market Tagged: , ,

3 Strategies on Oil & Gas Stocks Investing

Posted on January 31, 2019 Written by
Oil & Gas Stocks
Winter time (low optimism) of crude oil is longer than expected, after recovery over the past few years, it corrected down again over the past 1 year, recovering again over the past few months. Many oil & gas stocks, especially for upstream sector, revenue of business is very much dependent on crude oil price, therefore the cyclic business performance has resulted in cyclic share prices.
 
For oil & gas stocks, besides business fundamental, success in stock investing or trading is mainly dependent on alignment with prices of crude oil which trends are time-dependent. Here are 3 strategies for 3 different types of investors with 3 different personalities:
 
1) Long Term Investor (decades): Uptrend (Low Optimism)
Unlike stock market with market cycle of about 10 years, crude oil is a commodity which has a much longer market cycle of 20-30 years, therefore a very long term view (decades) is required. Crude oil is a critical energy related commodity, its price could not drop to $0 as a commodity (possible for stock in crisis), therefore it is a giant in nature. Similar to property, long term trend of crude oil is increasing over the decades, currently at low optimism (potential buying zone). However, if an investor does not have holding power, could make a loss as buying low could ending up lower if holding power is weak.
 
Currently, the second dip over the past 5 years have established a higher low which is a strong support to crude oil long term investor. However, since global stock and property markets are at moderate high optimism, if the next global financial crisis is triggered by another asset class of investment market, commodity market could be affected despite the optimism is not high as global funds are connected through common pool of investor with money.
 
Therefore, it is relatively safer to hold a shorter term position, applying trading on oil & gas stocks. One could compromise to become a “short term investor”, i.e. buying strong fundamental oil & gas stocks as if an investor but buying or selling the stocks by following the price trends in shorter term as if a trader. This is an integration of trading into investing in view of global economy and stock market.
 
2) Medium Term Trader (years): Uptrend (Moderate Low Optimism)
Medium term trading is a compromise between investing and trading. Current trend is uptrend at moderate low optimism with recovery in prices of both crude oil (commodity) and oil & gas stocks over the past few months which is ideal for trader who is interested in buy low sell high for capital gains. However, since the market uncertainty is high (eg. unknown on outcome of US-China trade war negotiation by 1 Mar 2019), a trading plan with S.E.T. is required: Stop Loss, Entry Price, Target Price.
 
Despite focusing in trading, a trader could consider strong fundamental oil & gas stocks (eg. growing or recovery in earning and cashflow), avoiding stocks with relatively high debt (eg. Debt/Equity >> 1) which may not last through the winter time of crude oil.
 
3) Short Term Trader (months): Downtrend (High Optimism)
Over the past 6 months, for short term traders (buy low sell high every few months), the current trend for oil & gas stocks is downtrend at high optimism, aligning with direction of crude oil. The probability is higher for shorting, especially when supported by some negative financial news (eg. US-China trade war, UK Brexit, China economy slowdown, bankrupt of another oil & gas company, etc). Similarly, shorting in short term requires a trading plan with S.E.T., except the strategy is reversed (making money when price is falling). A trader who is not comfortable with shorting (higher potential risk when not managed properly) may also adopt a “Wait” strategy, waiting for stronger uptrend of crude oil and oil & gas stocks.
 
Of course, for very short term traders (weeks or days), there are different trends and optimism. There are always trends within trends, depending on timeframes of investing which is personality dependent. Therefore, before an investor or trader plan on position of stocks, should strongly consider own holding power, risk tolerance level, reward expectation, emotional control, etc.
 
Interested readers may learn from Dr Tee free 4hr course to construct a dream team stock portfolio with global blue chip stocks (including oil & gas crisis stock investing). Register Here: www.ein55.com
Dr Tee Investment Course (Stock, Property, Commodity, Forex, Bond)
Filed Under: Commodity Market, Market Outlook Tagged: ,