Tesla Stock’s Waning Upside Momentum

Designer and manufacturer of high-performance electric vehicles, Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) has stood on center stage for the momentum and trend-following investor crowd since at least May when the stock began a vertical incline.  Ever since then, those looking to short the stock had to do so on an intra-day basis or the very next day risk staring at losses of 5% right at the open.  The trend following game works like a charm until it doesn’t, which is to say that the players in this space particularly act as a herd and those too late to note the departure of the herd are usually left holding the bag.

Thus, when looking at a chart such as the one currently on display at Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA), what gives me the shivers is simply the slope of the line.  Regardless of whether the company will end up selling a car to every citizen of driving age, slopes this steep, i.e. vertical, tend to mean-revert in violent fashion.  To wit, the stock rallied close to 180% from early May up to its recent post earnings highs on August 8th.  That’s 180% in three months of trading…gravity will begin to weigh on this stock one day.  The issue with trend follower stocks such as Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) is that a defined top first must be in place for the bears to get their days and once the bears have the ball they dare not blink or risk giving the game right back to the bulls.

tsla vertical slope

To be sure, there have been signs that the amazing bull run in Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) will come to a rest for some time.  On the below chart note that both the RSI and Stochastic momentum oscillators have diverged from price and created lower highs as the stock pushed higher.

tsla waning momentum

So what would a first attempt at mean-reversion lower look like?  A pullback of Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) back to its 50 day simple moving average (yellow line) would coincide with a simple up-trend line dating back to May  (currently around $115 – $120)and thus offer a healthy first mean-reversion leg.

tsla daily

 

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