Updated Models & Spotlight Charts 1/18/2026

Breadth Improves, Bag Holders in Silver, Nearing a Possible VIX Spike Signal

The S&P 500 closed basically flat on the week as the market prepared for another shortened week in the U.S. (market is closed on Monday for MLK Jr. Day). Maestro Model improved with Risk Appetite unchanged. An add’l VIX chart is in this week’s note as the VRT gets closer to firing. VIX Commercial Traders picked up more of the Open Interest pie, now with their net position 97% of OI. Silver got up over 105% above its 200-day MA last week with small traders rising to the 89th %tile as an update to last week’s Spotlight Two Chart. This week’s two Spotlight Charts both look at breadth data. One showing bullish confirmation of the uptrend and an interesting divergence of data between two Indices sending different messages.

Stay tuned for more information about the soon-to-be launched stock ideas scan list. I’ll be publishing scan results each week once launched. More information will be shared soon, including a look at what goes into tools creating the list. Of course, this will only be shared with paid subscribers.

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Summary of Models

Index & Sector Performance Summary

Volatility Risk Trigger

VRT remains at 48 and is the system’s internals are getting close to moving to a signal threshold.