One popular biotech-tracking exchange-traded fund has gained 10 percent this year, and Piper Jaffray technical analyst Craig Johnson is calling attention to a critical level near where it's trading.
Should the IBB break above that level, the fund could see substantial gains, Johnson said.
"This is now the fifth time we have seen the IBB stall out at this $300 level," Johnson said Tuesday on CNBC's "Trading Nation."
"You can see that every little pullback tends to be a higher low than we've had before. So I think on this pullback that we're getting right now, this is a very important support level right back to that uptrend support line. I suspect it's probably going to hold," he said, examining a chart of the IBB.
Other long-term indicators he tracks
"So I suspect on this next move up, we finally break through that $300 level, and I suspect that the upside target, at least measuring it from the chart perspective, gets us to about $360," he said. Such a move would imply nearly 23 percent of gains from current levels.
"We like the IBB here, and we like biotech names specifically," he said.
The iShares
"We've seen a lot of people in the market betting for this to break through $300, and the chart certainly looks promising," Weinig said Tuesday on "Trading Nation."
"Over the last couple of years, we've seen a steady decline in volatility levels on the IBB. In fact, three-month at-the-money volatility option prices, if you would, are at multiyear lows," Weinig said.
One way in which he has observed traders playing the market is executing a "risk reversal," or buying upside calls by selling downside puts. In plain English, it's one way to get long a stock or, in this case, ETF. And while this is a "risky" way to play biotech, Weinig said, he may otherwise recommend buying call options outright or buying call spreads to limit the cost.
The biggest components
