Mad Money

Cramer: Charts suggest investors 'can afford to be cautiously optimistic'

Key Points
  • CNBC's Jim Cramer calls on technician Rob Moreno to predict what could be next for stocks in 2019.
  • Moreno's analysis suggests that investors "can afford to be cautiously optimistic right now," Cramer says.
  • But investors should sell if the major averages approach a key level, Moreno tells the "Mad Money" host.
Investors 'can afford to be cautiously optimistic,' according to the charts
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Investors 'can afford to be cautiously optimistic,' according to the charts

Investors can afford to be "cautiously optimistic" at this point in the stock market's cycle, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Tuesday after consulting with chartist Rob Moreno.

Moreno, the technician behind RightViewTrading.com and Cramer's colleague at RealMoney.com, sees a convoluted path ahead for stocks. After calling the December bottom, Moreno noticed that the Nasdaq Composite's late-2018 decline was about a 24 percent drop from peak to trough.

That's important because, in a bull market, stocks tend to see "periods of consolidation — pauses in a long-term bull run," Cramer explained. "To [Moreno], the decline here looks very similar to what we saw from the Nasdaq in 2011, 2015 [and] 2016," three consolidation periods of recent past.

If he's right, that could be bad news for the bulls, who may have to wait at least seven months for stocks to break out of their consolidation pattern, during which they tend to trade in a tight range, Cramer warned. But Moreno still sees some opportunity for investors.

"If you believe his thesis about the market — that we're in a consolidation period, one that will last until September — then you can afford to be ... cautiously optimistic right now," Cramer said on "Mad Money."

Part of Moreno's confidence came from his analysis of the daily chart, which also included the support and resistance levels from its weekly and monthly charts.

Even after a 16 percent rally from its December lows, Moreno saw more room to run for the S&P based on its Relative Strength Index, or RSI, a technical tool that measures price momentum. The RSI, he explained, hasn't yet signaled that the S&P is overbought, and the Chaikin Money Flow, which tracks buying and selling pressure, shows big money pouring in.

"Moreno thinks that these new buyers are the kind of investors who won't be panicked out of their positions by short-term volatility," Cramer said, adding that the technician sees about 3.5 percent more upside for the S&P before it hits its ceiling of resistance at 2,818.

But if the S&P manages to trade above its ceiling of resistance and return to its October highs, Moreno expects a "synchronized reversal" in the stock market that could crush the major averages, the "Mad Money" host warned.

"At least until September, Moreno says you should be a seller if the averages approach their October highs — that's around 2,930 for the S&P 500," Cramer said. "Eventually he expects a breakout from these levels, but it won't happen any time soon."

So, what's the right move for investors? According to Moreno, not all is lost. He still expects to see strong gains — a roughly 7.5 percent move — before the current rally peters out. But he doesn't want buyers to get too trigger-happy, especially considering the months of sideways trading he's predicting for 2019.

"Until [September], he expects the market to trade in a fairly wide range, with the S&P bouncing between 2,350 and 2,930. For now, we're headed higher, but he says you should use these key levels as entry and exit points until the consolidation pattern finally comes to an end later this year and the averages resume their long march higher," Cramer said. "Even if he's right and this rally will lose its steam after another 7.5 percent gain, that's still pretty good, but I am very wary and it makes me want to do some selling after this run."

WATCH: Cramer goes off the charts to see what's ahead for 2019

Cramer: Charts suggest investors 'can afford to be cautiously optimistic'
VIDEO8:1008:10
Cramer: Charts suggest investors 'can afford to be cautiously optimistic'

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