The Selfish Leaders
The Iron Giants
The market delivered a solid save this week.
S&P 500 up over 2% and the Nasdaq 100 up almost 4%.
The Bulls ate last week’s punch like a fat kid eats Oreos.
The charge was led by the Iron Giants, up a combined 5.5% hitting All Time Highs.
The Iron Giants
If you don’t know by now, these names can take over the game.
They make up more than 30% of the S&P 500 and over 40% of the Nasdaq 100.
That’s not just “influence,” it’s market gravity.
When your MVPs are dropping 40 points a night, it doesn’t matter if the bench (breadth) is quiet.
Uncomfortable Math.
Breadth is a WANT not a NEED for market cap weighted indexes to perform.
The more concentration (right now it’s extreme) the less breadth matters.
— Larry Thompson, CMT CPA (@HostileCharts)
1:55 PM • Jun 27, 2025
This isn’t a complaint — it’s simply the construction of the market.
Understanding it gives you context most people miss. That context adds an edge.
I like to track $MAGS ( ▲ 1.65% ) for an equal-weight look at the “Superstars” themselves.
As long as they’re fresh and scoring, the bench doesn’t need to win the game.
But when they sub out, the role players have to produce.
Selfish Play
Right now, the bench is sluggish.
That doesn’t mean you get bearish, it just makes allocating fresh capital trickier.
You’re essentially betting on the same 10ish stocks to keep carrying the index.
The Bull Market is still intact and leaders leading is a healthy thing.
BUT the BEST tape is when those leaders also pass the ball.
These charts tell the story:
Market-cap-weighted indexes are running ahead of their equal-weight peers.
Selfish Play By The Leaders
The Biggest Are Scoring Most The Points
Breadth in big tech is softening while the indexes hit all-time highs.
Rare to See All Time Highs With Bullish % Below 50%
This is “selfish play.” It’s effective, but it’s not ideal.
Eventually, the Bull Market will need the rest of the roster to show up.
Bull Markets have a habit of solving problems and this is one it’s solved before.
That said, with this leadership gap and a seasonal backdrop that’s usually a headwind, I’m not betting it gets solved right away.
Something to keep in mind as we head into August…
— Ian McMillan, CMT (@the_chart_life)
6:26 PM • Aug 7, 2025
It’s not a reason to fight the trend.
Just a problem worth waiting for the market to fix.
Patience is a tool most traders neglect.
Right now, it’s the one I’m choosing to use.
I HATE sounding cautious in a Bull Market.
But the way I trade/invest sometimes there is less to do.
Right now is one of those times.
— Larry Thompson, CMT CPA (@HostileCharts)
9:35 PM • Aug 8, 2025
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This week I break down:
✅ The Strong Leadership
✅ Breadth Being Stuck In No Man’s Land
✅ Several Trades I Currently Like
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The Sunday Stalk List | Ep. 11
I’ll be breaking down setups I like right now.
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7:48 PM • Jul 20, 2025
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