The Market Is Getting CRUSHED… These 3 Stocks Keep SOARING

Shipping stocks are the single strongest corner of the market right now, even as the major indexes soften. The S&P, Nasdaq, and Dow have all been pulling back over the last couple of weeks. Shipping has kept ripping higher.

Three names are leading that charge: DHT Holdings, Frontline, and TK Tankers.

Most traders are watching the wrong thing. They're fixated on general market weakness and missing the fact that one sector has quietly dominated nearly every performance timeframe. That's not noise. That's where the money is flowing.

Why Are Shipping Stocks Soaring?

Longer routes mean higher rates per carrier

The turmoil in Iran and the closure of the strait have disrupted global trade routes. That disruption forces longer shipping routes, and longer routes mean shipping companies can charge more per carrier, which is a big win for them.

I track sector leadership with an industry strength indicator. It's a simple graph showing which areas of the market, measured by ETFs, are rising the most across various time periods. If an area keeps outperforming over one, two, three, and six month windows, that's leading. That's where the dollars are going. That's where the stocked pond is.

Shipping is leading in performance over the one-month period. Number two over two months. Number two over three months. On the list for six months. Number two over nine months, and still on the twelve-month list.

That kind of consistency across nearly every timeframe is not a one-week pop. It's a sustained trend.

The BOAT Breakout Started in August

I've been talking about this sector for months. Back in August I pointed out BOAT, the shipping ETF, as it was breaking out. The thinking was simple: the strait closure was causing too much disruption.

All the energy that normally moves through that strait to Europe and Asia is getting rerouted. The eastern half of the world is essentially saying forget about it. It's not worth sending shipping captains through narrow channels to get RPGs fired at them. So they order from Canada, the US, or South America instead. It takes longer to arrive, but at least it arrives.

The chart tells the whole story. A big run-up heading into this year before the strait situation even kicked off. Then compression. A little dip over the summer. Then it came ripping back, broke through resistance, and has continued to surge higher.

What Number Matters Most for Shipping Stocks?

Relative strength. Frontline (FRO) currently carries a relative strength rating of 98 out of 100. It's outperforming 98% of the entire market.

When a single stock posts that kind of number while the major indexes pull back, it tells you money is rotating into a specific area rather than leaving the market entirely.

The Three Leaders I'm Targeting

I focus on leaders, and three stocks are leading this group right now.

• DHT Holdings (DHT) – trading at its highs with strong upward momentum
• Frontline (FRO) – absolutely surging, with that 98 relative strength rating
• TK Tankers (TNK) – same breakout characteristics as the other two

All three are at their highs, ripping up the right side of the chart. Leaders inside a leading sector. That's exactly where attention belongs when the broader market gets choppy.

Company filings for these names are available through SEC EDGAR.

Where Should You Buy Shipping Stocks?

The pullback zone between the 10-day and 20-day

I keep four moving averages on every chart: the 10-day, 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day. There's no magic in them. They're guard rails. Some people want to argue about the 17-day exponential average instead. Whatever.

Each one does a different job.

• The 200-day is your long-term trend line. Stocks, commodities, anything trading above it is in a long-term uptrend.
• The 50-day holds up medium-term uptrends, the kind of stock running 20, 30, 40% a year.
• The 20-day is the faster line. A stock in a good run should hold above it.
• The 10-day is for names really taking off, up 10, 20, 30% in a week or two. That's the soonest I'd buy something back.

Frontline shows the 50-day at work. Big strong run, then a pullback right to the 50-day, and that level typically supported the move. After a big run, a decent 20 to 30% pullback into the 50 is where you're looking to buy.

On breakout names like Frontline and TNK, the spot I like is the shaded zone between the 10-day and 20-day moving averages, on the way up, when the 10 is above the 20. That would have gotten you in more than once.

Set the Alert on the Indicator, Not the Price

Moving averages are dynamic. They move every single day. The 10-day MA will sit at a completely different price ten days from now.

So I don't set a price alert. In TradingView, you can right-click the moving average and add an alert on the indicator itself. I use a four-line MA ribbon with the 10, 20, 50, and 200 in it, then set the alert on the 10-day for a cross down below it. If you leave it as plain "crossing," it'll fire constantly.

Then I change the message to something useful: "Pullback on TNK, consider buying between 10 and 20 day." That reminds me what I was thinking when the alert hits. Notifications can come through the app, a popup on your page, an email, or a sound.

When TNK drops under the 10-day, I get pinged, pull up the chart, and decide in real time whether that's the entry I wanted.

ETF or Individual Shipping Stocks?

If you want broad exposure without picking stocks, BOAT gives you the sector in one ticker. Its breakout was visible back in August, and it's continued to surge since.

I prefer to focus on the leaders inside the group, which is why I'm targeting DHT, FRO, and TNK specifically. Frontline's 98 relative strength rating is the clearest read on how strong that leadership is right now.

Why Not Just Trade Oil?

Energy is arguably the second leading area of the market. It's also finicky.

The price of oil is already very high, and all it takes is a single tweet from Trump for it to surge or collapse overnight. Very volatile. Very difficult to trade with any consistency.

Shipping doesn't behave that way. The disruption at the strait changed how goods physically move around the world. That's why I'd rather look at the shippers than try to trade crude.

What About Dividends?

This setup is about momentum and technical entries in DHT, FRO, and TNK, not yield. All three are trading at their highs, and that price action is what's driving the trade.

If you're screening shipping stocks for dividends, treat that as a separate research track. Payout data and breakout charts answer two different questions.

Be Selective, Not Aggressive

To be clear, this is not a surging all-hands-on-deck market. We're going through some short-term weakness.

That doesn't mean I'm bearish. It doesn't mean I'm shorting or dumping every position. It means I'm being less aggressive.

The S&P is trending lower. The Nasdaq is pulling back. The Dow is pulling back. So I'm focusing only on the really strong areas, waiting for pullbacks instead of chasing extended stocks, and trading slightly smaller size than usual.

That's exactly why shipping stands out. When almost everything else is soft, a sector leading across one, two, three, six, nine, and twelve month timeframes is not something to ignore.

One Non-Shipping Position: Hinge

I entered Hinge (HNG) a couple of days ago and I'm still holding it. It's working. Not up a ton, a few percent, but it's advancing in a market that isn't.

The fourth quarter of a midterm election year is typically the strongest stretch of the entire cycle. That's October, November, and December of this year.

On top of the seasonality, health care has historically been the leading area in that fourth quarter, up 100% of the time in the last six months of a midterm year. Which is where we are now.

So Hinge is, shocker, a health care stock setting up in a very clean breakout pattern. Massive run in the second quarter, several months of consolidation, and now it's trying to break out and push higher. It's also a recent IPO, and all things being equal, younger stocks tend to produce bigger moves than older ones.

Stay With the Leaders

Shipping stocks are leading this market, and the data across nearly every timeframe backs it up. DHT, Frontline, and TNK are the three names showing the clearest strength, and Frontline's 98 relative strength rating is the most direct evidence of where momentum sits.

This is not a market for taking 50 trades a day. Wait for pullbacks into the 10-day, 20-day, and 50-day on the strongest names. Stay disciplined on size while the indexes work through this soft patch.

Shipping is without question the area leading the market today. Whether you play it through BOAT or through individual names like DHT, FRO, and TNK, the trend has held for months and hasn't shown a crack yet.