Five Country ETFs Laboring Below The 200-Day Line

These days, there are no shortage of ETFs trading below their 200-day moving averages. Even when excluding leveraged and inverse funds, there are still plenty of plain vanilla ETFs languishing below this important technical metric. Buying an ETF (or almost any security for that matter) as it crosses above its 200-day line can prove to be a winning plan, but what about the adventurous and impatient among us that just cannot wait for that technical to event occur? For those with an itchy trigger finger, there are several interesting opportunities among country-specific ETFs that are currently trading below their simple 200-day moving averages. Be warned: Some are value, but a couple may be value traps. Let's have a look. 1) Globa X Brazil Mid-Cap ETF BRAZ: In terms of being below its 200-day line on a percentage basis, BRAZ may be the best or least bad of the offenders we're going to examine here. As of this writing, the ETF is just 0.07% below that critical technical indicator. A recent rate hike by Brazil's central bank and expectations for more later this year may be weighing on Brazilian ETFs, but if EM ETFs rebound, Brazil will not be left out of the equation. Tread carefully with BRAZ because it is almost exactly at the mid-point of a $3 range it has been in since February. In other words, better pricing may be available soon. 2) IQ South Korea Small-Cap ETF SKOR: SKOR is arguably in better shape than BRAZ right at this minute because it is resting right at its 200-day line and that's after a surprise rate hike by the Bank of Korea. The past six weeks have been brutal for SKOR as the ETF has lost about 10% and near-term risk remains if South Korea is reclassified as a developed market, which could happen later this month. Take a wait-and-see approach to this one. 3) Market Vectors India Small-Cap ETF SCIF: SCIF is almost 13% below its 200-day line, so for the truly gutsy trader, there is some opportunity here. The risk/reward here is pretty good assuming the following hypothetical scenario plays out. Buy SCIF around $16.50 with a stop just below $15. If the 200-day line at $19 is reclaimed, the ETF probably reaches the low 20s. 4) Global X Norway ETF NORW: Norway should be a refuge market when things are going bad for Chinese and U.S. stocks and it kind of has been, but NORW has had some issues of its own lately. Still, the ETF is just 1.16% below its 200-day moving average and Norway isn't an EU member, so the patient investor can probably get involved here and target a 10%-15% winner by year-end. 5) iShares MSCI Israel Capped Investable Market Index Fund EIS: Statistically speaking, an ETF that is less than 2.5% below its 200-day line isn't the biggest cause for alarm, but upon closer examination, EIS has a very ugly chart and if support at $54 doesn't hold, there is added downside risk of another $5 or $6. While Israel is a developed market, EIS might be the least attractive play on this list.