Monday’s (12/22) action marked a notable upside day for the broader commodity space with gold (GC/) and silver (SI/) moving to all-time highs above $4400 and $69. Meanwhile, crude oil (CL/) rebounded off recent lows, reversing higher after moving above $58. Action in the early morning hours Tuesday  (12/23) saw gold and silver improve upon Monday’s highs with prices rallying above $4500 and $70. While geopolitical developments regarding Venezuela over the weekend brought the aforementioned price developments, Friday’s (12/19) action brought positive developments for another key commodity.

On the default point and figure chart for copper (HG/), Friday’s action led to a quadruple top break at $5.44 and a fifth consecutive buy signal since early October. This action follows a trend reversal back to positive earlier in December and a switch back to positive monthly momentum for the key economic industrial metal. Intraday action Tuesday has brought copper prices above $5.60, placing the metal at the top of the 10-week trading band and most overbought level since July this year. All-time chart highs from that time reside at $5.88, while near-term support has developed in the mid to upper $5.20 range.

Alongside the breakout Friday, the relative strength chart comparing copper to the S&P GSCI Commodity Index (SPGSCI) reversed back into Xs after the chart had been in Os since March of this year. While long-term relative strength has favored copper since April 2024, near-term relative strength now favors copper. Another example of copper and the broader industrial metals space recent relative improvement can be seen within NDW’s DALI Commodity Rankings, where the group has climbed from last (fourth) in early October to second behind precious metals. Given copper’s economic importance, this is a positive development in what has been an uncertain near-term economic period capping off 2025.

Those interested in potential exposure to copper could look to the United States Copper Index Fund (CPER), which has maintained a buy signal since late October. Action earlier this month brought about a second buy signal, while recent trading has brought the fund above $34 to challenge the bearish resistance line. From here, a move above $34.50 would flip the trend back to positive. CPER maintains an acceptable fund score of 4.72 due to the fund’s strong relative performance in the near-term against equities and its commodity peers, which is higher than the average score for a fund within the commodities (3.48) and materials (3.84) groups on the Asset Class Group Scores. The ETF’s all-time chart high from July resides at $36.50, while support can be found at $30.50 and $27.50.

As we near the close of 2025, there were plenty of interesting developments in the market this year. International equities look like they’ll close out the year at the top of our major market ETF rankings in terms of annual performance. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) and the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) will be the top two performing major market ETFs for the first time since 2006, presuming the rankings stay the same through the end of the year. Of course, it was a strong year for large cap domestic equities as well with the AI-related names building on their strong 2024 in 2025. On the commodities’ front, gold is having one of its best years ever with a nearly 70% gain and outpacing the S&P 500 by over 50%. While we remain in a US equity-dominated market, it has been a great year for those that wanted other options outside the core US. A fun way to see how our users have handled this shifting market landscape is by looking at the most clicked on charts for the year. One can usually guess the most visited charts but there are always some surprises about what does and doesn’t rank highly each year.

Expected: Mag Seven’s Reign Continues

This year’s most clicked on charts are littered with the Magnificent Seven with all seven falling in the top 20 most visited charts. Other individual stock names that were expectedly high up on the most visited charts were Palantir (PLTR), Broadcom (AVGO), and Oracle (ORCL). From an ETF standpoint, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) were the most visited charts this year with roughly an equal number of visitors. However, the chart for the S&P 500 Index (SPX) had more than both SPY and QQQ individually, so it’s only fair to give the edge to the S&P 500 as the most popular. With gold’s electric run this year, it’s also not a surprise to find it amongst the most popular charts this year.

Unexpected: International Remains Unpopular and Healthcare Shakes Off Poor Relative Strength

As mentioned earlier, this has been the best relative year for international equities in nearly 20 years but neither EEM and EFA could crack the top 75 most visited charts finishing behind charts like Lockheed Martin (LMT) and the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT). IBIT is down 5.58% year-to-date. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and Eli Lilly (LLY) were popular charts this year. While LLY’s popularity makes a lot of sense as it is up nearly 40% this year, UNH is down roughly 35%. Admittedly, UNH is a very popular name and had a large news-driven decline but it being the 16th most visited chart is a bit surprising. UNH finished ahead of other stocks like Netflix (NFLX), Costco (COST), and J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM). As this year comes to an end we’ll see if precious metals and international equities can build on an exceptional 2025 while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) tries to put together four consecutive years of at least 20% annual returns.

Daily Option Ideas for December 23, 2025