The QQQ opened the day gaping into major resistance @ 73.96 only to sell off setting the low of the day by 9:45 am @ 73.73. Price rallied into 10 am to test the high of the day, set during the first 5 minutes of trading @ 74.12, but price could not break out above this area. Then price started to drift lower into 11:10 am again testing the lows of the day but price failed to set a new low. Price went sideways over lunch and broke out to the high side by 2:15 pm as lunch was ending, now the QQQ’s have finally set a new high at 74.18 here at 3:00 pm.
qqq05172013
The 3rd Friday of the month is usually options expiration day and as you can see in the Q’s chart above, a messy chart pattern which can cause a difficult day of trading for most traders. I had no gaping stocks on my list and a very small daily list of potential plays. I was able to run across PCAR on my 9:35 momentum scan. PCAR had a nice 5 minute bottoming tail off the 200 ma (Event at a Location) and had very little supply to the left that I felt that price would continue upward with our bullish market. I entered above the 5 minute high @ 53.39 and took an early target of .75 where I sold 1/3rd and I sold another 1/3rd @ .90 and a few more shares @ 54.00 while moving up my stop on 2 minute pivots. I was finally trailed out of the play on a little shakeout as price continued to move higher. My profit was just under 2 risk units which is great on a day like today…
pcar05172013