The Q's opened neutral @ 86.28 and rallied for the first 10 minutes to set the high of the day @ 86.40 and then price tumbled lower to set the morning low by 10:30 am @ 85.81 and ending the hourly up trend in the QQQ. Price then based into lunch time looking like we might head higher but at 11:15 am the Q's continued its move lower finding a new lower low @ 85.48 by 12:55 pm. Price again went sideways into 2:00 pm then went lower into 2:15 pm setting a new low for the day @ 85.41. As traders thought the carnage was over as price moved sideways once more but finally price headed lower once again @ 3:00 pm reversal time selling off almost into the close setting the low for the day @ 85.06 by 3:45 pm and closing @ 85.30. A huge sell off in the market which ended the hourly up trend.
QQQ 12112013
My play of the day was in HD which I actually overlooked while doing my 9:45 am wide range bar scan. I finally noticed HD as it moved to new highs on the day by 10:30 am and was one of the few stocks that had relative strength to the market; hard not to notice a powerful move upward on a sell off in the QQQ. When price triggered the first official 15 minute buy @ 11:45 am I entered with a small lot. I found myself soon being stopped out in the same bar that triggered my buy. Not good! I hesitated trading HD because it is a very tricky stock to trade, I believe the NYSE specialist are to blame for this, anyway, price did an about face or what we like to call a bull 180 taking out the high of the bar that just stopped me out. I should have re-entered the play long but I hesitated, then as price started to consolidate in a nice tight formation over 45 minutes, I noticed that HD was not done going higher. Price action had formed a nice 1234 pattern which is very powerful and bullish. I was hesitant again as the market was not helping longs today, but I found myself hitting the bid as .58 cent printed, I went all in, full share size, soon selling 1/2 @ .70 and attempting to tail the play but since the market was not helping matters, I soon trailed out of the play with a nice 1 Risk unit of profit. I had other shorts going, but they never gave me the opportunity to add, so I was left with small shares going to long targets for most of my trades today. This is the risk you take when starting your plays out small when price gives you no where to add and the play just keeps going, I'd rather have this complaint Vs. large stops. Here is my 15 minute chart for my play in HD...
HD 12112013