My play of the day came in C which I had on my gap list as a Tier III type mortgage play. A real shocker after yesterday's gap up and I was handsomely rewarded as I shorted the first 5 minute sell that triggered. Price sold off rather nicely with the markets help I hit just about every target I had and I was able to add and reduce 3 times on the play really milking the play to the very end. Honestly, I believe this may have been my best trade of my career...
At the open today everything on my list was at least 3-5 bars down already on the hourly chart. My method say's I need a pull back before I can get short. Well I knew from the start that I would be sitting and watching. By about 1:30 pm the market hit its area of minor support (mS) and so did FSLR which I found had nice relative weakness Vs. the market. Once the hourly chart triggered the hourly sell, I zoomed down to the 5 minute chart to perfect my entry just as price started to break down. A better entry may have been to wait for the pull back, but when things are right, you can be sloppy on the entry and the play will still go in the direction intended. Well, the rest is history, I had to adds and reduce areas on the play, two of my 3 major targets hit. Overall, another textbook play for my meetup group to analyse here in Las Vegas.
During the first hour of the day had me stuck because the market was at Major Support and was in an area that prices should bounce as they had done before. Shorting at MS is out of the question, so I focused on longs. I had a nice play in COST but had a few miscues first of which I bought way too many shares, Yes my fat finger moment which if I had stayed in would have been huge! Second, was when my first take profit area hit, my platform had me in shares going the wrong direction erasing 1/2 of my profits. Getting the stocks direction is hard enough but when you have execution problems on top, things can get ugly in a hurry. My other long play happened just as the market decided to retrace a bit as lunch time approached. I had PEP on my list since it had broke out of a very long 9 day consolidation pattern. Thursday, PEP had retraced back into support and today it powered up and I noticed it as a 9:45 green wide range bar play. My entry came as the market was bouncing around 11:15 pm as PEP had been consolidating on the 5 minute chart. As it started to breakout, I entered at 95.34. PEP just powered upward painlessly and really started to accelerate for 45 minutes and moved up a nice .43 cents of where I had entered into the play. I ended the play selling just about all of my shares at 95.78 fearing the rally would be short lived due to the weakness in the overall market. Another textbook play in PEP...
Well it was another dull day for trading the stock market. I only had one long on my list and it went short. The market (QQQ) had a small gap down but then went sideways for most of the day. Finally at 2:15 pm reversal time, price in the QQQ broke down below the low of the day of 97.08 closing the 15 minute candlestick with a solid red bar. I'd been watching all day as price kept testing the area but could not break through. I knew if it did my target was at 96.44 cents a nice lower void below. My entry was just near the low of the 2:15 pm red bar on the 15 minute chart at 97.07. Price moved down nicely but at one point I thought price was going to bounce. The Q's finally rolled over and headed to my target, but I found myself covering my shares at 96.66, as I was running out of time for the day and I did not want to set through another pull back fearing price would be worse than 96.66. Overall another great play in the Q's...
As the market gapped into resistance this morning at the open I really did not have a play. I had a poor list to start with so when the market finally rolled over near 10 am reversal time, and the market had triggered a sell on the 60 minute I felt that this could be my chance as I enter the play short @ .33. I was a little late but I wanted a little more confirmation and I paid for it as I had to seat though a pull back and watch the market trigger it's first sell set up on the 5 minute chart. It was rather painless from here as price hit two of my lower targets. I had one add and reduced which really helps with milking profits. I attempted one more add and reduce at the very end near lunch time and was taken out of my play with a handsome profit. Overall another textbook play in the QQQ...
I was going over the Q's last night during our local Meet Up group and I was expecting a gap up or a neutral open then a rally, but I mentioned if price were to gap below yesterdays last hourly green bar, this would or could set up a measured move lower. Well, we opened neutral and chopped around for the first 1/2 hour then price engulfed yesterdays last green hourly bar. I zoomed down to the 5 minute chart of the QQQ and got short at 97.02. It took a little bit but the market started to breakdown as I expected and I hit two of my three short targets. I was able to add shares back short and even milk this play again as prices headed lower nicely. I even added more shorts a second time, but had to finally end the play as the market got bullish taking out the last pivot high that had formed. This is a great example of what a professional trader is looking to do on every trade.
I hopped on AAPL short this morning just after the markets open and watched as prices crashed hard. AAPL hit all of my targets plus I had one add and reduce area where I added more shorts and reduced my stop. Basically my play this morning is my play of the week...
Trading Natural Gas is probably the riskiest trades out there especially during a news release, but that is exactly what I did today and successfully. Basically this was my trade of the day since I was not profitable today trading Equities. Not a bad day but I just could not get a trade to follow though, not fun. So here is my trade in Nat Gas...
Sometimes a play just leaps at you and that was the case this Monday morning in NTAP. The Daily chart just screams of breakout and I even brought this up with friends during Sunday night dinner. So when price action put in a nice wide range green bar during the first 1 minute, I found myself hitting the offer as I entered @ .64 cents. Price exploded so fast to the upside I could not offer out shares fast enough. I was able to sell just a few shares at .75 cents then the pop happened just shy of $43 dollars where I had orders out but nothing was filled. I had to settle for .86 cents where I sold 1/2 of my shares and as price rolled over I sold my final lot at .83 cents. Wow, really fast and profitable trade on this early Monday morning...
As the market continues to be wide and whippy, traders have to buy at the bottom and sell at the top. I've been expecting the bottom to fall out but this has just not happened. I found my trade of the day in MET while doing my 9:45 wide range bar scan of my 100 stock universe. MET had gapped up this morning showing a 2nd sign of strength for the daily buy traders. As the market looked like it was going to reverse @ 10 o'clock reversal time I notice MET just about to trigger a 5 minute buy. Once triggered I entered the play @ .04 cents and it was not long before I was offering 1/2 of my shares at my first target of .26 cents. As price action pivoted 15 minutes later I moved my stop once another 5 minute buy triggered but unfortunately price came lower and took out my moved up stop. A great little trade to start my day but from then on the overall market was making it very hard to have a bias nor did any of my watch list setup the way I like. Finally near 1:30 reversal time I found MET setting up for a 15 minute buy. As the buy triggered I was in @ .22 cents and soon my first target was hit @ .43 where I found myself just selling the entire amount. The market was still not making higher highs and there was really no reason to stick around late this Friday afternoon... Two nice trades in MET made for a great Friday.
