Hourly COG in STI on Monday made for a powerful long play…

Posted on July 26, 2014 by TraderHank
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  Going over my notes from Monday, I realized that my play in STI was really the play of the day.  STI had been selling off hard all day long and for some reason I just never could get in short.  But when the hourly chart put in a changing of the guard bar with a bottoming tail, I was all over it as I found myself entering a position long.  Price went up immediately but after 10 minutes, price retreated before triggering a 2nd entry where I added more shares to my original play.  I stayed in the play taking profits along the way and finally trailing out near 3:30 pm with as much as .33 cents profit made on a large portion of my lot size.  Just a super play for a Monday in July.

STI 07212014
STI 07212014
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CBS in TGT leads to some nice profits for TraderHank

Posted on July 26, 2014 by TraderHank
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  My play of the day on Monday 7/21 was in TGT which I found while doing my 9:45 am wide range bar scans.  TGT sold off hard into lunch time putting in 7 red bars on the 15 minute chart.  A textbook climatic type sell off which could be played long for a Pristine trained trader.  As price put in a classic W pattern on the 5 minute chart just as lunch was ending I found myself taking a base breakout type entry long, full share size.  I just about got .10 cents out of the play but I was wiggled out of a few shares before.  10 cents does not sound like a lot, but when you are trading against the trend, you best to leave the party early!  A Nice full R profit on the play on a day that had few trading opportunities.     

TGT 07212014
TGT 07212014
Posted in 9:45 Wide Range Bar Plays, Climatic Plays | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Monday’s play in the QQQ

Posted on July 26, 2014 by TraderHank
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Another great week of trading but I've had no time to post any of my plays so I'm playing a little catch up from last week.  I'll start with my trade in the QQQ's which had gapped up and rallied all day on Friday so when price gapped down at the open on Monday, I felt that the Q's may sell off for the first few hours of the day.  At the open, I had no immediate plays that warranted an immediate entry so I was left with the market. The Q's put in a spinner type bar during the first 5 minutes of trading.  Spinners are usually very neutral type bars and when price breaks the low or high of this type of bar you will usually get good follow through in that direction.  So I found myself attempting to short the bottom of the first 5 minute bar.  Price moved lower nicely at first but 10 minutes later price rallied hard forcing me to cover 1/2 of my shares short.  I could have killed the play but I still had conviction that the market would head lower.  As the retest of the first 5 minute high failed price rolled back over and I added back the shares short that I had previously covered.  I really found myself working this play but soon price began to chop and eventually I trailed out of the play.  I made a few bucks on the play but overall the Q's did not sell off as expected as price began to rally over lunch and head higher...

QQQ 07212014
QQQ 07212014

  

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QQQ short play comes up big for TraderHank

Posted on July 16, 2014 by TraderHank
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I sat around all morning wondering if I would get a trade off as the QQQ's had gaped up this morning clearing yesterday's highs.  The first hour of trading in the Q's was in a narrow range and I was really wanting to see if we would breakout or breakdown after the first hour.  At about 10:40 I noticed that the Q's looked like the 60 minute bar was going to close solidly red, then at 10:45 the Q's put in an igniting red WRB to the downside taking out the previous hourly low.  I decided if the 5 minute bar closes solid, I'd be in short.  The very next bar took out the low of the WRB and I was in short @ .95 cents.  Price started to move lower nicely but then the entry bar closed with a small bottoming tail bar, the next bar closed with a red topping tail.  At this point there was no clear direction in the market except I was expecting the hourly bar to close red.  Price then started to rally for 20 minutes only to trigger a 2nd PSS which I added to my short play.  The Q's then put in a GBI and it was all over from here as I watch the Q's sell off nicely hitting my short targets at .92, .87 and my final take it all off area of .80 cents, wow!  A big play in another fabulous week of trading for TraderHank 🙂

QQQ 07162014
QQQ 07162014

     

Posted in Gap plays, Market Trade | Tagged , , | Comments Off on QQQ short play comes up big for TraderHank

Gap fade play in MS

Posted on July 15, 2014 by TraderHank
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My play of the day came in MS which I found on my gap play list as a Tier III type mortgage gap.  As the market closed its first hourly bar with a red topping tail bar, I figured that the market would put in a second hourly red bar and therefore I was on the lookout for a stock that looked similar.  Disney was my first choice but it was already down 10 hourly bars which is way past my 3 bar minimum to continue to play a stock in the same direction.  Then I noticed that MS had closed its first hourly bar red after gapping up almost engulfing the prior days red bar.  My method tells me to expect a 2nd red bar so when MS started to break down below the low of the morning I shorted MS @ .07.  Price moved down rather nicely but then price action closed with an inside doji style bar on the 5 minute chart.  As price finally took out the top at .03, I was forced into covering 1/2 of my shares with just a small profit.  10 minutes later MS triggered a second sell on the 5 minute chart where I added back the shares short and price moved lower in a flurry.  My price targets @ .01 and .77 were hit where I covered 3/4 of my shares.  About 30 minutes later another sell had triggered where I added back and reduced my stop but within minutes my breakeven stop had been taken out.  Price finally did roll over again but since it was near lunch time I decided that I had taken enough out of MS for the morning....

MS 07152014
MS 07152014
Posted in Gap plays, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on Gap fade play in MS

Huge gap down in the market makes for tough trading on Friday

Posted on July 12, 2014 by TraderHank
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  After being whipped out of my short trade in WFC and taking a full stop I was finally able to find a winner in QCOM.  QCOM made my list as a Tier II could be a Tier I mortgage style gap play but I decided to get tangled with WFC which had a very similar looking gap.  I had been stalking QCOM all morning long for a short entry which finally came as lunch was beginning and I passed on the play only to watch price drop like a rock.  Price fell so fast and so far I began stalking QCOM as a possible climatic play to the upside aka a CBS.  I watch as price finally bottomed without much volume so I just continued to watch as price went sideways on low volume.  I noticed QCOM may have finally bottomed giving the appearance of a Pristine stage 1 price action on the 5 minute chart.  Within just a few minutes before the end of lunch time @ 2:05 I noticed a green breakout bar to the upside in QCOM.  I waited for the bar to close sold and then I waited for another 4 minutes before deciding to enter above the prior wide range green bar.  I then zoomed down to my 1 minute chart and watch price action pull back toward my stop out area only to recover as a clear trend change had occurred, feeling confident I doubled my share size.  Price then ground its way upward hitting my first target of .47, my second target of .57 where I sold 1/4 of my shares.  My next target was .67 but as we were heading into the last 20 minutes of trading for the day and I was already up 3 risk units I took my final shares off the table @ .64 cents.  A great trade and a great way to cap another profitable week on Friday.

QCOM 07112014
QCOM 07112014

     

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Malfunction in trade management…

Posted on July 12, 2014 by TraderHank
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I've been on a roll since May 4th completing another profitable week of day trading. I have a few trades that I'd like to share and my first was a beautiful mortgage type gap from Thursday in UAL.  I scored UAL as a Tier II gap which allowed for a pretty aggressive entry which I found on the 1 minute chart as what is know as a bull 180 near the 9:35 am first reversal time of the day.  UAL took off nicely like a rocket upward and since I had company over watching my trading, I decided to place a break even stop on my Fusion platform, when to my shock the stop was executed selling a little over 1/2 of my shares prematurely.  My next mistake was to think that price had hit the first target and that is the reason that my shares had sold, so I attempted to place another stop with the last remaining shares only to be sold completely out of my position.  Ouch!  The night before I had reset the routing parameters of my platform and had not had the opportunity to test the changes yet, so chalk this up to operator error but the play still made a little over a 1 risk unit but I had to sit by as I watch UAL grind its way upward all day long...

UAL 07102014
UAL 07102014

I had to set around until my next play triggered in the QQQ around 2:45 pm as a wide range bar ignited price to the downside.  For some reason, I usually miss out on these type of entries and I notice them after the fact, but today, my entry hit my eyes with ease and I knew what to do as I entered below the 5 minute red wide range bar with a stop above.  Price sold off in a flurry, then pulled back for 10 minutes triggering a 2nd entry where I doubled my shares short and held on for the ride lower hitting my first target at .51 cents and covering 1/2 of my position as a green NRB formed @ .55 cents  The next bar was a red inside bar so I held my position, but the next bar closed green giving me the signal that the downside selloff was over for now and I covered my last shares at .59 cents.  Another 1.5 R's made on the play so with my flub up play in UAL I made about 2.75 R's for Thursday, not bad 🙂

QQQ 07102014
QQQ 07102014
Posted in Gap plays, Market Trade | Tagged , | Comments Off on Malfunction in trade management…

OMG play in PCAR

Posted on July 3, 2014 by TraderHank
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  After taking a hit in AIG, I rolled the dice again long in PCAR, but this time it was Magic...  Full share size, .50 cent move in price and a full 4+ risk unit trade in PCAR.   A great way to end this shortened week of trading 🙂

PCAR 07032014
PCAR 07032014
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Stop out in AIG

Posted on July 3, 2014 by TraderHank
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Not a great way to start out today on this shortened trading day before the fourth of July.  I still needed to hit my profitable target for the week and I knew that I had to stay bullish.  As the Q's were heading upward I found this 5 minute buy setting up in AIG which triggered.  What could go wrong on a buy setup with the overall market?  Well, it went really wrong as I watch price crumble and head lower and I was forced to take a full stop out, ouch!  I guess I should have been more aware of the topping tail on the 60 minute chart during the first hour of trading.  

AIG 07032014
AIG 07032014

  

Posted in 9:45 Wide Range Bar Plays, Losers! | Tagged , | Comments Off on Stop out in AIG

The shock power of a Gap…

Posted on July 3, 2014 by TraderHank
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  I gave a lecture at our local Las Vegas Day Traders meetup group last night and I wanted to share this chart of ANF showing the aftermath of price action after a Tier II gap from May 28th.  Price went up for 15 days straight...  Wow!

ANF 07032014
ANF 07032014
Click on image to enlarge 
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