Short play in EURUSD works out nicely overnight…

Posted on May 2, 2014 by TraderHank
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I’ve had few trades, so far, this year in FOREX, I’m either more cautious or I’ve just not seen my setup.  I believe I’m just not seeing my normal setups that I’m accustom to and with this being an FOMC week I was cautious.  I had no play setting up prior to the Feds announcement on Wednesday but by Thursday evening I found a possible short play in EURUSD.  I use the Pristine Method when trading forex but my only pattern that I look for is M tops and W bottoms.  EURUSD had a nice looking M Top forming  at a prior high so I placed a short order starting @ 1.3882 and by the evenings end my limit order was hit.  I was looking for a 40 pip profit to be taken at 1.3842, here is what the chart looked like as the play was setting up…

EURUSD 0901am05012014
EURUSD 0901am05012014

By Friday morning I got the break down that I was expecting with my 40 pip target hit.  Not bad for a Fed week…

EURUSD 0937am05022014
EURUSD 0937am05022014
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Revenge play in PAYX

Posted on May 1, 2014 by TraderHank
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  Well, PAYX was not really a revenge play, I guess when I was a newbie I would of wanted revenge after being stopped out on the play.  Now I’m a bit more seasoned and I attempt to replay my plays if and when they legitimately setup again.  I had PAYX on my long list because of yesterday’s wide range bar but when it sold off hard at the open and setup short early on the 5 minute chart under it’s PDC I just had to enter the play short @ .53.  As price continued lower PAYX formed a green topping tail bar near the low of the day, as price took out this bar forming another red bar to the downside and since there was a huge void lower, I added to my play and went full share size.  I was quickly rewarded as price hit my first target @ .44 where I covered 1/3rd of my shares. Soon after PAYX rallied hard taking out my stop on my last 2/3rd shares.  The stop out was the kind that you always want, almost even, no revenge needed on this play.

PAYX 05012014
PAYX 05012014

 At 11:15 am I switch my focus to the 15 minute charts and I found PAYX setting up another sell just under its PDC.  Since this was the 3rd time testing this area, now an area of Major Support, I shorted PAYX on the trigger @ .68.  The market had also put in a red topping tail bar on its 60 minute chart so I was convinced that the market was going to sell off over lunch time.  As the overall market moved lower PAYX moved lower as well soon hitting my chicken target area of .50 cents where I covered a few shares and finally hitting my first major target @ .43 cents where I covered more shares leaving 1/3rd left looking for an add and reduce location.  PAYX then put in two smaller green bars that was engulfed by a red bar where I added more shares back and reduced my stop to .46.  Now having just as many shares that I started with and profits already in the bank I was looking for a longer lower target of .06, wow, if PAYX makes it.  Well, I covered 1/3 at the prior low of .33 but as the over all market continued lower, price action in PAYX started to move sideways.  I held to the end of the day with little luck on my last 2/3rds and finally covered into the close @ .38.  Overall a nice 2 R trade even after the loss on the first attempt, a nice revenge play if you ask me…

PAYX II 05012014
PAYX II 05012014

  

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One and done on this FOMC day

Posted on April 30, 2014 by TraderHank
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  FOMC days seem to be showing up on my door step way too fast lately.  These Fed announcements can really screw up the trading day and sometimes the following day as well, similar to a bad hangover.  On FOMC days in the past I’ve simply blown up my trading account taking huge loses.  Now, I know better, I get green in the morning and stay green the rest of the day.  Today I played it perfectly with my trade in EBAY which I found on my Gap down list as a possible Tier III mortgage style gap.  I had not planned on entering the play so quickly but after EBAY showed a secondary sign of weakness I just had to enter the play short.  Price action sold off for the first 1 minute but the second minute Price left a Green bottoming tail bar and it looked for awhile that price was heading upward until the 3rd minute, when price action engulfed the bottoming tail bar and this was my clue to get short asap.  As I was attempting to look for targets, price just dropped out of EBAY at 9:35 am reversal time by about .50 cents and I immediately hit Alt 7 covering 1/2 of my shares.  A few seconds later I hit Alt 7 again covering 1/2 of the shares I had left.  With my huge profit gain I thought I would attempt to hold on and see if I could add and reduce my stop, but I found myself tailing out of the last remaining shares @.34 cents.  Nice and quick!  Now I can set back, relax, and watch the fireworks in the market @ 14:00 when the FED announcement is released 🙂    

ebay 04302014
ebay 04302014

    

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Nice gap play in NOV this morning

Posted on April 28, 2014 by TraderHank
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I found a nice Tier II mortgage type gap play this morning in NOV that I nearly got stopped out on but managed to hang with it to 2 of my lower targets.  NOV opened by gaping under 7 days of bullish trading.  As price headed lower I could only watch and wait for an entry pattern which finally occurred on the 1 minute chart as a PSS.  I entered the play @ .52 with just a few shares and found myself adding a few more shares on a second sign of weakness @ .20 cents.  Then, price took a turn for the worst as I was almost stopped out at 78.51, I believe one print @ .58 printed but for some reason my hard stop was not hit and price finally gave in and headed lower hitting my first target @ 78.01.  I then had to set through another run at my stop, but again, prices finally rolled back over and headed lower hitting my 2nd target @ 77.38 where I covered another 1/4 shares.  My ultimate target was $77 even but I found myself tailing out of the play over lunch time @ .60.  Pretty good play for almost being stopped twice and NOV kept me in the black today on a very tricky day of trading...

NOV 04282014
NOV 04282014
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The 60 minute chart is your guiding light…

Posted on April 28, 2014 by TraderHank
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Today's price action in the market reminded me big time on how important the 60 minute chart is when determining if a lower time frames setup will workout or not.  The first two hourly bars were green but the 3rd hourly bar was a solid red bar.  As I've mentioned before the market swings 3-5 bars in both directions, so if you have a big red bar, you should expect another red bar 80% of the time until you have 3-5 in a row, then you should be thinking that the next bar could go green.  In the Q's today we sold off hard for 3 hours with the last hour having a bottoming tail bar as it closed red.  Within 25 minutes the hourly bar had gone green (COG) and engulfed the prior red bar with the bottoming tail, at this point you should be thinking that were going higher.  You will also notice a 15 minute sell setup that actually triggered by a penny and failed as it should have.  Once you have a COG on the 60 minute chart you should always expect follow through in that direction, thus after the green COG bar on the 60 minute chart followed by 3 red bars to the downside the odds are, the 15 minute sell is going to fail as it did today.  

QQQ example
QQQ example

Here is a similar setup from today in the IWM which is another low odds play as the 15 minute sell was about to trigger after a COG had formed on the hourly chart...

IWM example
IWM example

Here is the same chart near the end of the day showing the 15 minute sell failed to trigger as prices moved higher...

IWM example II
IWM example II

   By focusing on the 60 minute chart you will greatly place the odds in your favor, that you will be trading in the right direction.

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Tier I gap in XLNX

Posted on April 24, 2014 by TraderHank
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I was a little late setting up my charts this morning but I noticed that XLNX was going to open by gaping down $3 dollars.  My analysis had XLNX as a Tier I gap which is the best possible gap you could hope for and allows for almost an immediate entry.  I did not take the immediate entry, but close, I entered the play short below the 1 minute bar below .10.  It was not long before XLNX started moving lower and I found myself covering a quarter of my shares @ .66 and another quarter @ .61.  I had a problem locating targets on this play and wanted to wait for a flurry lower before covering additional shares.  After several minutes I got what I was looking for as price flurried lower covering some shares @ .06 & .07 then I got the drop to .74 where I covered the last of my shares.  Wow, a buck fifty move!  I wanted to add and reduce on this play but it fell so hard and fast I just took my chips off the table and called it a day.  It’s taken me awhile to learn how to play gaps but the hard work has really paid off for me this last year.

XLNX 04242014
XLNX 04242014

    

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A short from the long list gets the Job done for TraderHank

Posted on April 23, 2014 by TraderHank
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My trade of the day came in HD which happened to be on my long list as a possible gap continuation play.  Price sold off hard for the first 15 minutes of the day making HD look more like one of my 9:45 am wide range bar plays short.  As price action started to retrace, I entered HD short on the first 15 minute sell that triggered at 11:15 am reversal time.  Price soon put in a small green bottoming tail bar but then was taken out by another red bar where I added more short and reduced my stop.  After 1 hour and 15 minutes price started to break down and soon HD was at my first take profit area of .80 where I covered 1/3rd of my shares.  Price then fell in a flurry so I covered another 1/3rd @ .66 and covered a few more shares @ .63.  I attempted to add back to my play in HD but soon found myself stopped out of my last few remaining shares @ .76.  A great play on a day that I felt a little rusty since I had taken off Monday and Tuesday from trading.  

HD 04232014
HD 04232014

       

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Two nice plays in C and XOM

Posted on April 16, 2014 by TraderHank
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  Yesterday’s play of the day came in C which I found on my Gap continuation list as a beautiful Tier III gap to the upside from Monday.  My entry came as C fell hard into minor support and triggered a 15 minute buy and I entered @ .91.  Price then bounced upward and then retested my entry area where I added to my play and reduced my stop to .65.  Price soon found the first target @ .97 where I sold 1/3rd of my shares.  Price went on to find my next target @ .14 and my final target near the end of the day @ .28 cents.  A great play that made the day profitable…

C 04152014
C 04152014

Today I had an outrageous play in XOM that I found on my 9:45 am wide range bar list.  I liked the play because price had gaped over 13 days of sideways consolidation on the daily.  I attempted my first play in the morning on a 5 minute buy but it soon failed, so I waited for something to trigger on the 15 minute chart.  Price action was narrow and sideways after the first 30 minutes of the day but finally price dropped below  the sideways consolidation and snapped back upward taking out the lows and potentially any future sellers that would prevent XOM from going higher.  This bottoming bar is taught in TPM II (now called ATS) and is known as a “money bar” which tells the Pristine trained trader that price is going higher, so I found myself entering just above this bottoming tail bar at .48 cents.  Price continued to consolidate in a nice tight range until 2:30 pm when XOM put in a second “money bar” where I added to my play and reduced my stop to .41 cents.  Price took off like a rocket hitting my first and 2nd targets of .75 and .85 cents.  Price finally broke out above $100 dollars but could not get above $100.10 and I found myself selling my last shares @ .85 cents near the end of the day.  

XOM 04162014
XOM 04162014

  

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Gap continuation play in JPM

Posted on April 14, 2014 by TraderHank
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A really slow trading day today for me due to having a very poor list of stocks to trade with.  My play of the day came in JPM which I had on my list as a gap continuation play from Friday.  I will usually play my gappers for 2 more days from the actual shock gap looking for continuation.  Today I was able to start my play in JPM near 12:30 pm reversal time when JPM triggered its first 15 minute sell where I entered @ .92.  Price moved lower nicely but the 3rd bar down bottomed and formed a small green doji style bar.  The next bar was even smaller but neutral followed by a red bar that took out the prior lows bar where I went full on my play in JPM @ .76.  It took awhile, but finally near the end of the day I was rewarded as my first target was hit @ .60 where I covered 1/2 of my short.  I covered 1/4 more at .57 as price was beginning to bounce and I found myself covering the rest @ .64 as the market had bottomed.  This play as well as a nice little play in WFM lower got the job done today…   

JPM 04142014
JPM 04142014
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What you think is a long could be a short..

Posted on April 12, 2014 by TraderHank
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  I ran out of time this week and I had two plays that I wanted to post.  My first play is from Thursday in TEVA, which was on my long daily list because its daily buy had triggered Wednesday.  I’ve notice that if price does not stay above its prior day’s closing price its weak and that I must rethink my bias on the stock.  TEVA opened above its PDC but could not remain above as price rolled over and headed lower. I’ve noticed that when my longs go short, they really sell off hard.  Reason being is we all read the same charts and if I think it’s a long, I’m sure many traders think it’s a long, but when it goes short, it creates panic selling as traders unwind their positions causing the stock price to plummet.  The price action was so weak that TEVA could only rally enough to create two small green doji style bars and as the second bars low was taken out I began my short @ .88 cents.  15 minutes later price created another two doji style bars and as the low of the second bar was taken out I added more shot to my play @ .64. 45 minutes later I had covered 1/3rd of my shares at my first target at .28.  Over the next 90 minutes I had one add and reduce area where I added shares short @ .25 and reduced my stop to .38 cents.  Soon my next target @ .07 was hit where again I covered 1/3rd of my shares.  I finally trailed out of the play near the end of the day @ 51.00.  A great play that got the job done on Thursday…

TEVA 04102014
TEVA 04102014

On Friday, I had a nice play in TGT which came off my 9:45 am wide range bar list. My entry came near 11:30 am reversal time as TGT triggered a 15 minute PSS.  I entered the play at .03 and then watch for the next 30 minutes as price went sideways.  I noticed that price could not move higher as TGT put in two small doji style bars, so as price started to head lower, I added to a full lot size short on my play, again @ .03. Now, price headed lower nicely hitting my first target @ .73 and my second target .69.  I attempted to add and reduce on the 5 minute chart at .65 but was soon stopped out at a break even on my last remaining shares at .81.  A huge play that took some patience to develop but I was rewarded at the end of the day.

TGT 04112014
TGT 04112014

     

Posted in 9:45 Wide Range Bar Plays, Daily plays | Tagged , , | Comments Off on What you think is a long could be a short..