Pivot High

The Q’s opened the day with a large gap up in price to open the day at 76.72 and immediately set the high for the day @ 76.76 then price faded lower into 10 am reversal time setting the low of the day @ 76.40.  Since, price has moved up and down between these ranges and is currently trading @ 76.64.  Viewing the chart you can see that the market was very choppy in the morning with price slowing as we have moved into the afternoon of trading.

QQQ 08232013

My trade of the day came early in MSFT which I found on my list as a bullish gap up.  Even thou the gap was bullish, it was novice in the since that it was gaping in the direction of the current trend and the gap looked a little over done as well.  I decided to short MSFT after two doji style bars appeared on the 1 minute chart.  Upon entry, price took off quickly to the downside and I had a hard time getting enough shares.  I added more shorts where I could and finally MSFT started to break down hard.  Overall a very nice end of the week trade in MSFT…

msft 08232013

The Q’s gaped up this morning to open @ 75.75 and price stair stepped its way up til 11:45 am setting the high for the day @ 76.28 when price started to fade lower into lunch time on Wall Street.  At about 12.21 pm someone pulled the plug on the entire Nasdaq market as trading was halted without warning.  Trading resumed @ 3.25 pm just in time for traders to clear their book for the day.  The QQQ soon rallied into the close but could not take out the mornings high of 76.28 as the market came to an orderly close @ 76.20…

QQQ 08222013

My trade of the day was in HPQ which I found on my gap down list this morning.  The gap was clearing major support and ending the uptrend on the daily chart.  I scored the gap as a Tier II gap which I have to wait for a proper entry before entering the play.  I chose to enter on a 1 minute sell setup which coordinated with the break of the 5 minute low.  I entered with a partial lot and attempted to add shares as the play got moving but finally price just dropped so quickly that I was forced to live with the shares I had.  I was able to take a full 1 R out of the play even with the smalls shares I had.  My price delta at one point had me up over a dollar in profit which is just amazing.  Here are the charts for my play in HPQ…

HPQ 08222013

Here is the zoomed down 1 minute chart of the same play…

1 minute chart HPQ 08222013

After yesterday's narrow range day, the QQQ opened the day with a large gap down to 75.95 and immediately set the high for the morning at 75.99.  Price sold off hard into 10:10 reversal time setting the low of the day @ 75.29 then price action bounced higher into 10:35 reversal time and again price headed lower but could not take out the low of the day setting the 1st higher low @ 75.41.  The QQQ has since broke the crown on our W formation ending the current 5 minute down trend and price is currently trading @ 75.77 area.  The gap down and trade through the 75.87 area officially broke the daily uptrend in the market...

5 minute chart QQQ 08152013

My only play for the morning was in XLNX which I found this morning on my Gap down list.  Not a top tier gap but price was breaking the major support area on the daily chart so it made my list.  Now I just needed an entry which I found on the 2 minute chart as price rallied hard into 9:45 am then triggered the first sell setup with a V-top formation which I love.  I was in short as the last green bars low was taken out.  Price immediately headed lower coming within .04 cents of the 1st target where I sold 80% of my shares.  I moved my stop to a break even on the last remaining shares and soon I was able to lower my stop.  I lowered my stop once again and soon was trailed out of the play.  Nice 1 "R" play to start my day 🙂

xlnx 08152013