Day Trader | Pristine Method | Market update

TraderHank’s play in UNH

Posted on November 30, 2012 by TraderHank

My final play was in UNH which I found on my 9:45 wide range bar scan. Price action put in a nice 15 minute sell setup with a bottoming tail and COG just below the 20 ma which is not the best area but “ok” with this setup. I stayed in for 5 green bars with the 6th bar finally taking out the last green bar so I closed the position. We are taught to stay in for 3-5 green bars and the price action just never got any acceleration so I took the trade off with very little profit. I’m done for the day, down just shy of an “R” not a great week of trading as is so often the case as we near the end of the year. Here is the chart for my trade in UNH…

unh

Posted in 9:45 Wide Range Bar Plays | Comments Off

QQQ update and TraderHank’s play in TEVA

Posted on November 30, 2012 by TraderHank

The market opened neutral this morning and immediately set the high at 65.97 and has drifted lower in a narrow range. A low of 65.61 was set at 11:30 which looks to be the low of the range for today. My first play today was in TEVA which I found on my gap down list and was trading nicely pre-market. At the open TEVA put in a nice topping tail bar on the 1 minute chart and finally after 5 minutes, price action broke down hard under a small base that had formed. I shorted the stock at the breakdown with my stop .01 cent above the topping tail bar. Price action seemed to bottom out soon after my entry, I hung in there because I had a nice $1.21 price void below created during the pre-market price action. I was soon stopped out as TEVA rocketed upward and has remained bullish all morning. Just a really crazy move in TEVA this morning but so has been the market this week. I’m currently in UNH long on it’s first 15 minute buy setup, I’ll update this play next… Here is the chart for my play in TEVA

teva 2

Posted in Gap plays, Market Update | Comments Off

TraderHank’s play in EBAY

Posted on November 29, 2012 by TraderHank

My next two trades were in EBAY which I found gaping up this morning and confirming a 1234 pattern on the Daily chart. I took the first 15 minute buy setup which looked text book, but it was at the 8 ma, I usually won’t take these but the market looked as if it was going to breakout again. Well at 11:40 the QQQ shook out and with it went EBAY crashing to the downside, ouch! I knew it was a shake out and had good chance of recovering which it did, but I hesitate on my entry. I finally re-entered the play after price had moved above the 20 ma on the 5 minute chart. I was able to place my stop below a bottoming tail that had formed and it helped me weather a pull back in price, then EBAY took off like a rocket hitting my first target at 52.50 before putting in a small red type doji bar on the 5 minute chart. By this time I was managing on 1 minute pivots which price finally took me out of the play at 52.43. Not a bad play but typical for a rough week of trading after a long Holiday week. Here is the chart on my play in EBAY…

EBAY

Posted in Daily 123 play | Comments Off

QQQ update and TraderHank’s play in RIG

Posted on November 29, 2012 by TraderHank

Boy it’s been hard to get back into the swing of things since I took most of last week off to cook our families Thanksgiving day feast. It’s been a struggle all week and it looks like today is going to be a scratch day. The market QQQ gaped up this morning setting the day’s high by 10:00 am and triggering the first 5 minute buy at 10:30 am. Since, we had a nice big red shakeout bar at 11:40 which could have been played long by those that look for these types of plays that usually happen over lunch time. Currently the market has recovered but has not been able to break out above the high of the day of 66.14 set at 10 am. My first play was my 5 minute Gap sell play which looked pretty good for awhile but finally stopped me out as the market continued higher. The play requires a bullish gap up with a quick 5 minute rally which RIG gave me. The first 5 minute bar also closed with a nice topping tail which gave me confidence to short RIG if this 5 minute topping tail bar was taken out quickly. I also liked the fact that the market had been up for the last 6 hours and was due for a pull back. RIG quickly took out the first green bar of the day and I was in short. Price action looked promising and even tested the high again without taking out my stop. Then price sold off hard taking out the last two 5 minute green bars 🙂 but this was soon negated when price recovered taking out the high and stopping my play 🙁 Good Grief Charlie Brown!

rig

Posted in Daily Analysis, Gap plays | Comments Off

QQQ update and TraderHank’s trade in XOM

Posted on November 19, 2012 by TraderHank

The market gaped up big time this morning leaving Friday’s high behind and establishing a new 5 minute uptrend. Basically a gap and go day if played you should have had a home run early this morning. My play was in XOM long which gaped up with the market clearing 3 days of consolidation with room to move above. I had two add and reduce areas which greatly enhanced my profit on the play. To be honest, my management was perfect, textbook! This was a feel good trade for me, it takes work to get to this point, but the satisfaction you feel is awesome! A trader calls it “Silent Applause”. Here is the chart on my play in XOM…

xom

Posted in Daily Analysis, Gap plays | Comments Off

QQQ update and TraderHank’s play in KLAC

Posted on November 15, 2012 by TraderHank

The Q’s opened neutral and rallied the first 5 minutes setting the high of the day @ 9:35 at 62.49, then we sold off taking out the low from yesterday confirming our continued down trend in the market. The Q’s made a lower pivot at 62.03 at 10:00 am and rallied upward to test the highs again by 10:15 where again we sold off hard making a new low of 61.85, currently the Q’s are slowly bleeding lower. My first trade was in KLAC which ended up on my gap down list. Not a great gap but it did have a void to the 44.15 area and I found a nice entry short on the 2 minute chart. Price action was just a slow bleed lower until just after 11:30 when price action started to accelerate downward. Price came to within .15 cents of my target setting a Bottoming tail, while I was not at my target yet, I was up .40 cents with my full share size so I covered my position. Price did rally a bit then it rolled over hitting my target of 44.15. Staying in the trade with full size is really the only thing that I need to master for mega success. Here is the chart of my play in KLAC…

KLAC 11152012

Posted in Daily Analysis, Gap plays | 2 Comments

QQQ update and TraderHank’s play in GILD

Posted on November 14, 2012 by TraderHank

The market gaped up this morning just under yesterday’s high and set the high of the day of 63.36 at 9:50 am near reversal time. Then the market sold off hard taking out yesterday’s low of 62.93 and set the day’s low in at 62.68 by 11:00 am. Currently the market had rallied back to the 63.05 area and triggered a 15 minute sell @ 12 noon and is currently attempting to take out the low of the day. My only play today so far was in GILD long just after the market had set the low for the day at 11 am. I had GILD on my radar because of the shock gap from Monday and price action had triggered an hourly buy. Price action was very bullish even though the market was selling off all morning, as the market started to rally, GILD broke to the upside and I was able to zoom down to the 2 minute chart to find a small pivot entry. I had a nice $2.00 target in mind but by 12 noon GILD rolled over hard taking out my stop. GILD had nice relative strength to the market all morning but for some reason at 12:00 pm, price action decided to sell off faster than the market… Good Grief!

GILD

Posted in Gap continuation plays | Comments Off

TraderHank’s short play in the market QQQ

Posted on November 13, 2012 by TraderHank

At 10:05 the Q’s had filled the gap, retested this area of Minor support twice putting in twin topping tails on the 5 minute chart and triggering a 5 minute sell in the market. My pre-market instructions where to take the first 5 minute sell in the QQQ so I had to follow my own instructions. This really was a beautiful sell setup in the market after the gap down, rally into the gap fill at resistance, trigger the sell at 10 am reversal time, nice void below, and with a retest and failure leaving two topping tails, I had to take the play. Well, the euphoria ended when the next 5 minute bar turned green and putting in a bottoming tail with the next bar hitting my stop. Now this is where most traders screw up their week, they keep trading and losing, well friends, I’m down 3 Risk units for the day and I’m done for the day. It’s been awhile since I’ve stopped out for the day, but you gotta leave so you can come back to play another day… Here is the chart for my play in the QQQ

QQQmarket play

Posted in Gap plays | Comments Off

TraderHank’s short play in RIG

Posted on November 13, 2012 by TraderHank

My next play was in RIG after it had gaped down under 3 days of consolidation seen here on the 60 minute chart…

60 min chart of RIG

As price action filled the gap I took the first 5 minute sell near reversal @ 9:50 and price sold off hard. I had high hopes that I would reach the bottom at 45.50 but back to back bottoming tails appeared on the 2 minute chart. I decided to take my chips off the table with about 1/2 R gain on the play. The decision to cover all of my short shares is not an easy one to explain here, it’s a feeling you get after trading for a few years. I checked my indicators Tick/Trin, VOLD and Vix, the market, everything looked bullish and as you can see by the chart, RIG took off upward finally breaking through to the upside. Even though my trade was not a smashing success, it was taken with market alignment at reversal time on a stock that just gaped down breaking major support, basically, the odds were in my favor and this is what trading is all about. Place the odds in your favor more often then not and your losing trades will look like small wins or scratch trades…

RIG11132012

Posted in Gap plays | Comments Off

Pivot High

TraderHank’s play in UNH

unh