QQQ update and TraderHank’s short play in MSFT

Posted on November 13, 2012 by TraderHank
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The QQQ gaped down and opened putting in the low of the day at 62.78 and proceeded to fill the gap.  After filling the gap at 10:10 am the Q’s started to sell off until making a higher low at 10.50 am.  This pattern is known as a gap that bullies and the QQQ should be expected to continue long the rest of the day.  My first play was in MSFT short which could have been played long as a novice gap since it had already fallen for the last 4 days.  I like the play short because price had taken out it’s prior pivot low breaking major support and we still had a void down to the 26.50 area.  With the Q’s also gaping down fueled my bias short for MSFT but the market rallied and filled the gap causing the price action in MSFT to rally.  I was soon stopped out of my play in MSFT.  I re-entered my play short @ 10:10 reversal time as the market was also rolling over.  My play looked lower for awhile but the market put in a higher low and became really bullish.  The bullish market action in the Q’s did not help me at all will my play finally pushing higher forcing a 2nd stop out.  I believe it was the market that prevented this play from working correctly and not so much as a novice gap.  Anyway, I was wrong and had to take my lumps 🙁

MSFT11132012
MSFT11132012

   

Posted in Daily Analysis, Gap plays | Comments Off on QQQ update and TraderHank’s short play in MSFT

QQQ Analysis for Tuesday, November 13th, 2012 and TraderHank’s stock picks

Posted on November 12, 2012 by TraderHank
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Longs:

CELG – Gap continuation

CHRW – Daily Buy Watch

GILD – Gap continuation

Shorts:

DIS – Gap continuation

JCP – Bull Trap

For Tuesday, if we gap below the 63.25 area I would be looking to take the first 5 or 15 minute sell setup at or near 10 am with a target of 62.20 area.  If we open neutral and move lower I’d be looking for a bounce to go long at 10 am at or near the 63.25 area with a target of 64.68 area.  If we happen to gap up over the 64.11 area, I would look to take the first 5 minute buy that appears with a target of 64.68 area.  Until the market breaks out of this sideways consolidation you must be willing to take your profits quickly at the tops 63.87 and the bottoms near 63.25.  The market is in a sideways movement also known as a time correction.  My bias is still short, which I would prefer to short the rally’s into resistance and cover at support.

qqq11122012
qqq11122012
Posted in Daily Analysis, TraderHank's Stock Picks | Comments Off on QQQ Analysis for Tuesday, November 13th, 2012 and TraderHank’s stock picks

QQQ update and TraderHank’s long play in CELG

Posted on November 12, 2012 by TraderHank
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The market QQQ gaped up this morning and immediately set the high at 63.87 which  was the prior pivot high on Friday and at an area of Major resistance.  The Q’s then sold off setting the low of the day at 11:15 am and a price of 63.25 which was an area of Major support.  Then, we rallied into lunch testing the high but coming up short at 1:15 pm before rolling back over and heading for the low the rest of the afternoon.  As you can tell, the market is in a sideways pattern for now.  My first and only plays were with CELG which sold off hard after a shock gap this morning.  The first 15 minute buy ended up being the best buy for the day, but I decided to pass because the market had not bottomed yet and was continuing to sell off.  I took the 2nd 15 minute buy setup and was soon shook out about 40 minutes later.  I re-entered the play during the shakeout patter.  Price recovered nicely and I was up a little over 1 risk unit when price again shook me out, ouch!  What a crazy stock, but I’m sure this was due to the holiday today in where we had a lighter trading volume which made this stock much more volatile.  Again I re-entered the stock on another 15 minute buy and price action broke out at the end of the day.  I still ended down for the day but I managed a smaller loss for the entire day, which is key to a profitable week.

CELG111212
CELG111212

   

Posted in Daily Analysis, Gap plays | 2 Comments

QQQ update for Monday, November 11, 2012 and TraderHank’s stock picks

Posted on November 11, 2012 by TraderHank
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Longs:

HD – COG in the PBZ

HOG – COG @ R20ma

Shorts:

DIS – Gap continuation pattern

On Friday, the QQQ rallied up until the high of the day was set in at 12:30 near 64.11 and began to sell off hard breaking major support at 63.66 and moving to the next support level at 63.44 area where we closed the trading day.  If we gap lower on Monday below 63.16 area, I’d be looking to short the first 5 minute sell in the market.  If we happen to gap up  you could look to take the first 5 minute long setup at or near the 63.50 area.  These setups will be more potent if they occur at or near reversal times of 10 or 10:30 am.  If we happen to open up neutral, wait for the break upward of the 63.50 area before looking for a 5 or 15 minute buy.  If we open neutral and move lower, we really have little room to move lower before we hit the next support level, so, I’d be looking for a bounce near the 63.20 area for a long play in the market, wait for at least a 2 minute downtrend to end, better to wait for the 5 minute down trend to end and take a 15 minute buy at or near 10:30 am.  I’m expecting price to trade from the 64.11 high and the low of 63.16 areas…  

qqq
qqq

   

 
 
Posted in Daily Analysis, TraderHank's Stock Picks | Comments Off on QQQ update for Monday, November 11, 2012 and TraderHank’s stock picks

QQQ update and TraderHank’s short play in LOW

Posted on November 9, 2012 by TraderHank
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TGIF – The market opened on the low, 63.16, of the day so far and has rallied up into the prior high pivot area from yesterday 63.64 @ 10:30 am.  If we continue higher, the current 5 minute down trend in the market will end, thus far it has not and price action is looking short here again.  Going into yesterday I was down 1/2 “R”isk unit and I was just looking for a nice play to make me profitable for the week.  My first attempt came early 4 minutes after the market opened on the 1 minute chart of LOW.  I found low on my gap down list after price was gaping below the 200 ma on the 60 minute chart and gaping well below the Daily buy area.  I had a nice target below, a nice 1 minute attempt to rally higher, then price failed to continue to the upside and rolled over.  My entry was simple, clean, and price dropped like a rock moving lower.  Price move so fast that I just covered my entire lot at the nearest support level.  I ended the play with 5 “R”isk units ending the week up 4 1/2 R and profitable for another week.  I’m done early for the day and I’ll be kicking back watching other fellow traders slug it out today.  Have a great weekend everyone!

low
low

         

Posted in Daily Analysis, Gap plays | Comments Off on QQQ update and TraderHank’s short play in LOW

TraderHank’s play in VZ

Posted on November 8, 2012 by TraderHank
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I took my last play @ 1:45 pm as we were ending lunch.  The market was in a power trend down which means all pull backs to the 20 ma are saleable.  I sold VZ short after a retest and failure on the 15 minute chart.  We also call this a GBI or green bar ignored.  I really did not like the play until the retest & failure, also risk to reward was 1 to 1 which is really not acceptable because I require a 3 -1 risk to reward.  For some reason I found  myself distracted at my trading desk talking with my spouse and the next thing I knew, I’m in the trade after already deciding that I was not going to take it.  Well, price action bullied me finally stopping me out, even though the market continued to be week.  I hate when this happens!!!!!!!!!!  A really lack luster week of trading for myself, I’m down 1/2 R going into Friday.  Making this week profitable should be easy, I’ve been 8 weeks of profitable trading, we will see if the streak continues….  Here is my chart for my trade in VZ.

VZ
VZ

  

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TradeHank’s play in JPM

Posted on November 8, 2012 by TraderHank
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My next play of the day was in JPM which I found on my daily scan because of it’s prior day’s breakdown at Major Support.  My entry was below a 5 minute base which I took the breakdown with my stop over the top of the base.  My only regret is that lately I’ve stop shorting stocks that are not trading below the prior day’s close.  Once I could determine that price was not dropping with the market, I decided to exit on a strong flurry down with a very small gain.  Here is the chart on my play in JPM…

jpm
jpm
Posted in Daily plays | Comments Off on TradeHank’s play in JPM

QQQ update and TraderHanks first trade in QCOM

Posted on November 8, 2012 by TraderHank
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The market (QQQ) opened up neutral today and rallied up to the high of Wednesday’s afternoon base and triggered a sell setup at 9:50 am.  The market basically sold off the rest of the day with every pull back to the declining 20 ma was sold off and a new lower low was made.  We call this a trend day and it’s not a normal event in the market which can at times, make it very difficult to navigate.  Normal market behavior is when we make the markets high or low for the day by 10:00 am or 10:30 am and or make the markets daily low or high by 10:30 or 11:00 am which are the daily reversal times in the market.  When the market goes in one direction all day, this is not normal, and a rare occurrence.   I really did not have a great short but I did have a great gap play in QCOM which gaped over a nice solid red bar from yesterday gap down.  Today’s gap even gaped over the last high pivot area of QCOM which creates a shock gap.  I took the first 2 minute buy set up which stopped out several bars later.  I decided to pass on attempting further setups, in fact, I believe all buy setups eventually failed today in QCOM with price action finally rolling over near the end of the day.  Here is the chart on my play in QCOM…

QCOM
QCOM

    

Posted in Daily Analysis, Gap plays | Comments Off on QQQ update and TraderHanks first trade in QCOM

QQQ update and TradeHank’s 15 minute short play in GILD

Posted on November 5, 2012 by TraderHank
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After a week off from trading I was a little cautious this morning and finally made my first trade at 11:44 am as the market was rolling over short.  The QQQ gaped up slightly and sold off hitting the low by 10 am @ 65.04 and rallying for the next hour setting the high for the day at 11 am @ 65.51.  Then the QQQ triggered a 15 minute sell setup at 11:15 and price action sold off hard into 1:00 pm EST.  Currently we have rallied off the lows and have made a lower high at 1:35 pm and are heading lower.  If we break the low we will confirm the 5 minute down trend, if we don’t it looks like we may be heading sideways for the rest of the afternoon.  My only play was in GILD short, which I found during my 9:45 am scan for wide range bars, during  the 15 minute sell in the market.  Even though the markets short triggered at 11:15, I delayed my entry in GILD until 11:44 to confirm the move lower.  Upon entry, I still had to sit through a small retracement but as the Q’s accelerated lower, GILD finally started to fall.  I had a nice 90 cent void below with a .30 cent stop or 3-1 risk to reward ratio.  I ended the play with a respectable 1 “R” gain on this relatively sleepy day in the market.  Here is the chart for my short play in GILD.    

GILD11052012
GILD11052012

   

Posted in 9:45 Wide Range Bar Plays, Daily Analysis, Daily plays | Comments Off on QQQ update and TradeHank’s 15 minute short play in GILD

QQQ update and TraderHank’s stock picks for November 5th, 2012

Posted on November 4, 2012 by TraderHank
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Longs:  

ANF – 123 pattern

Shorts:

AIG – Gap continuation

COST – Daily sell triggered

INFY – COG – Daily sell watch

KO – Daily sell triggered

PEP – Daily sell triggered

I was SOH (Set On Hands) last week, all week, due to the storm in the North East my Fusion platform was down all week.  They tell me their ready to go for Monday, I still have my fingers crossed…  Anyway, I was still trading Forex last week with 3 nice profitable trades.  I will make an effort to post more of my Forex plays in the future.  As for the QQQ, gaped up on Friday and sold off immediately back into the base and finally broke down short at 1:00 pm and continued sell off hard into the close.  For Monday, the QQQ is setting on the 200 day moving average at 65.17 which many traders would believe that we will go long from here.  After reviewing Friday’s daily chart of the QQQ you will see that price action gaped up over the prior day’s solid green bar and then proceed to engulf the green bar taking out the low.   Greg Capra, from Pristine would call this a “Money Bar” where by prices should move lower.  I’m expecting a gap up in the morning since we are at the 200 ma on the daily, but don’t kid yourself, this is not a flat 200 but a rising 200 ma.  200 ma’s hold better if they are flat, thus I’m expecting a move lower sometime during the day.  On the gap up tomorrow in the QQQ’s or a rally up, I’d be looking to short the first 5 or 15 minute setup at or near the 65.65 area.  My first target will be the 64.65 area with a 2nd target at 64.00 area.  My bias tomorrow is short, but you can play long after the 5 minute down trend ends.           

qqq11052012
qqq11052012
Posted in Daily Analysis, Recommendations, TraderHank's Stock Picks | Comments Off on QQQ update and TraderHank’s stock picks for November 5th, 2012