Friday, May 4, 2012

Weekend Thread


That was me this morning attempting to buy the dip... lol. After my stops were hit, it was pretty obvious what was behind me (a big train full of sellers). Long setups failed on almost every timeframe... which is something that's noteworthy. Today was basically the opposite of what we saw during the first few months of the year. When momentum builds in a particular direction, it pays not to fight it (I know... duh). We are working our way into the lows from April in S&P futures - 1352.50 is the low to watch next week. I'm going to post some charts in the comments - and still need to dig through the latest COT reports from today to see if there are any notable changes.

Friday afternoon

Enter in mild times
Exit in wild times

An old Wall Street saying, but I always try to follow it.

I like to enter during periods of consolidation (volatility squeeze), or right at a breakout from consolidation.  Stops can be tighter and the slow movement gives me time to study the action.  If the market is already running, then I have missed the trade.  I’m not a good chaser.

Wild times will often mark the end of a move.  Wide range bars, high volume, whippiness.  These are good times for me to exit a trade and wait for the next setup.

“A man’s got to know his limitations.” -- Dirty Harry

Friday Morning Thread

Gator's Chart of the Day: DIS
Disney was trading in a rising channel with the 20 day sma as support from Christmas 'til early April when it took a dive all the way down through the bottom Bollinger band and the 50 day sma before stabilizing.  Over the last 3 weeks it has formed a new channel and worked its way back up through 50 and 20 day lines and kissed the upper Bollinger band.  What now?

Volume was above average on Thursday and it was the 2nd best performer of the DJ-30 stocks.  The upper Bollinger band is turning higher and DIS could keep climbing.  This looks like a pre-earnings run to me.  They report Tuesday after market so if you have a feel for how earnings will be ....