Weekend thread

Friday afternoon

Friday morning

Thursday evening

To get the full effect you have to let your tongue hang out and let it flap in the breeze ..... just pretend you're trading TSLA options. 

Thursday afternoon

Thursday morning

Wednesday evening

The picture would be better with a Samsung

Well, that was all the fun I was looking for today.  I think I'll come back for another spankin' tomorrow.

Wednesday afternoon

Wednesday morning

Tuesday evening

Tuesday afternoon

VZ Daily Chart (11:15 AM EDT)

It's not often that Verizon is near the 50 day simple moving average.  This could be a good place to start a position in a sound dividend payer if you want one of those and you are willing to honor your stop.  The stock has made a lower high and a lower low so if the 50 day does not hold neither should you.

Monday came on Tuesday this week.

We are free because of their sacrifice.

Weekend thread

The calendar won't say summer for another 3 weeks or so but Memorial Day is the traditional opening of the pools and that's what said summer for kids up north when I was young.  Enjoy your long weekend.

Friday afternoon

In case you hadn't noticed, volume is a bit light.  Three day weekends do that.

Friday morning

Before you push the buy/sell button, think about how you'll feel all weekend long if you do it. The market will be here Monday Tuesday. It will be happy to take your order then.

Thursday evening

Is it over?

It was a wild day from a pre-market view of the DJIA futures down more than 135 points to a gain of more than 40 points before closing down a dozen.  Are we due for a pullback?  Sure.  Has it started?  Maybe but for the last 7 months it has been right to buy the dips and the Fed walked back some of the scarier language from yesterday.  At least that's what John Hilsenrath attempted to do during the FM Halftime show.

Opinions vary on where prices go now.  That's why they ring the bell 5 days a week.

Thursday afternoon

As jojo1480 said late yesterday, this is like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  If it is moving too fast or you just don't have a feel for it now, there is nothing wrong with resting on the sidelines.  Things will settle out and you will be able to see a trend again.  It may be down or it may be up.  As long as you are in sync with it the direction is less important.

Thursday morning

Gator's Chart of the Day: GME
(Click chart for better view)

By the time the market opens this may be ancient history but maybe not. Gamestop is reporting before the bell but it has already had a 10% sell off this week on high volume so the bad news could already be in the stock.  Not to mention there should still be significant short interest (Finviz shows 33.4% of the float is short) so any hint of less bad than expected could pop it higher.  The stochastic is diving hard but has not yet reached oversold (20) territory.

The Trade
If it sets up this would be a 59er.  It could be a gap up and go or it could be a gap down and bounce (my favorite.)  If it is the latter then here's the plan.

1. Using a 1 minute (super aggressive) or 3 minute (better idea) or 5 minute (you may miss a great entry) buy as the first green candle is printed.
2. Place your stop under the low of the day.
3. If the stock is still moving up with volume add aggressively and fill your position for the ride up.
4. Add stops as you add to your position.  This is a winning trade so don't let it turn into a loser.
5. If you hold later than 11:30 you should probably take a partial as a lunchtime pullback is reasonable.

Remember, do not force a trade.  This is an event and it could go either way.  You are trading (or not) the reaction.

SPX Daily / Weekly

SPX Daily

SPX Weekly

Wednesday afternoon

Lois took the 5th.  Ben danced to questions.  Market ran stops up and down. 

Any questions?

Wednesday morning

Gator's Chart of the Day: ATVI
(Click chart for a better view)

I've been in this trade since 4/23 (the last candle inside the oval) when the price crossed above the 50 day simple moving average.  You can see where the company reported earnings.  It's the last time the stock touched the bottom Bollinger Band.  Buyers kept volume above average as price fought its way back to a high above the upper BB but news hit that the company was not going to follow through with a planned buy back.  Still buyers kept coming for the stock and now it is once again closing above the Bollinger Bands and Monday the band's width was only 5.6% of the 20 day moving average.  That qualifies as a bona fide squeeze and Tuesday is the start of Phase 1 (the breakout.)

The Trade
It's not too late to start a position. (I am likely to add.)  The stochastic is not yet in overbought territory so we have room to run.  Phase 1 ends when the price stops going up.  Phase 2 is the pull back (taking some profits works here) to test the breakout and (assuming a successful test) Phase 3 is the move higher.  Buying back or just filling out the position if you have not already should be done here.  Ride as far as you can.  A good way to stay in the trade but not lose a bunch of profits is to use the previous days low as your stop on part or all of your position. That's the way I learned it from Dan and it's worked for me many times.  

Tuesday evening

SPY 15min (click for bigger)

There's a double-top in the oval, after barely exceeding the previous highs.  Also known as a bull trap.  The market will correct someday.  Doesn't have to be tomorrow or even soon, but that chart pattern is toppish.

Tuesday afternoon

The Squid told you to buy buy buy and then the market did a quick drop to find those tight stops ("Thank you." said the Squid) and now we find some green and some red.  Confused yet?  Remember, you don't have to trade everyday.  I'm taking my own advice and I'm headed to the golf course.  Good luck, traders.

Tuesday morning

Monday evening

The Cleveland Browns had (possibly) the best all purpose running back to ever stiff arm an outside linebacker.  Paul Brown was his coach and he had a fairly simple philosophy: Run it until they stop it.

That's how I am setting up for Tuesday.  Stay long until the bears stop it.

Note: In case you aren't old enough to remember, the running back was Jim Brown.

Monday afternoon

There were many opportunities this morning as the market opened in the red but by 10 o'clock if you weren't already in you had to chase a little.  That may work out OK if Tuesday follows the pattern it has for the last 4 months but this really feels like nose bleed territory.

Monday morning

Weekend thread 2

SP-500 Weekly Chart (5 Years shown)

It does look a bit euphoric and 7 consecutive green bars is the maximum shown (twice) so it does give one pause to think about what could be next.  As others pointed out (Otto4) it could be poetic to have a major correction following the run from 666 to 1666.  Cogitate on that for the weekend.

Note: Click chart for much better view

Weekend thread

I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend!

Vacation destinations

???

The market is green and the news was good this morning but some traders are less than enthusiastic.  That includes me.

Friday morning

It's options Friday,

all day long

SPX Daily / Weekly

SPX Daily

SPX Weekly

Thursday afternoon

Coffee, tea or me?

Recognize the friendly flight attendant?  (S)he spilled a tray of drinks in a customer's lap shortly after this picture was taken.

Thursday morning

Wednesday evening

Russell 2000

Russell 2000 Weekly

The Russell 2000 inverse head and shoulders is playing out on the weekly chart. If you use a conservative head number (640), the target comes out to about 1,100. I used 868-640=228. 228+868=1096. That's about 10-11% up from here. Shameless plug: We looked at this chart on the first trading day of the year - January 2nd Afternoon Thread.

On a shorter daily time frame, things are looking ripe for a pull back though... stay on your toes. :-)

Wednesday morning

BTU 5 Minute Chart

BTU - I'm not quite ready to get in with Otto and southern. The daily chart (below) looks like it still wants to test the low but I could be wrong. 

As I looked through BTU's chart on various time frames I found this one. It's a text book H & S presented here on the 5 minute but also shows very well on the 3 minute.

The neckline is the Pivot Point (20.41) with the top of the head at 21.51 that suggests a minimum move down to 19.31 and it didn't quite get there yet.  I'll wait to see if it does.  A bounce from there would be a higher low on the daily chart and would be a good entry.  I would plan to add in size if it moved up through the 50 day sma.  Clearing 21.60 looks to be a good place to fill out the position.  That should also be just about the place that the 20 day moves up through the 50 day.  That could provide momentum to test the 200 day. 

BTU Daily Chart

Note: You can click on the charts for better detail.

Tuesday evening

Tuesday afternoon

Can't be Friday. They close red sometimes.

It's another POMO day and with David Tepper telling the world the markets must go higher how can it do anything else?  One day this will likely end badly but today is not that day.  Stay strong and stay long is the theme.  (Or was that a Viagra commercial?)

Tuesday morning

The traders' lament

Monday evening

Monday afternoon

The bulls have been using their energy selectively this morning.  Maybe it's the Hilsenrath article or maybe it's the Bloomberg terminal concerns or maybe it's the selective scrutiny of the IRS or maybe it's just time to take a little break.  Some may not have slept well ...

Monday morning

License plate says "jojo1480"

Weekend thread

Friday afternoon

Friday morning

Or maybe that's the breakfast burrito talking.