10/14/08: AKAM - Gap play

Macro setup: Daily Gap-up into resistance, and filling prior (Gap-down). A gap into a supply area on a downtrending daily stock almost always calls for a bearish bias, especially when the prior 2-days were bullish.

Entry setup: After establishing it's opening 5-minute range, the stock setup a narrow range 5-minute bar. After taking out the high of that 5-minute bar, supply took over and the stock shot down very quickly. I shorted right at the "break" at 16.77 with a stop over the morning high.

I covered half near the gap-fill, then covered the back half after it bounced off the next level of support around 15.70.

A nice profitable trade to start the day!

Check out the chart...

7/30/08: AHG - Gap play

Macro setup: Daily Bear Gap under hourly pivot and prior Bullish daily bar ("Bull"-shocker).

Entry setup: After establishing it's opening 5-minute range, the stock setup a 1' Sell-setup at the declining s8ma (simple 8-period moving average) with a series of narrow-range bars. The stop-loss was very tight, giving the opportunity for a low-risk, high potential gain trade.

As usual, I covered my position with multiple exits (which is in my plan, but not to be lead by example) so I did not realize the full potential profits. But, a good winning trade none-the-less.

Check out the chart...

7/1/08: RVBD - Gap play

This was a Gap trade that gapped just under hourly Major Support. I caught the entry near the 10:00 Reversal Time. It was a Sell Setup after a retracement back to a minor resistant area, after gapping down into an hourly downtrend.

I took it as a "scalp" trade off the 5-minute chart, so I covered my position after 3-bars down into the prior morning support area - clearly too soon (always easier to say you should have gotten out "here" after the fact).

...check out the chart!

6/27/08: RBA - Climactic play

Trading has been "very" slow for me in the month of June. Personal issues/setbacks/endeavors have kept me from my main focus - Trading! So far in June, I have only placed (3) trades. The other two were for small losses. This trade here made up for them both (and then some). I hope to be back on a more permanent schedule here in the near future.

Here are the details of the RBA play...

Wall Street Shuffle - 10cc Video (5/29 update)

No posts this week (or last) as I have either been out of town, or working on other projects.

Trade Well (stay disciplined),

Greg

5/14/08: CHKP - Gap play

CHKP gapped up on 5/14 over daily Major Resistance. It traded down and made an appoximate 50% gap fill, then traded back up and based in the top 30% of its opening price - bullish! As soon as the price on the 2' chart met up with the r20ma, it broke out over the base, giving a nice tight stop and decent Reward to Risk ratio. See what happens next ----->

5/13/08: PPC - Gap play

This was a GAP trade. It gapped down under an hourly pivot, confirming the hourly downtrend. The stock acted bullish from the open, so I kept it on the list to see how much of the gap it would fill... it was less than 50%, so now I look for an intraday opportunity to short. I missed the double top after it retested the 30-minute high, but noticed it forming a small base running into the 5-min d20ma, which is exactly where I like to enter breakdown plays. As you can see, taking the earlier double top entry would have made a nice profit... Check out the chart to see what happened next ---->

5/9/08: TE - Climactic play

It was a very short trading week for me. The trading platform was off from Mon-Thurs to "get stuff done"... did I get'r done? Well definitely not as much as I had hoped, but it was some needed time off none-the-less.

Friday was back in the office as usual around 5am to do my typical early morning scanning, which did not produce any immediate buy/short entries after the open. ATVI was on my list to go long after it had gapped up over 4-months of daily consolidation. The opening 5' bar was a bit wide and coming right to the point of prior Major Resistance on the daily chart - I was not convinced to play it over that high, so I waited for another setup, which didn't come (for me).

Nothing else was setting up for me either until scanning thru the Top-20 gainers/losers list. Symbol TE came up and I quickly noticed how far and fast it had runup. It was a continuation move from the prior days late day breakout pattern. Seeing how extended it was on all charts, I shorted the 1st 5-minute reversal at 9:55am.

Check out the chart...

5/2/08: JAVA - Gap play

Not much of a trading day today (for me). Lots of stocks (watchers) on my list, but few set up the way I liked, except for JAVA. I initially shorted a 2-minute low at 9:32, but I didn't give it "any" room to move against me as the gap was fairly large, so the chance of it retracing back into the gap fill was not something I was going to let happen. No chart of this play, but I got out at break even after there was no immediate follow thru.

The 2nd play came much later at the 11:15 reversal time. The gap was still a bit extended, but a rather perfect setup otherwise. Check out the chart: