Archive for December, 2010

Swing Trading Week in Review – December 23, 2010

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

The SANTA CLAUS rally continues!

The holiday shortened week saw the market push higher although both VOLUME and VOLATILITY were less than impressive.

SPY

So what do we do from here?

No one knows for sue but a move on significant volume should give traders a clue.

As far as Sector ETF's go we are seeing the most of the strongest sectors continue to "drift" upwards.

Retail ($RTH), Energy ($XLE), Oil ($USO) and Oil Services ($OIH) all had a decent week.

Agriculture ($DBA) had a nice move this week as it moved to a NEW YEARLY HIGH.

DBA

Despite the "stall" on Thursday the Financials ($XLF), Broker/Dealers ($IAI) and the Homebuilders ($XHB) a nice move as well.

XLF

With a few exceptions most of the individual stocks on our Watch List followed the markets lead.

The lack of VOLUME lead to a lot of sideways trading this week.

Target ($TGT) and Carnival Cruise Lines ($CCL) were two stocks that provided us with nice LONG trade setups AND followed through nicely to close the week.

TGT CCL

As this nice move in the market continues the lack of VOLUME and VOLATILITY that we have mentioned in this post is a sign of caution as we move into next week.

The momentum has slowed a bit but that doesn't mean that it cant continue next week.

The only thing we can do as traders is to prepare ourselves for whatever the market decides to do and take the appropriate action.

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

Swing Trading Week in Review – December 10, 2010

Sunday, December 12th, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

The market drifted a bit higher this week as both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both made NEW HIGHS for the year.

The DJIA basically traded sideways all week but the action in some stocks and ETF's more than made up for it.

The action in the sector ETF's continues as the "weak" Financials ($IYF $XLF), Broker/Dealers ($IAI), and Hombuilders ($XHB) continued to rise.

IYF

We mentioned these ETF's several weeks back when they broke through their overhead resistance levels.

The pullback that followed was a bit extreme as it took these ETF's all the way back to their support levels.

The "bounce" we have seen in these sectors over the past 2 weeks has been impressive.

IAI XHB

Some of the stocks on our list continued to move higher this week.

One of the hardest things to do as a trader is to let your winning trades ride.

Having a different strategy for different phases of the market may be something to consider.

When the market is in a "choppy" phase and lacks direction we use our STS (Short Term Swing) methodology.

In a "break out' trending type market we switch to a more traditional trend trading style in an attempt to capture bigger profits.

Several of these stocks are moving up nicely and may continue to do so.

$ATMI, $LULU, $ADSK, $JAZZ, $BOBE and $INFA are few names on this list.

BOBE

We saw a lot of stocks setting up towards the end of last week.

Friday we saw signs of these stocks making their next move higher.

Our newsletter subscribers were actually alerted to numerous new trades that triggered on Friday.

The market continues to show signs of strength and if that continues next week hopefully these trades will turn into winners.

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!!!

Swing Trading Week in Review – December 3, 2010

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

SPY - Swing Trading

Swing Traders saw a nice pop in the market this week!

Tuesday's "inside day" was followed by a big GAP UP on Wednesday and nice follow through on Thursday and Friday.

Several of the sector ETF's broke out to NEW HIGHS for the year!

The Energy ($XLE) and Oil Services ($OIH) ETF's made this list as did the Silver ETF ($SLV) and the Semiconductor ETF ($SMH).

XLE OIH SLV SMH

All of these ETF's have been mentioned in our previous BLOG POSTS since they have been the strongest sectors during this recent move in the market.

If you only Swing Trade ETF's then these sector ETF's provided you with an opportunity to enter into another LONG trade this week.

If you trade both individual stocks and ETF's then this week you had plenty of trades to chose from.

In our nightly Swing Trading Newsletter we provided our subscribers with several trades that worked out very nicely this week.

The sectors we listed above had several stocks on our Watch List that made nice moves this week.

$APA $APC $NBR $BHI $HES $SLB $HAL $COG

$KLAC $NVDA $LRCX $MRVL $VSEA $NVLS

Even though it is not at a new yearly high the Retail sector ($RTH) has been HOT lately.

RTH

The stocks in this sector also had some nice trade setups.

$TGT $HOG $ANF $URBN $BOBE $TIF $COH

This week we also saw a big move in the "laggard" sectors that we have been watching.

After their recent BREAK OUT (and pull back all the way to support) we saw the Financials ($XLF), Homebuilders ($XHB) and Broker/Dealers ($IAI) all have nice moves to the UPSIDE this week.

XHB

We have been saying for the past few weeks that the market was at a pivotal point and that we needed the market to tell us where it was headed next.

This week it did exactly that!

We actually had a few SHORT trades on this week that were STOPPED OUT for a loss.

We did that (and will continue to do so) because at the time the market was a bit indecisive BUT the stocks we traded were showing signs of weakness.

Being stopped out does not bother us one bit.

As a matter of fact it gives us even more conviction as to where the market is headed in the near term.

Our SHORT trades were quickly replaced with several LONG trades as the market moved higher.

If you follow our BLOG you know by now that being prepared for ANYTHING is our mantra.

This week is great example of how and why that being prepared and reacting accordingly is exactly what it takes to profit from the market.

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

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