Posts Tagged ‘DIA’

Swing Trading Week in Review – November 19, 2010

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

The sell off continued to start out the week on a negative note.

By Thursday however we saw the buyers step back in and give the markets a lift to close out the week.

This recent sell off has taken the major indices back near their 50 period SMA's on INCREASING VOLUME which is a bit concerning.

SPY- Swing Trading

The "inside day" we saw in the markets on Wednesday was followed by less than impressive volume as the market rose Thursday and Friday.

It looks like we are at another pivotal level in the market and as always follow through (and how it does) is the key.

This low volume "bounce" could be quickly followed by MORE BUYING and an increase in volume.

This would be a great short term sign that the bulls are still in charge.

If however this low volume "bounce" is followed by AGGRESSIVE SELLING then the market could be in a for a significant move lower.

Some of the sector ETF's preformed quite well to close out the week while others are showing signs of tremendous weakness.

The Oil Services (OIH) and Energy ETF's (XLE) had nice moves to the upside.

OIH- Swing Trading ETF XLE

The Semiconductor ETF (SMH) remains strong after it's recent BREAKOUT and we will continue to look for signs of follow through in this sector.

SMH

Silver (SLV) also made it's next UP SWING after a decent pull back from it's most recent high.

SLV - Silver ETF

The two sector's we focused on in last weeks BLOG POST…The Financial's (IYF, XLF) and the Homebuilders (XHB)…have now pulled back to a  level that is BELOW their recent breakout points.

IYF XHB

Both sector's are hovering around their 50 DAY SMA's and are still in a "zone" that COULD hold as support but this type of deep pullback after a HIGH VOLUME breakout is NOT a great sign.

Even though the market is showing a bit of weakness recently there were still plenty of opportunities to take some LONG trades this week.

Several stocks on our Watch List set up for some nice trades this week.

Stocks on this list were $LULU, $COG, $MRVL, $WLK, $X, $BRCM, $TIF, $MEE and $HAL (to name a few).

LULU

Even though the market is still technically in a very BULLISH phase it is at, what we believe, at very pivotal level.

For the first time in several weeks we are actually seeing a number of  SHORT trade setups.

During this recent sell off in the market several stocks have actually started to show signs of weakness.

$ERTS, $LLY, $G, $K, and $MED are a few on our list that are relatively weak.

The Real Estate sector (and the stocks within) have all been hit hard during this recent sell off.

$SPG, $DRE, $KIM and $O have sold off hard recently and a "bounce" could happen in the very near future but the price action and volume we have seen during this sell off has us looking to the SHORT side in this sector.

Next week should give us a good indication of where the market is headed from here.

You may have heard this before but…BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING!

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

Swing Trading Week in Review – November 12, 2010

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

After breaking out to NEW HIGHS for the year last week the market put in a nice, orderly pullback this week.

We have seen a nice rally over the last 2 months but it looks the BEARS have had enough.

When you look at the charts for the DJIA, S&P, and NASDAQ everything still looks great.

DIA - Swing Trading SPY QQQQ

A pullback after such a nice run up in the market is to be expected.

When you focus on the charts of the sector ETF's you start to see a few things to take note of.

Once the market traded to NEW HIGHS last week we saw the SELLERS step in and hammer some of the sectors.

The Real Estate sector ETF's broke out last week but a big sell off quickly followed and brought them right back to their 50 day SMA's.

IYR - Swing Trading

The recent "Rock Star" Agriculture ETF's ($DBA $MOO) saw a similar outcome after last weeks break out.

We have seen this "Breakout/Sell Off" combo a few times this year and it can be quite frustrating for Swing Traders.

DBA

We saw the same pattern in a few of the strong stocks on our Watch List.

$EC has been a very strong stock as of late and like the market broke out the NEW HIGHS last week.

This week $EC took a beating as sellers drove the stock straight down for 4 days in a row.

EC

The individual names in the Agriculture sector are looking a little weak.

$ADM $AGU never made it to NEW HIGHS last week and sold off this week as well.

$POT traded lower and is trading near the bottom of its multi-month lateral channel.

$POT has a BIG GAP below and a break down from this level could take this stock significantly lower.

POT

$MOS is having a hard time breaking out of the $70-$75 price level.

Now like we said earlier overall the market is still looking good and remains very strong.

This recent pullback is a good thing and some of the other stocks an sector ETF's on our Watch List are, as of now, setting up nicely.

The Retail, Energy, and Semiconductors ETF's still look strong.

Two sectors we will be focusing on will be the Financials and the Homebuilders.

In last weeks BLOG POST we posted about their breakout through some important overhead resistance levels.

Both sectors are now pulling back to these same important levels.

IYF IYF XHB XHB

Once resistance is broken often times it becomes a new "support" level.

We will now need to see price and volume give us "confirmation" that this level will hold as new support and if it does we can act accordingly.

The market has pulled back this week but there could be more to come.

Use this time to watch how the stocks and ETF's on your Watch List react to the sell off.

Are they holding up nicely by pulling back on decreasing volume?

Or are they selling off MORE than the overall market and breaking down through key levels on increased volume?

Stick to your trading plan (you have one right?) and be prepared for whatever the market has in store for us in the days to come.

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

Swing Trading Week in Review – September 17, 2010

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading Boot Camp

The UPWARD drift continues!

In last week's BLOG POST we mentioned the lack of volume we are seeing and the need for volume to increase to move this market decisively higher.

Well the market did move up this week but as the first line of this post states it was more of a drift than a significant move.

The move this week puts us right back up to the June 21st price levels that we saw just prior to the sell off that took us to NEW LOW'S for the year.

DIA - DJIA ETF

The best chart that illustrates the larger sideways trading channel we are in has to be the chart of the S&P 500 Index.

Here is the chart for the SPY to show how this weeks trading action brings us right to very top of this channel.

SPY - SP500 ETF

The Nasdaq has actually been a bit stronger.

This most recent UP move brings to QQQQ'S above that all important level set on June 21st but after a 12 day up move it seems way overbought in the short term.

QQQQ

As far as sectors go it is pretty much the same story as last week.

The Agriculture ETF's (DBA and MOO) remain strong with several stocks in this sector pushing higher this week.

DBA actually pushed to a NEW HIGH for the year this week while MOO trades a bit below its yearly high.

DBA - Agriculture ETF

In last week's post we mentioned a few stocks to watch in this sector coming into this week.

One of the few trades we made this week was in John Deere & Company (DE) which is one of the biggest holdings in MOO.

DE

After showing so much recent relative strength DE put in a nice tight sideways consolidation pattern last week.

As the market GAPPED UP on Monday DE was up right along with it.

Our original entry target was just above the high set in early August which was $69.47.

When the market rolled over mid morning DE stayed strong as we entered into a position at $69.55.

Our initial STOP LOSS level is set at $67.10 which is just below the recent consolidation area.

This puts our initial risk at $2.45/share.

Our PROFIT TARGET is set at $74.45 which is twice our initial risk per share ($2.45 x 2= $4.90 + $69.55).

After 3 more days of consolidation DE made a HIGH VOLUME UP MOVE today and finally pushed our position nicely to the UPSIDE.

The trade is still open so we will manage our position accordingly and let you know how it turns out.

As far as the other sector's in the market go we cautioned you last week about the LOW VOLUME moves in XLE and RTH.

XLE actually put in a retrace this week despite the strength in the overall market.

XLE - Energy ETF

RTH on the other hand GAPPED UP nicely with the market on Monday and then followed WITH VOLUME on Tuesday.

A nice move UP since breaking the DOWN TREND channel line.

RTH

With the extreme upward angle of this last move and possible overhead resistance in the $94-$96 area RTH is short term overbought just like the overall market.

 

Take caution going into next week but continue to watch this sector moving forward once the market has pulled back a bit.

The Real Estate ETF (IYR) is holding up nicely but consolidated this entire week.

Breakout or pullback?

Keep this one on your radar as well in the coming days.

IYR

The notable laggard (so far) is still the Semiconductor sector ETF (SMH).

The week's upward drift still leaves this weak ETF trading below its 50 day SMA while almost every other sector is trading back above theirs.

SMH

CREE, CRUS, SNDK (although it stopped us out last week) and a few other names in this sector still have very weak charts.

This could all change in the near future especially if the overall market continues to strengthen.

The big picture tells us that the overall action in the market remains sideways.

The recent strength does look favorable for a continued UP move in the market after we digest some of these recent gains.

BUT…

We have seen this a few times before on both the LONG and SHORT side of the market.

Don't get to comfortable with this market just yet by only staying focused on one way trades.

Be prepared for anything (have LONG and SHORT ideas) that way whatever the market decides to do from here you can take the appropriate action.

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

 

 

Swing Trading Week in Review – September 3, 2010

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Swing Trading Blog Post-

What a difference a week makes.

In last week's BLOG post we told that their were buyers at the 10,000 level in the DJIA.

We saw the buyers step in and hold the market up last week and again on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Wednesday is when the real fun started.

After a big GAP UP Wednesday morning we saw the market rally the rest of the day to finish just off the high of the day.

Thursday brought more of the same and then the GAP UP, sell off and intraday reversal during Friday's session is a clear sign that buyers were in control.

DIA - Swing Trading DIA

The market continues it's erratic behavior and if you have trading for any amount of time you know that the month of September is likely to bring more of the same.

Last week we posted about the strength in the Agriculture related ETF's…DBA and MOO.

We gave you the "head's up" to watch this sector as it seemed ready for it's next move to the UP side.

Both ETF's followed through nicely this week as the market pushed higher to end the week.

DBA - Swing Trading ETF MOO - ETF Swing Trading

Several of the other "strong" ETF's rallied to new multi month highs this week.

The Real Estate (IYR) and Utilities (XLU) are on this list as well as a few International ETF's like THD and BZF.

IYR - Swing Trading ETF

We also saw the Energy (XLE) and Retail (RTH) ETF's break their short term down trend lines.

XLE - Swing Trading ETF RTH - Swing Trading ETF

The weak sector's we identified last week…the Semiconductor's and FInancial's…put in a decent bounce off of their recent low's.

We wondered last week if these sector ETF's were going to "bounce" back to their 50 Day SMA's or if they were ready to push to NEW LOW'S.

We got our answer although the "bounce" in the semiconductor's was really less than impressive.

The last 3 trading sessions have taken the market and several stocks to near short term "over bought" levels.

We are not going to chase the market at this point and will simply wait for the next opportunity to initiate some trades.

We will let our current  trades play out and manage our positions accordingly.

September is notorious for being a slow, choppy month for trading so be patient and wait for your ideal setups to get into the market.

Until next week...Good Trading to YOU!

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