Posts Tagged ‘SHORT SWING TRADING’

Swing Trading Week in Review – November 23, 2012

Sunday, November 25th, 2012

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

First things first…

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you and your family enjoyed your holiday!

The markets opened with a bang this holiday shortened week.

Monday traders watched as the market GAPPED UP after weeks of relentless selling pressure.

The move was somewhat expected (as we mentioned in last weeks post) since the market was trading in severely OVERSOLD territory.

All three indices traded basically drifted higher on LOW VOLUME the entire week.

You can argue of course that this low volume is to be expected on a holiday week but we know that it is also a telltale sign of a retrace in down trending market.

The "bounce" was a big one nonetheless.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied over 400 points in fact.

The sellers have taken a break (for now at least) and that is a good thing.

The thing to remember though is that we are still in a text book DOWN TREND.

This latest "bounce" was a retrace on LOW VOLUME.

So what happens from here after such a big bounce?

Who knows.

Some people are calling for the BEAR to lose steam and the BULL to return.

More are saying prepare for a lengthy BEAR market by getting your SHORT strategies ready to launch.

What do we say?

We say…WHO CARES???

As short term traders we need to be ready for whatever the market decides to do regardless of direction.

We are NOT investors.

If the market rallies higher? Great I have a strategy for that.

If the market starts to sell off again? Perfect because I have a strategy for that.

In last weeks BLOG post we gave you the details of our trading plan for this past week.

It played out almost exactly as we described.

Our remaining SHORT positions were stopped out so we were flat going into Tuesday,

The stocks that we mentioned that were showing signs of strength ($K, $V, $CREE, $FB) made some nice moves higher.

Did we jump onto the LONG side?

Not at all. We traded our plan and our plan was to reevaluate after the retrace was confirmed.

The gap up and drift higher scenario would have kept us out of the market anyway.

In hindsight the moves in these stocks would have produced some nice profits.

Our strategy (in this case) was not to buy stocks on a "bounce" in a strong down trend.

We followed our strategy and watched the market for the last 3 days of the week without doing anything expect getting ready for the next move.

Next week we will be watching to see if the down trend shows signs of returning.

If it does we will get SHORT all over again.

If the market shows signs of change (from BEAR to BULL) we will be prepared with a list of LONGS to jump into.

We always try to teach you you be prepared for anything and act accordingly when its time.

This upcoming week is no different!

Until then…Good Trading to YOU!

Tags: ETF Swing Trading, SHORT SWING TRADING, Swing Trading Blog, Swing Trading Strategies, Trading Volume
Posted in ETF Swing Trading, Short Swing Trading, Swing Trading Blog, Swing Trading Strategies, Trading Price Action and Volume | No Comments »

Swing Trading Week in Review – November 16, 2012

Sunday, November 18th, 2012

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

The SELL OFF continues!

The markets opened up on Monday with traders anticipating the selling was (hopefully) coming to end.

Mondays lack of volatility was quickly followed by a bearish engulfing reversal bar on Tuesday.

The sellers then continued to bring the market lower to end yet another down week in this most recent downtrend.

This move brings the major indices down to a severely oversold level so a "bounce" next week is a probable.

Looking across the list of sector ETF's we see now that every major sector is trading below the 50 day SMA.

This includes the ultra strong Homebuilders ETF ($XHB) which finally broke down this week.

So with the market turning extremely bearish and the chance of a "bounce" this week what is trader to do?

Well it really depends on your trading business plan.

Does your business plan keep you out of LONG trades in a BEARISH market?

Or does your plan let you trade both LONG and SHORT regardless of the trend?

Your plan should be based around your individual trading beliefs and personality so make sure you take the time to lay out your plan.

With that being said we need to decide which action (if any) we will take if we do see the market "bounce" next week.

If the market does indeed bounce we anticipate being out of most if not all of our STS trades.

We would not look to get LONG but merely let the market play out a reevaluate once the retrace was in effect.

We also would not look to add any more SHORTS at this point even if the market continued lower out of the gate on Monday.

Chasing the market down at this point has low probability of success.

We will continue to be in SHORT mode until the market gives of signs of change.

There is a short list of stocks ($K, $V, $CREE and $FB looks interesting!) that are holding up during this down trend.

As always we will have these on our watch list to see if the strength continues.

Follow your plan and stay on the right side of the market.

Until next week…Good trading to YOU!

Tags: ETF Swing Trading, SHORT SWING TRADING, Swing Trading, Swing Trading Blog, Swing Trading Strategies
Posted in ETF Swing Trading, Sector ETF's, Swing Trading, Swing Trading Blog, Swing Trading Strategies | No Comments »

Swing Trading Week in Review – June 22, 2012

Sunday, June 24th, 2012

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

The markets continued to drift upwards (on low volume) to start out the week bringing the DJIA just above its 50 day SMA.

Wednesday was a different story as the news the market was waiting for finally came out.

The sellers showed up in a big way in the afternoon and followed up on Thursday with a day full of selling pressure.

Friday we watched as the market traded sideways creating a low volume "inside day".

Last week we told you that "One side will win the "tug of war" and you will miss the moves if you aren't ready."

Once the news came out you had to expect a dramatic move one way or the another.

Being prepared for anything (as we say over and over and over) is a key to becoming a successful trader.

If you had a SHORT list prepared then I am sure your triggers were hit either late Wednesday or sometime on Thursday.

With plenty of weak stocks out there I am sure you had plenty of options.

The Energy, Oil, and Oil Services sectors have been extremely weak so that was a natural choice.

$SLB $HES and $HAL had great chart patterns to trade…

Some of the Retail stocks ($M $BBBY $RL ) also got smacked around despite the strength the overall sector is showing.

Despite all the doom and gloom talk there are actually (for now) still stocks showing a tremendous amount of strength.

The sectors vary but take a look at the charts for $VZ $CRUS $LLY $ASH $V $MMR and $WFM.

So what is trader to do from here?

Go LONG the strong stocks? Or go SHORT the weak stocks?

As always it depends on your personal strategy but when the overall market is hoovering near its 50 day SMA we tend to play both sides of the market.

For our STS trades we will SHORT the weakest of the weak and BUY the strongest of the strong and leave everything else alone.

We are looking for SHORT TERM moves here…we are NOT position traders.

Often times one side will STOP US OUT when the market does make a definitive move but that is a good thing for us.

We then have more conviction and can look for more trades that are now going in the direction of the market.

Don't be afraid to make trades and to get stooped out….it's a big part of trading and it happens often.

Next week the market should give us additional clues to it's "true" direction so, as always, be prepared for anything (heard that before?).

Listen to the market and act accordingly.

Make your entries, set and honor your stops, take your profits. Rinse and repeat.

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

Tags: SHORT SWING TRADING, Swing Trading Blog, Swing Trading Chart Patterns, Swing Trading Strategies
Posted in ETF Swing Trading, Swing Trading, Swing Trading Blog, Swing Trading Chart Patterns, Swing Trading Stocks | No Comments »

Swing Trading Week in Review – June 1, 2012

Sunday, June 3rd, 2012

Swing Trading Blog – Swing Trading Boot Camp

After finding some temporary support last week the markets SOLD OFF hard this week.

After being closed on Monday traders watched the market GAP UP on Tuesday.

On Wednesday though all hopes of a meaningful bounce disappeared as the market GAPPED DOWN and the sellers stepped in to drive the market lower.

Another big GAP DOWN on Friday and continued strong selling pushed the market NEW LOWS for the 2012.

It's amazing what can happen in 1 month.

On May 1st we hit NEW HIGHS for 2012 and here, exactly 1 month later, we are looking at NEW LOWS for the year.

Let's take a look at the transition from BULL to BEAR…

In February we traded to NEW HIGHS and then sold off a bit in early March.

Buyers stepped back in and once again brought the market higher (1st Orange Arrow).

After some sideways trading we once again hit NEW HIGHS on April 2nd but once again we couldn't go any higher.

Sellers stepped and drove the market down to the same level it hit in early March (2nd Orange Arrow).

These levels were accompanied by BIG VOLUME which tells us that there is a lot of activity at that level in the market.

The BUYING volume obviously won since we once again drifted higher to close out the month of April.

We opened up the Month of May by hitting NEW HIGHS once again.

We immediately stalled and another sell off began this time on volume.

This sell off took the market right back to the key area in the market that we touched 2 times before (3rd Orange Arrow).

It is around these key levels (of support this time) that we look for the clues the market gives us.

In mid May we finally BROKE DOWN through this support level as volume picked up (Blue arrow).

The mode of the market had now changed. Sentiment was different.

This BREAK DOWN on INCREASED VOLUME is what we needed to see to change from BULLISH to BEARISH.

Once this level was broken it was time for us to aggressively move the the SHORT side of the market.

If you follow the market and analyze PRICE ACTION and VOLUME it can paint a very clear picture for you.

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

Tags: ETF Swing Trading, SHORT SWING TRADING, Swing Trading Blog, Swing Trading Chart Patterns, Swing Trading Price Action
Posted in ETF Swing Trading, Swing Trading Blog, Swing Trading Chart Patterns, Swing Trading Stocks, Trading Price Action and Volume | No Comments »