Posts Tagged ‘Swing Trading Blog’

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 – October 8, 2010

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

Finally!

This week the UP move continues as we saw the major indices break out of last weeks narrow range.

SPY

The week started out on a negative as the market pulled back a bit but Tuesday we saw things quickly change.

Tuesday we saw the markets GAP UP and rally right to the close.

The rest of the week the strength continued and the markets closed higher after yet another UP leg in a move that started in September.

Overall the individual sectors are also acting very well although there are still a few laggards out there.

The Agriculture ETF's (DBA and MOO) exploded to the upside on Friday!

DBA

After last weeks big sell off in this sector we were waiting to see how this sector would trade this week.

Some of the stronger names in this sector (CF, CAT, AGU) offered good setups for LONG trades.

Energy and Oil Services continued upward as did the Semiconductors and Airlines.

Some of the sectors however did not participate (yet) much in the move this week.

Financials and the Homebuilders had a decent week but the Retail, Real Estate and Technology sectors traded sideways after gapping up with the market on Tuesday.

Although the sectors were a "mixed bag" we saw some great setups in some individual stocks this week.

AAPL and AMZN both had nice setups after their recent pullbacks although AAPL followed through a bit better this week.

DOW, MMR, ELN, AVP, CCJ and EL all had nice setups at some point during the week.

DOW

These were all text book type trades that should have been obvious candidates once the market spoke loud and clear on Tuesday.

As we go forward look for signs of strength in some of the stronger stocks and ETF's that have yet to take part in the market's recent move.

Be prepared for anything but with the recent strength in the market it is hard to make a case for the SHORT side of the market (unless of course you are a counter trend trader).

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

 

Swing Trading Week in Review – October 1, 2010

Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

Well after the long awaited BREAKOUT we saw last week the market followed up with…a nice long week of NOTHING!

Coming into this week there was a lot of optimism based on the recent bullish action we have seen in the overall market.

Traders (including us) were expecting at least a little follow through this week but instead were met with yet another frustrating week of consolidating price action.

SPY

Most of the stocks and ETF's did the exact same thing as the overall market.

A few were up slightly as the week came to an end but nothing to write home about.

There were a few exceptions as we saw the Energy and Oil Services ETF's have nice continuation moves this week.

In last weeks BLOG post we showed you our entry into XLE and the pullback that followed.

This week XLE continued its UP move despite the "stall" in the overall market.

XLE

As you would expect the Oil Services ETF (OIH) had a strong week.

RIG and DO were two stocks in this sector the gave us LONG trade signals this week.

RIG

GOLD and the GOLD MINERS (GDX) came back to life this week as well and SILVER (SLV) is acting just as bullish.

With last weeks news in the AIRLINE sector we saw the Airline ETF (FAA) trade up to a NEW HIGH for the YEAR.

Technology, Retail, Real Estate, Financial and the Homebuilders all had a lackluster week.

One sector to watch moving forward is going to be Agriculture.

This week we saw big time selling come into some of the stocks in this recently strong sector.

MON, MOS, CF and ADM all sold off this week despite the market holding up above its BREAKOUT level.

MON

The Agriculture ETF's (DBA and MOO) have now put in their first significant pullback after last months nice run up.

This pullback may be a good time to look to buy some of the stronger names in this sector but the caution light is now flashing as we move forward.

MOO

This type of price and volume action is not yet a transition from a "bullish" to "bearish" bias for this sector but it is something to watch for in days/weeks to come.

The overall market is still very strong as almost every major sector ETF is trading above its 50 day SMA.

Last weeks "consolidation" is telling us that the buyers and sellers are playing a big game of tug-of-war at this level.

Obviously anything is possible next week.

A continuation move to the UP side wouldn't surprise us but neither would a retrace back near the 50 day SMA.

The key (as always) is to be prepared with a plan of action for either outcome.

What stocks and/or ETF's will you look to buy if the UP move continues?

What will you do if the market sells off on Monday indicating that the market is pulling back?

Will you SHORT anything or simply sit on the sidelines and wait?

You know what they say..."failing to plan is planning to fail".

Have your plan is place and execute when the time is right!

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

Swing Trading Week in Review – September 24, 2010

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

Swing Trading BLOG – Swing Trading BOOT CAMP

Well we FINALLY got the directional move in the market that everyone has been waiting waiting for.

The BREAKOUT we saw on Monday was quickly followed by a 3 day shallow pullback which had some traders thinking the market was up to it's same old tricks.

SPY

With the way some of the individual sector's were acting we were actually thinking the same thing.

After holding up nicely for so long the Real Estate sector ETF (IYR) broke out with the overall market on Monday.

For the 3 days following the BREAKOUT sellers aggressively came in and drove this ETF well below the level of last week's consolidation.

Here is the chart…

IYR

You can see how this BREAKOUT failed and stopped us out (and a lot of other traders I would assume) as it retraces all the way back to it's 50 period SMA.

A swallow pullback in lines with the overall market was expected from such a strong ETF so this type of price action was not only frustrating but concerning as well.

The Energy sector ETF (XLE) had similar price action after giving us a LONG signal on Monday.

XLE

The retrace that followed created an "equal bottom" and came very close to our initial STOP LOSS level.

Friday XLE continued it's move up as the overall market BROKE OUT again.

The Retail sector ETF (RTH) continues to be the rock star!

RTH

Even after being short term OVERBOUGHT we saw RTH break to the UPSIDE Monday.

RTH then created a nice swallow, almost sideways consolidation during the 3 days that the overall market pulled back.

Friday the strength in this sector continued as RTH gapped up and traded through the $94-$96 level we mentioned last week.

One sector in transition this week were the Semiconductor's.

SMH

The SMH has been a real laggard but this week we saw buyers step in a finally bring this ETF back above it's 50 day SMA.

Although CREE and SNDK did result in new SHORT trades for us early in the week overall this sector seems to have found some new strength.

KLAC and NVDA stand out so we will watch some of the other stocks in this sector as we move into trading next week.

Friday was one of those days that there were so many trades that were triggering that it was hard to keep up!

We saw a ton of stocks BREAKING OUT and some stocks that just continue to RIP to the upside without even taking a breather.

Amazon (AMZN) opened this month at $126 and has gone straight up since then!

No retrace, no pullback just a parabolic RIP up to (so far) $160!!!

AMZN

Apple (AAPL) has basically done the same thing by going from the $240's straight up to close above $292 on Friday!

AAPL

Some of the BREAKOUT stocks our list included AGU, MMR, CCJ, INFA, HAL, SMG, WYN, NTAP, QCOM, CMI, EQIX and our recent money machine SOHU.

Not our entire list but a good list of stocks to watch as we move forward the next few weeks.

There were also a TON (way too many to list here) of non-breakout LONG trade setups last week.

This is a good sign of overall strength in the market and much better than just one or two sectors leading the way.

All in all the market is looking stronger and stronger but as always FOLLOW THROUGH will be the key.

Although there are a few stocks on our list that look weak it is hard to make a case for getting SHORT in light of the recent strength the market has shown us.

That being said we will continue to do what we do each day and prepare accordingly for each and every outcome that the market can present us.

Doing so allows us to react accordingly (and hopefully profitably) when the market decides what to do next.

Until next week…Good Trading to YOU!

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