Bull Today, Bear Tomorrow
Another roller coaster ride appears to be in store. I
left the office last night after looking at the hourly chart of the S&P
futures and thought that we were poised to trade higher. The downward trend
channel had been broken.
Fast forward to Wednesday morning and the futures down significantly. Welcome
to the current market environment. Contrary to what many believe, this erratic
price action is not conducive to intraday HVT.
Many of the thrusts up and down intraday occur at areas where typical setups are
not found. So while there may be some big moves up and down in a matter of
minutes, it is nothing that I am finding tradable. Most times I just sit there
in amazement as to where the move came from.
The result has been a greater reliance on "positioning" myself in
trades based on five-,15-, and 60-minute charts. While this is not a magical
solution, it is a tactic which keeps me engaged in the market while I cherry
pick HVT setups. My biggest winners yesterday were trades that lasted
several hours, not several minutes. It is truly a reflection of the times. One
day you can HVT like nobody’s business, the next day you are sitting,
patiently nursing a couple of trades. Chameleon will become a buzzword if this
environment continues.
So, looking at some potential intraday setups, I am looking at the following
stocks:
| Intraday Setups |
|
|
|
|
| Stock | Action |
| BK | Short |
| CCU | Short |
| COF | Short |
| LEN | Short |
| MER | Short |
| UTX | Short |
| KSS | Short |
| VZ | Long |
| BGEN | Long |
As stated in earlier columns, I cannot provide you with specific entry prices or
targets. That is available in my nightly
service. However, these are not trades that you
simply jump into blindly. You need to have the market trading at your back. For
instance, The two long setups noted above are of no interest to me right now
given that the market is indicated lower.
Key Technical
Numbers (futures):
S&Ps |
Nasdaq |
| 830 | *840* |
| *816.50* | *831* |
| *807* | 822.75 |
| 799 | 815 |
| 796 | 806 |
| 789 | 797.50 |
| 780 | 792 |
| 776 | *781* |
* indicates a level which is more significant.
As always, feel free to send me your comments and
questions. See you in TradersWire.