Locked In Conflict
The Qs are holding key hourly
support as we approach midday, fueled in
part by strong response to
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PowerRating)‘s earnings. Early cup-and-handle
formations following yesterday’s late-day sell-off (more on that below) along
with trend supports on multiple time frames provided insight into the early
trend extension as yesterday’s end-of-day shorts scampered to cover on the early
morning strength.
From a longer-term perspective, the Qs remain
locked in a conflict between an hourly uptrend and daily downtrend, and I’m
currently watching the hourly stochastic vs. price support battle to see whether
trend support maintains sufficient strength to counter yesterday’s midday
weakness divergence.
Wednesday February
13, 2002 12:00 PM EDT
Yesterday’s
afternoon action continued to provide textbook
trading opportunities — as described extensively in
my video — and the 13-minute chart yet again provided solid clues as to
likely trade direction. The flexible and focused trader would have recognized a
shift from a potential right shoulder brace to an hourly trend extension
trigger, followed by yet more classic reversal setups accompanied not
only by our favorite divergence and trend
indicators, but with climbs that were marked by poor
futures volume and liquidity. (I always
find it amazing to see 200 contract bids on the E-Minis when you need a
microscope to locate volume, an illusion for the unknowing which is exceeded
only by figure skating judging and bogus Super Bowl point spreads.) So as
Warner Wolf would say, let’s go to the videotape:
Tuesday February
12, 2002
On the mail front, I
admit it’s again piled up, and I’m a bit behind, so I ask for your forgiveness
and patience in my responding. I’ll try to respond to some of the more common
questions in this column as space and time permit. At the risk of excessive
marketing, much of the information is frankly provided in great detail in the QQQ
video which is chock full of six hours worth of material and includes a live
trading segment.
In the meantime, and in response to one of the more interesting questions, no I
didn’t put any money on the line when I made the Pats
by three call. I’ve also all but broken the rewind button on my VCR as a
result of replaying the last drive a dozen times to make sure it’s real. It’s
simply amazing what 30 years of frustration will do to the human sports mind,
and I’m still expecting the tape at some point to show Bill Buckner in a Pats
uniform dropping a pass thrown by Mike Torrez. Only in New England would fans
have nightmares about winning, a psychological challenge not all that different
than that experienced by many traders who struggle with overcoming the mental
block of accepting winning performance. But that’s a topic for another time.
Good Trading!