Trader Mike

I’m shutting things down for the year. Look for posting to return to normal around the middle of January, just in time for earnings (& losses!) season.

It was an ugly afternoon yesterday but the indices managed to stay above their November uptrend lines. They’re getting squeezed between those rising November lines and the falling 50-day moving averages. Something’s gotta give soon.

Yesterday the VIX got to within 0.25 of breaking its November low before the afternoon market weakness made it reverse. Let’s see if it can finally break below 44…

On Today’s Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

See one of the recent ‘Chart Reading‘ posts for some potential swing candidates. Also be sure to check my typical swing trade entry & exit rules.

Potential day trades:

Note: I can’t post the gappers any more. I’m trying to find another way to post the early movers, hopefully via a live scan. Stay tuned…

Disclaimer & How I use this list

The indices remain on the verge of breaking out above their December highs. Let’s see if the options expiration games can help to do the trick.

On Today’s Calendar:

10:00 — Philadelphia Fed
10:00 — Leading Indicators

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic
Potential swing trades:
See one of the recent ‘Chart Reading‘ [...]

The other day I thought that we’d probably need some good news to propel the indices above their 50-day moving averages. It’s debatable whether today’s Fed statement was good news but the buyers liked it enough to push the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow above their 50-day moving averages. The Dow had the [...]

On Today’s Calendar:

nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic
Potential swing trades:
Possible longs: CX, CBI — I’m seeing a lot of patterns like those two stocks. But while these two appear to be bouncing off of their 50-day moving average, most of the other charts are just under [...]

The futures are getting jerked around by news on the auto makers’ bailout. They were very weak to start the day after the vote failed to pass the senate last night. Now they’ve gained some strength on news of the President being willing to tap the TARP. This reminds me a lot [...]

Monday night I wrote “On the down side, an obvious target for sellers is to close this morning’s gaps.” Those gaps finally got closed today on relatively light volume. While the percentage drops were substantial the volume shows a lack of intense selling. This seems like nothing more than a little consolidation [...]

Yesterday it felt like we were back in a market with normal volatility levels. But the VIX, which is still in the fifties, says otherwise. There were a lot of NR7s made yesterday, so perhaps that was just a slight pause before we get back to range expansion. Given the indices’ overbought [...]

Here’s a shot of the QQQQ daily chart sowing it stuck for the moment between gap support and resistance from its declining 50-day moving average. In a normal market (less volatile) I’d be doubtful that it had enough steam to make it through the 50 DMA without a pullback. In this market, who [...]

We’re set for a lower open mostly due to the earnings warnings that rolled in overnight. The gaps down are relatively small though. QQQQ is set to open around yesterday’s gap so I’ll be watching to see if that gap can provide support.
On Today’s Calendar:

10:00 — Pending Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | [...]