Expiration week is upon us once again so, as usual, I'll be taking Thursday and Friday off --besides, there's basketball to watch! :-)
I hope you've all read Dr. Steenbarger's recent articles about the lack of trending in the markets. (I know you're all glued to my links section and subscribe to its RSS feed so you won't miss any links. Right?) He does a great job of explaining why trading has been so tough -- on multiple timeframes. I certainly experienced it when I was swing trading and am seeing it now with all the choppy, narrow range days we've had. Of course his article mainly focus on the S&P 500 as an index but much of what he says is applicable to individual stocks. That's why scanning for "unusual suspects" as the Chairman would say is so important. Anyway, here are the article in case you missed them: "This research shows why the market seems to go nowhere" and "Why it's been so hard to make money in the S&P 500" There's even more research & commentary on his TraderFeed site.
Potential swing trades:
See one of the recent 'Chart Reading' posts for some potential swing candidates.
Potential day trades:
(From Briefing.com)
Gapping Down
BWNG -5.9% (private placement), COF -5.8% (to acquire NFB), PTIE -5.2% (Citigroup downgrade), AMD -2.3% (ThinkEquity downgrade), NDAQ -1.7% (makes bid for LSE), EBAY -1% (govt sides against EBay in patent dispute - Washington Post), SNDK -1% (negative Barron's article)... Under $3: MAMA -19% (reports Q4), VSGN -14% (clinical data, AG Edwards downgrade), NT -1.3% (BMO Nesbitt downgrade).
Gapping Up
TOPT +25% (announces special dividend), CTIB +26% (enters into expanded arrangement with marketing firm), NFB +17% (to be acquired), ADRX +13% (to be acquired by WPI), SVA +10% (distribution agreement), FNSR +9.1% (Mad Money mention), MOCC +9%, MDCO +7.9% (clinical data), SONS +4.7% (KDDI selects co to deploy largest VoIP network in Japan), VOD +4.1% (positive Barron's mention), ENER +4.5% (Piper raises tgt), MATK +3.8% (Mad Money mention), HMY +3.2%, AAPL +2.9% (Citigroup upgrade), AZN +2.9% (drug test breakthrough - TheBusinessOnline), CIEN +2.8%, NPSP +2.6% (Several firms defend stock after Friday's sell-off), MTLK +2.6% (cooperation agreement with Haier Corp.), SOHU +2.4% (CEO appears on CNBC), TRMS +2.3%, BOBJ +2.1% (NJ college standardizes on BusinessObjects XI), BA +1.5% (Barron's cover story), NYX +1.4% (mulls bid for LSE - WSJ)... Under $3: EMRG +30% (Agriculture Dept investigating a possible case of mad cow disease - AP), NGEN +6.6% (gets patent).
Disclaimer & How I use this list
Great points about current market action. That is why I always look at Trader-X also. His gap plays tend to be the ones that move for the day.
Thanks for the mention. I learned many years ago that I needed to be in the stocks that move, and I have spent years figuring out the best way to find those stocks…and years figuring out the best set-ups to pursue!!! I worry sometimes about advice such as “focus on one stock, and trade it every dayâ€. That advice has probably caused the demise of many a trader.
Have a great week everyone. And Mike, congrats again on the mention in TASC!!!
Thanks X. I've never gotten the "trade one stock" thing either.