Trader Mike

Michelle B submits:

STZ, on Thursday, April 5, released estimate-beating earnings. I noticed STZ during my premarket news reading, and once the market opened, via the top NYSE gainers scan and its notable movement on the high ticker. It gapped up, filled in the gap, and then made new intra highs within the first thirty minutes. This is very bullish action showing eager buyers and caught my attention, so I put the one-minute chart on my trading platform’s main page anticipating a bull flag consolidation and a second leg up. In other words, I was shown strength and was expecting that the strength would cause a continuation of the uptrend intraday.

The one-minute time frame was …

Michelle B submits:

As my posts show, I am a died-in-the-wool discretionary trader. I would not trade if I could not do it in a discretionary manner. Guided by chart patterns made by volume and price, I have noted in my years of trading that traders have different visual abilities. Frustration at times have surfaced when I have tried to hand over my hard-earned visual wisdom to another trader. I use little technical indicators and am not encouraged to change from that stance. I can eye trendlines without drawing them—sometimes I cheat and pop a clear plastic ruler on my screen to confirm what I am seeing.

Research in neuroscience has deepened our understanding how visual perception …

Michelle B submits:

LP, in a recent comment to this blog entry, expressed interest in understanding trades based on capitulation. Capitulation means that there are no more sellers for the moment, and the stock price will rebound sharply. The most important aspect is not to confuse capitulation with the low-grade drip, drip of continuing distribution, better known as the infamous falling knife. The two down legs shown in the chart below are distributive in nature, though quite vigorous, while the third and final leg down represented capitulation. Another important aspect is being able to know when they are happening—in my case, it’s my watching the hi/lo ticker that finds these kinds of trades.

Michelle B submits: I remember reading about a French housewife who when asked by her husband every morning what they would be having for dinner would always give the same tireless reply: “It depends on what jumps into my market basket.” Some traders prefer to trade from a prepared watchlist. For me, trading is interesting because I do not know what will jump into my market basket. My preparation is my confidence in my ability to execute perceived opportunities according to my risk parameters.

Using the premarket top gainers/losers scan, I search the NASDAQ, NYSE, and AMEX market stalls for any tasty morsels and look for any stocks moving on the highs/lows scan. I …