Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Showing Strength

This chart looks bullish. ADM broke out of a downtrend channel, found support at the 50DMA, broke through resistance, and now appears to be heading higher. This is impressive considering the action in the overall market. I'm going to put this one on my watchlist, and may try to take a stab at an entry.

Easy $3 Day Trade with RIG

Short Setups in BHI

5% Intraday Breakout in BAC

At 3:15pm volume surged into BAC and sent it flying 5% higher. Easy long setup.

BAC Short

The past four days in Bank of America (BAC) have been explosive. Last Tuesday it closed at $18.44. Today it opened at $30.31. That's a 64% pop in 4 trading days.

The chart shows a descending triangle breakdown that occured intraday. Good short setup for a day trade.

Intraday Breakout in FLR

Nice and easy day trade setup in FLR.

Lehman Brothers Beatdown

Heavy volume to the downside started pouring in around 1:30 today. Great time to get short.

Merck Looking Good

MRK is starting to look good here. It is breaking through the downtrend line, although it has not yet been able to close above the 50DMA. You can get long and stop out below $34.50. Good risk/reward here.

Day Trade in FLR

Check out the buying surge near the close.

Cut the Losers

Cut the losers. Let the winners ride. Never let a winning trade turn into a losing trade.

I have had to exit four trades this year as a result of winning trades turning against me. In FXI I was up 13.5% at one point, but bailed at my break-even point as it reversed direction. The same thing happened to me in DD, PCU, and QQQQ, shown in the charts below. All four stocks are currently trading below my sell price.

Ascending Triangle in Mosaic - MOS

Pretty sweet long entry in MOS here. Breaks out of an ascending triangle on good volume. W00t!

NUE in a Triangle

Nucor Steel is forming a nice triangle on the daily chart. It should resolve in the next few days - I think it's a nice setup to play either way. My initial bias is that it will break to the upside.

Nice Long Day Trade in POT

POT set up nicely today around 2pm. It broke to new intraday highs on higher volume.

PCU Takes the Stairs Down

Multiple places to initiate intraday shorts.

Intraday Ascending Triangle Breakdown in FXI

Decent day trade setup here to the short side.

Nasdaq Broken

Here's a chart of the Q's.

The March uptrend is broken. The November downtrend reigns supreme. Support at $48 is broken. Today we closed below the 200DMA and the 50DMA. Not looking good.

I bought 50 shares of QQQQ at $48.50 in my Roth account last month. I think it may be time to bail on a small loss. This thing is oversold - hopefully we'll see a bounce and I can sell on some strength.

RIMM Explodes in Last 30 Minutes of Trading

At about 3:30pm some big volume came into RIMM and sent it flying higher - it shot from $130.50 to $134.50. Nice.

I need to develop a way to actively scan the market for opportunities such as this. I'm hoping thinkorswim will add some features to their software to make this possible.

FSLR in the DANGER ZONE

Check out the price action in FSLR since its late 2006 IPO. $30 to $300 - NOT TOO SHABBA! So what's the next move? $300 to $3000? Uhhh - not so fast.

FSLR has been in a very well defined uptrend since February 2007. Today it closed right on the line. If it makes one or two closes below the line, things could get ugly. The next few sessions will be critical - I'll be watching it closely.

Nasdaq QQQQ at a Crossroads

The Bearish:
The November downtrend is still intact. It failed at the trendline two weeks ago, and then again last Friday.

The Bullish:
The 50DMA is sloping upward from below and will probably cross back above the 200DMA soon.
The 200DMA supported QQQQ several times during May. It is now sloping upward slightly.
The March uptrend is still intact.

What to look for:
Soon we'll either break to the upside above the downtrend line, or break to the downside through the March uptrend and through the 200DMA. I got long at $48.50. If QQQQ closes below $48, I'm outta here.

LEH Ascending Triangle

Talk about a sweet short setup in LEH. This thing just bent over and took it hard.

MOS Going Higher

MOS is breaking out of a bull flag to the upside. I think I'm going to buy 10 shares and stop out below $113.50. I'm going to ride it until the 9 month trendline breaks, so this should be a long term hold if all goes well.

Interesting Setup in Merck (MRK)

This was brought up on Fast Money tonight. You can get long and stop out below $36.80. I'm going to wait until it breaks through the downtrend line.

Financials Forming a Base

If you want to trade the financials on the long side, stop out below yesterday's lows. 50DMA is no longer sloping down. XLF has tested these levels several times this year.

Day Trade to the Short Side in ESLR

Breaks below support on high volume. Support becomes resistance. Gravy train.

MOS Up Huge

MOS was up over 7% today on decent volume. If you check out the chart, you'll see that yesterday MOS dropped down and touched a long term trendline - one that has been in place for 9 months. Within the next few sessions we should see the outcome of the bull flag that is currently forming (much like the one that formed in March). My bet is that it will resolve to the upside. If you want to get long MOS now, I think you'll be ok - just stop out below the lows set on Tuesday ($113.50).

Taking a look at the intraday action, MOS offered a good long setup this morning. It formed an ascending triangle and then broke to the upside with increased volume. It then found support at the former resistance line, and the rest of the day was just riding the gravy train. Sweet, sweet, agricultural gravy.

How about that surge of buying at the close? I bet this thing goes higher tomorrow.

RIMM Breaks Out, Along with all Tech

The huge surge in volume that accompanied this breakout makes this a no-brainer long entry.

NUE - Nucor

In response to Steve Abraham at thebulltrader.com, here's my analysis of Nucor. A 6 year, weekly chart shows a clearly defined uptrend - so for the long term, I'm bullish.

Shorter term, however, is a little more dicey. Check out the huge volume last Friday - NUE hasn't seen that much daily volume in about 5 years. It sliced right through the 50DMA. I think you could start buying NUE, and stop out if it closes below Friday's low. It wouldn't surprise me if NUE sinks down to $65, a 10% drop from here. Below shows a 9-month, daily chart.

Easy Stop in GLD

I think I'm going to start a short position in GLD. The obvious place to stop out is a close above $94.

GLD is trading above the 50DMA, but the 50DMA has a negative slope, and thus it should weight GLD down.

Nice Intraday Opportunities in RIMM Today

The chart shows two great short setups. Then RIMM decided it would turn and go the other way. A couple of good places to get Long then came about.

PCU Day Trade

PCU, like the rest of the market, sold off hard yesterday at 2PM. Volume came into the market as it fell lower. This was a great opportunity for day trades on the short side.

DD Intraday Breakout

Nice Long setup here.

AAPL Intraday Breakout

AAPL broke to new intraday highs on strong volume this morning. This was a great set up to get long.

Yet Another Ascending Triangle Breakdown in RIMM

This was yesterday. The chart speaks for itself.

LONG 50 QQQQ @ 48.50

Just picked up 50 shares of the Q's in my Roth Account. My stop is around $46.

Bullish:
-Just broke through downtrend line.
-Above 200DMA.
-There seems to be a rotation out of commodities (Oil, Ag, GOLD, Metals) and into Tech, Financials, and other sectors.
-The DOW just broke through 13,000.

The Art of Selling

Buying is a Science. Selling is an Art. Apparently I suck at selling. I bought 15 shares of PCU at the beginning of April at $113.69. Last week it reached $125, a 10% gain. I watched that 10% gain evaporate before my eyes, and today I sold at $113.59 for a $1.50 loss, plus commissions. Nothing to cry about really, and the stock could head lower - so maybe it was the right move.

So what's the lesson learned here? Don't let a 10% gain turn into a loss. There's absolutely no excuse for taking a loss on this trade. I just wasn't watching this trade close enough. If your profitable trade starts to falter, exit with some profit, or at least at the break even point.

Double Take on POT

This is a beautiful chart.

Double #1: July 2006, $27 --> April 2007, $54
Double #2: April 2007, $54 --> October 2007, $108
Double #3: October 2007, $108 --> April 2008, $216

Could POT double a fourth time? I think so. That would put it at $432. It's due for a pullback to the lower orange uptrend line. If that line holds, I'll be getting long. If it doesn't hold, the party is over.

THE TAKE AWAY: Just because a stock has doubled doesn't mean it's too late to get in. Maybe it will double again, and then double again after that.

QQQQuality

QQQQ is the ETF that tracks the NASDAQ 100 index. As soon as this bad boy breaks through the downtrend line, it's time to get long. The 200DMA is overhead resistance, although it is flattening out. The 50DMA will be support from below. I think we'll see an upside breakout within the next two weeks.

Time to Short Gold

Back on April 1st, I commented on GLD getting pommeled, when it was down 4% on the day and trading under $87. I had the following game plan: "Sell any strength. People are dumping this hard. I don't think it will find any supstantial support until it falls into the $75-$80 range."

GLD actually made an impressive bounce during the first two weeks of April, making it all the way up to $93. For a few days there, I began to think my bearish call on GLD was incorrect; but last week GLD fell all the way back down to $87. If only I had followed my own game plan and sold into the strength. Nevertheless, I am still bearish. The 50DMA is turning negative, and will weigh heavily on the stock.

The New Gameplan:
Continue to sell any strength. If GLD closes below $87, sell that too. Conservative Stop: $91.50. Riskier Stop: $94.

MRVL Intraday Breakout

At about 1:20PM, MRVL broke through resistance that had been holding since 11AM this morning. A volume surge accompanied the move. It shot up and then consolidated just under $12.90 for about an hour, then around 2:30PM it broke out a second time. It is currently trading around $13.

Textbook Intraday Breakdown in RIMM

Today is like Bizarro World for RIMM (see yesterday's post).

1) Falls through support.
2) Small pullback on light volume, back to former support line, where it finds resistance.
3) Huge wave of selling.

You could have gotten an easy 2% out of this one.

Textbook Intraday Breakout in RIMM

1) Breaks through resistance.
2) Small pullback on light volume, back to the former resistance line, where it finds support.
3) Huge wave of buying.

You could have gotten an easy 2% out of this one.

MRVL Dominates $12

MRVL up over 7% today on BIG volume. I think I might try to get long this bad boy. If it pulls back to $12, that's a gift. W00t.

Boeing Flying High

Sorry, I truly can't help myself when it comes to title puns.

Boeing reported earnings today, and the street apparently liked what they heard - check out the volume. I like what I see on this chart. BA has been beaten down since October, and has now escaped the downtrend channel. It put in a good base around $74. The 50DMA is beginning to turn upwards, and should support the stock.

THE GAMEPLAN:
Try to pick up some BA in the 79-80 range. Stop out below 74 or 75.

CREE Gets PWND

CREE is getting pwnd today on bad earnings. It's down 18% on HUGE volume - everyone's bailing. The chart actually looked somewhat bullish on Monday - the stock had just resolved a triangle formation to the upside, powering higher about 10% last week - although on weak volume.

LESSON LEARNED: If your stock runs up 10% into earnings, it's probably a good idea to take profits. The run up shows that everyone's speculating that the earnings will be great, and if they end up being less than great, the stock will suffer.

ZRAN

Zoran Corp (ZRAN) reported earnings last night - they must have been good because the stock is up 15% today. You'll notice on the chart that ZRAN tried to test the "No Man's Land" this morning - apparently it met resistance and retreated. The stock has been unable to penetrate this zone ($14.50 to $15.00) since late January. If ZRAN can close above $15, I would be bullish. The 50DMA should provide some support from below as the stock tries to bust through. If you're anxious to get in, stop out below $13.50. Otherwise I would wait and see if ZRAN has the balls to take out the resistance.