So I have been in the financial field just over 10 years now. For my first year I worked in a branch office opening new accounts for customers, taking deposits and answering any questions that they may have had about their balances, trading or transfers. For my second year I worked in the 401k department for a large mutual fund company. I pretty much did the same thing but I was on a computer and phones, not in front of clients. I worked behind the scenes.
I really wasn’t into trading as much back then, I was learning. I was learning about the market and I was studying for series 7. Which if you don’t know is the craziest test you probably will ever take. More than half the information you study you will never use in this line of business. But it is cool to pull something out of the back of you head and say, “did you know?”
After that adventure I stumbled across a software company that made a trading program for the stock market. I wanted to know more and I wanted to trade. So I applied for the job and over the next couple of years I learned to actually trade the market and use a very simple program to accomplish my goals. For the next 8 years this was the only tool I ever used to trade. No Fibonacci, candlesticks or Bollinger bands. No SMA’s or EMA’s. I didn’t need them.
Fast-forward to present day.
So now I’m now learning how to use Fibonacci, candlesticks, SMA’s and EMA’s. Joy!!!!! There is nothing more satisfying than having to use all these tools to figure out what I already knew. But at least I know now “why” my previous software charts did what they did. I know the mystery behind the lights and charts. It kind of reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. I must say that it has been very educational and I am learning a lot. I have been kind of hesitant in wanting to learn new tricks because the old ones worked so well and have never failed me. But I have always told my clients that an educated trader is the trader who is going to be the most successful in his/her trading.
So on one hand I am a hard headed and don’t understand why you would want to reinvent the wheel, but if it can be a safer more efficient wheel then I think it is well worth the effort. So I am taking my trading knowledge to the next level and I am sure I will come out the better trader.
Just remember, never stop learning. Improve yourself and improve your returns in trading by investing in yourself.
We started February off with a kick with the market up over 118 points going into the close. BRK.A has been a big mover since the stock split a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday we got a pull back for a possible entry long today; we just have to let the charts set up for that potential entry. The market is flipping back and forth from positive to negative this morning at the open looking for some sort of direction. I have been keeping my eye on Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) as it has been making some moves over the last couple of days fueled by upgrades and other news. Sirius made a new 52 week high this morning. There is a look at some stocks that have been making moves over the last couple of days, remember to do you own homework before you buy any stock and make sure its right for your investment goals.
Some big movers and shakers today out there today. Right now CREE a stock that has been on our radar list for sometime is up $9.00, AAPL down $4.30 after a big rally yesterday. For you penny stock players take a look at DEAR, this thing is blowing up today. It closed at .61 cents yesterday and traded as high as $2.13 today on heavy volume. The company late Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of 55 cents a share, swinging from a year-ago loss of $3.77 a share. Watch for BRK.B to split tomorrow, this could be opportunity for a lot of people to jump into this stock since it’s a $3,466.00 as of right now. Effective Thursday morning, the split will cut the price of these shares to around $66 a share. Ford (F) is making a nice pull back after its recent run up. I have been watching Ford for a correction since I missed the last run up. Now it’s all about patience. I would like to see the market pull back for a couple of more days. I see a lot of trends that are over extended and need a correction before moving higher. We just jumped into the earnings season and that could cause a lot of volatility over the next several weeks. So keep your stops tight and do your homework on the stocks you are trading. Its important that you know when they announce their earnings, that should be an important part of everyone’s trading plan.
The market is showing a little weakness this morning after AA reported earnings after the bell last night. The Diamonds (DIA) have recovered some of its losses this morning trading down 25 points. Also the Spiders (SPY) is also trading lower after making new highs yesterday down about .65 cents this morning. Alcoa Inc. (AA) is still sitting on its morning lows down $1.43. It has made a nice base around this $16.00 level which could make for a nice active trade long if we get the market to rally back into the green. I have also been watching for a pullback on Ford (F), the stock has been rocking for the last 7 trading days closing yesterday above $12.00. I would like to see it pullback another day or two and time my entry off of the next buy signal on the daily chart. Right now it looks as though Ford is trying to fill in the gap down for a nice active trade off of the morning lows. Be patient and don’t forget to stick to your plan.
I was writing this blog a little earlier but my computer crashed and I lost all my documents that I was working on. That was about an hour or so before the fed spoke. I was asking the question was the Fed news going to push the market above 10500 on the Dow or was the Dow going to push lower and test support around 10200. We neither one of those things happened,it was a non event. With 10 minutes left in the market we are down 5.50 points on the Dow and up 5.83 points on the NASDAQ. We are going to end up flat today...After all that all i got was this stupid t-shirt. Even though the market is flat GS is having a good day, GS trading up $2.50 on the day. This is a short blog but i will be back tomorrow to check in and see if we are selling off and testing those lows of the channel we are in.
Until then,
Happy Trading.....
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) is still holding onto support around the 10200 level. Looking at the Wizetrade charts, I keep seeing the green and red lights flip flopping back and forth on my minute time frames. That’s because the market has been trading in a really tight range today. The lows so for today on $DJI are 10235.78 and 10263.14 with the daily high being 10328.29. It looks like non eventful day in the market, but if you look a little deeper there are some stocks making moves today. POT (up $2.43), AGU (up $1.64) and CGA (up $1.17) are leading the run on the Ag side with MON (up.63) and MOS (up.10) not really doing a whole lot today. But all 5 stocks are green across the board today with some looking stronger than some of the others. So check your charts before you enter and trade your plan.
The Diamonds (DIA) has been trading in a tight range for the last 18 days. Back on 11/12/2009 the Diamonds (DIA) hit a low of 101.90, yesterday we hit an intra day low of 101.75 and then bouncing to close at 102.94. So we held support and this morning the Futures are pointing higher with the Diamonds trading at 103.22 on the ask.
Market is holding its own with the Dow up 44.89, Q's up 2.53 points. I have GLD (Spiders Gold Trust) on my screen which has rallied off its morning lows and is now trading in the positive up .20 cents. The low on GLD this morning was $111.44 and it is now trading at $114.00 on 33.8 million shares trading hands so far today. We are still bumping up against some major resistance on the Dow and the S and P right now. It looked like the Non Farm data that came out Friday might push us above the 10500 level but the market sold off shortly after the open as the Dollar rallied. Looking at the mid term trend on the Diamonds (DIA) the trend is flat and moving sideways. That is because we are trading in a tight range on the short term trend. Once the market breaks a support or resistance level, that mid term chart is staying flat and sideways. With the overall bullish trend on the Diamonds we might look for a break out above the 10500 level. I would wait for the break out before timing my next entry long on the Diamonds.
Lets get back to Gold for a minute, If you watched us this morning on the Opening Bell you might have heard me talking about Gold selling off and GLD gapping down at the open. GLD gaps because it is a stock traded on an exchange, Gold does not gap becuase it is a Commodity and trades 24 hours a day. I saw that the short term chart on GLD was bouncing off a support level set back on 11/20/09 of $111.54, today's low was $111.44. Since the open GLD has filled that gap and has traded positive to a day high of $114.22. Not to bad for an active trade.
Happy Trading....
Right now the futures are bouncing off their morning lows. I am seeing some buying coming in but we are still down 23 points on the Dow Futures, down 2.5 on the S&P Futures and 4.25 on the Q's this morning. December Contract on Gold is down another 16 points this morning with the mid term chart starting to roll over on some pretty serious profit taking. Jan 2010 contract on Oil is down just .40 cents today trading around $75.00. Basically the market is flat before the bell except for Gold taking it to the chin once again this morning.
It looks like the labor market improved markedly in November. The jobless rate feel back to 10% and the job losses look to be shrinking to the lowest levels in two years, the Labor Department reported Friday. That all sounds good but you have to think of what's going on in the big picture. It's the holiday season and companies have been hiring and or asking more out of their employees by working more hours. So i guess the big question is.... Is this temporary or the real deal? I guess we will find out in January. I've got to go and do my show, ill check back with you in a bit....
Happy Trading
