Swing trade of the week

A part of successful stock trading is being disciplined. It is much easier to be consistent when you have structure to what you are trying to do. Having the discipline to do your homework every day at the same time without fail is a must for any aspiring trader.

Every night I scan roughly 400-500 stocks for swing trades, if something really lines up, I may trade it intra day. When I tell this to new traders, many of them react by saying that sounds like alot of work to do every night. Well I think that depends on what perspective you are viewing the work from. I feel when I sit down an begin my scans that I am on a treasure hunt. I am looking for money. If that doesn’t excite you, go find a job. I am not interested in a job, a trader is an entrepreneur. A trader is someone who is willing to take a calculated risk for the rewards available.

If you are a trader who only thinks about trading during market hours you don’t have a shot to do this long term. However, if you are willing to spend some time at home after hours working on your business, you have what it takes. I once read a great quote that is always pushing me to improve, “how you spend your spare time will dictate how you spend your future.”

On to this swing trade, this is not technically a test book downtrend. The part that caught my eye doing my scan was the huge volume spike on the large range candle last week. The stock (IBM) has consolidated since that move. I am going to take a swing trade short @$102.15 with a trailing stop just over $104. If the most recent support level of this consolidation is broken with some volume, the next area of support is $97, just around where it gapped up.

http://keystonetradinggroup.com/index.htm

swing trade: (ERTS)

Some days when trading stock it can be hard to find a good trade. That was not the case yesterday for the astute day trader.

(ERTS) Electronic Arts is below its 50 day sma and met resistance at the 20 day sma yesterday. This price action set up a test book swing trade short sale. As a matter of fact, yesterday was a picture perfect intra day short sale day as well.

The trade is is short sale with a sell stop limit @$48.50 with the expected profit target of $46. Initial stop loss is $49.75. A solid 2-1 risk reward ratio.

http://keystonetradinggroup.com/

swing trade of the week

This weeks stock trading pick is A T&T. As was discussed last week the US telecoms have been very strong. This swing trading set up is a classic technical chart pattern.

A smooth bull flag has formed giving us the opportunity to get long. As discussed in our Equity Trader 101 class, we will use a price confirmation entry techniques and build a position as it moves in our favor.

The entry is a buy stop @$40.75 and an initial stop loss under $40.25. Good luck this week. You can see our previous two calls have worked out quite nicely.

Stock trading:swing trade of the week

Research in Motion (RIMM) made a beautiful breakout of a trading range above $137 about 10 days ago. This is the first bullflag since the breakout. You will notice on the bottom of the chart that the volume picture is “what you want to see” on a pullback to validate the flag, the volume is light.

Because the stock has gone $25 in a short period of time, the pull back may have a little bit more to come in. The trade we are seeking is a long entry with a re test of the previous high ($155) as our first profit target.The lowest risk entry will be when the stock clearly makes a higher low from the previous day and is trading above the first hours trading range. Don’t guess a bottom, let price action tell you when it is OK to enter.

COST sell short

The futures are negative this morning, one day before FOMC. Since we are trading lower pre market here, I decided to focus on potential shorts.

The retailers as a whole have been weaker during this bull run. The set up here is a bear flag that has met resistance on TWO time frames. Those of you that have taken our Equity Trader 101 course are well aware of how important multiple time frame analysis plays into our decision making. In this example there are two sets of market participants “seeing” a significant point to take action, the 20sma and the 50sma.

THE PLAY HERE: sell short COST with a sell stop limit @$53.80, with an initial stop loss at $54.40. Initial support expected @53 with a profit target of $51.50.