Aug 24 - SHLD (C&H)

SHLD gaped down big 3 days ago and since that time I kept it on my focus list to see what it would do. Today the stock gaped down again but this time with some clear bullish action. This is a nice C&H pattern (but also could be read as a nr7 contraction sectup). Either way, there is an orderly bullish action a very shallow pause with volume contraction and then a 100% extension.
Most of my trades these days are in the direction of the major trend so it was a bit hard having the 5EMA and PDL as potential resistance points, but SHLD did not have any trouble penetrating those areas.

July 23 - MOS

This was a very nice cup and handle play that extended to the 50% ext (lines drawn from the bottom of the pole to the top of the handle. The entry also coincided with the break of a PP.

July 16 - XLNX

XLNX gapped up $1 yesterday and it gapped down $1 today, but today the buyers were more awake and where decided to move this forward. Green bars are always much higher than red bars. I could not find an entry in the morning but in the early PM it started basing around $20 (which is a significant round number). I entered a few cents above $20 and exited a few cents below S1.

I also traded CNQ off the 1:30pm offsetting bar at the base of PDH (15min chart).

March 17 - POT and retirement account

Yesterday I traded SKF on the long side with an overnight hold. I entered yesterday at $128 and closed my position today at the open at $146. This trade was in my retirement account, which is up almost 20% since the beginning of the year. I'm very happy about that.

Today I traded POT. I played it like a C&H with a NRIB, Doji as my trigger bar at the base of PDH. I exited in full at RZ.

February 20 - AEM

I am certainly happy with today's performance. This trade was a multiple R winner and one that put a lot of pesos in my account!
I played AEM as a C&H although in the 5min chart it could be interpreted as an inverted H&S (Jamie is the expert on this pattern, and many others). I really liked the base that formed at the $53.50 level which is quite orderly in the 5min chart. I also liked the NRIB (and doji) that formed in the wick (as Trader X would say: "in the tail") of the previous 15min bar. Price took off nicely. I took a partial at R1 and exited at PDH.

February 18 - ABX

So far February has been a struggle for me. I am at break even for the month and do not seem to be able to pull ahead. It is quite sad to be spending so much time on this and not really be profitable. But I guess that just means I am not yet good enough, and need to keep working at it.
I have meetings later in the day so I decided to post this chart before the market close. I played ABX as a C&H. The bar that actually broke the base was too wide for me, so I decided to see if there will be a pullback. And the next doji candle was perfect: only 0.15cents from high to low, so this was a nice trade. I exited in full at RZ because I find the market quite choppy and wanted to lock in some profits. Normally, that would be a place to partial and then hold the rest for the ride.

January 5 - Failed trades

I spent most of the holidays studying charts, so after so much time and effort dedicated to my trading I wish I had better news to report, but the reality is that today was not a good day. My inability to perform according to my own trading principles and rules was a bit alarming. Maybe it was just a bad day and I am making too much of it, but when I trade like today, without actually "seeing" or "understanding" what I have in front of me, it is a bit depressing.

On the first BP trade, I traded 2IBs at the base of the ORH. That did not work out (and I need to keep observing this pattern to understand better why this did not work. So far I can only see the red bar prior to my entry as the cause for it). The second entry was a revenge trade, in which I did not even wait until the bar finished forming. That was a quick loss and a type of trade I need to eliminate 100% from my trading.
In 2008 I took a handful of these trades and I thought I had that under control, but obviously not.


DIG was a C&H pattern that looked really nice with the handle almost looking like an ascending triangle (higher highs and higher lows). After my buy stop order was hit, price moved my way, but the market started reverting at 2pm (as it regularly does) and buyers could not stop the selling pressure.


ENDP was an inverted C&H that looked neat, but the $24 PP held as support. My entry was too aggressive and I should have waited for a break of the PP and a retest.

Overall a -2.5 R day :-(

October 27 - SRS (mini C&H)

I discovered SRS by reviewing Stewie's post from Sunday and I added to my ETF list. By the way, I highly recommend his site; Stewie has started doing videos a few weeks ago, and his trading is very interesting.
Anyway, this C&H set up like my LUK's trade last week, although there was not real capitulation here. Normally, I would expect a 100% fib extension from the low of the pattern to the base of the cup, but I decided to take a partial at the 38% fib ext, since the market was so choppy today. Price reversed and stopped me out at my price entry level.

October 23 - LUK (capitulation + mini C&H)

LUK appeared in the Top % Losers Since Open scan on my IB software.

I spotted the capitulation on the 5min chart but I traded the mini-C&H bounce on the 1min chart. The initial target was the 100% fib extension drawn from the low of the cup to the base, and my exit was the 1.38% fib extension. Both targets were met without any difficulty.

October 9 - ANR (Inverted C&H)

This inverted C&H (Jamie style) worked out nicely; in fact it was the best trade of the week for me. I wanted to sell on a real spike in selling volume, but that never took place, so I kept moving my stop to follow the steady selling. My goal was the 100% fib extension drawn from the high of the cup to the base, but price did not make it there.

September 30 - FWLT (C&H)

This C&H worked out nicely.

September 15 - AAPL (C&H)

Trading can be cruel when you are still learning. This C&H pattern did not fail; it just needed a bit more room to succeed.

September 3 - CLF and BA

I took a long weekend off and it was nice to come back to a solid selling in oil-related stocks. There are a lot of interesting charts in this sector today. My only trade today was CLF.


I did not take the BA trade, but the chart shows an interesting C&H after capitulation.

August 27 - RIO (C&H) and charts

RIO is the only one I played. It was a perfect C&H with absolutely perfect 100% fib extension (drawn from the low of the cup to the base of the cup). I still hesitate when the consolidation before the BO does not happen right at the base, but they still seem to work out.


My timing was off on this one so I missed it altogether. Beautiful chart to study. Again the 3rd bar does not close at its low (although it is clearly weak), but if the chart is truly bearish, these ones seem to work out.


Ideally, I like when the 2nd and 3rd bar in the gaps consolidate near the ORH (or ORL), but I am observing that if the second bar is strong and closes at the ORH, the setups tend to work. Something to keep studying.


I wish I would have seen this one in time. The curious thing is that I have this chart open all the time, but I did not see the setup until later in the day. Watching and "seeing" is not the same. Perfect bull flag, price bounces from 20 EMA and 50 EMA, forms a tweezer bottom, and a beautiful hammer-like candle that closes just above the 5EMA. Price takes off from there.

August 13 - Trades BAC and MTL

August 11 - Trades SKF, AAPL, CRME

August 6 - Trade

August 5 - Trades and charts

I took CLF on a weak stock with 2NRIBs against the downsloping 5EMA. I also took CRK at the end of the day to practice the 3 PP trades introduced by Jamie. I also saw a nice chart on AXP (but did not trade it) that illustrates the C&H setup explained by Jamie in yesterday's post.

Tonto Trade - MOS

MOS formed a nicely shaped C&H, but the volume formation was not great. The base of the cup is at 130.50 so I placed my stop buy order at 130.52. The interesting thing is that my internet connection crashed and I had to restart my computer, so by the time I was back up I have totally forgotten about this setup. Anyway, a good 40minutes later, my order gets triggered and since I still liked the setup I stayed in the trade. I did not feel the volume was strong enough to push this baby to the 38% fib extension (drawn from the base of the bottom to the top base of the cup) so I took a partial at the 25% fib extension. Exited the rest at the end of the session, which was exactly at the 25% fib ext.

Tonto Trade - HES

First chart shows yesterday’s C&H formation, which promised to complete taking shape today.


The second chart shows my entry and exits. The interesting thing for me was that the points marked A and B in the chart took place without any consolidation at the base of the C&H (previous day’s high) and therefore they are not reliable entry points. I entered at point C. Another motivating factor for me was that HES kept making higher lows, And the last element to this equation is that OIL is IMHO due to a bounce, and this morning showed definite signs of strength. For a moment I dreamed that HES might touch $100. Anyway, the stocked turned around at noon and ended printing a doji day in the daily.