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).

June 24 - AAPL - AKAM

AKAM had good potential for reaching the $20 mark, but it did not make it and stopped me out just below R2.


AAPL was an IB filling the wick of the previous bar and above the PDH, but it stopped me right away.

So far is has been a pretty bad week for me :-(

June 18 - ABX

As we can see in the chart, ABX has been struggling with the $34 Pivot Point. Today's initial action lead me to believe that buyers would have the power to break through that line, but the move ended up being a head fake. After the bearish candle formation on bars 2, 3, and 4, I thought price would either chop around or drop down. The 9th bar was a nice, red offsetting bar below $34, but it was a bit wide for me so I passed. The next opportunity was when price broke below PDH forming a Doji below PDH and an IB with a small body filling in the lower wick of the Doji (very bearish).
I exited in full at the RZ line drawn from PDH to PDL.

April 13 - MS - JPM

Banks closed very strong last week and opened strong this week. MS printed and IB (second bar) with the body filling in the upper tail for the first bar. I entered on the break of the second bar high and closed at $26.00 which is R1 and also an important PP in the daily chart.

JPM chart is similar tp MS and I had the same entry and exit strategy. The target for this one was also R1.

March 19 - NKE - WFC - BUCY

As we all know, there are multiple events affecting the market this week: Fed, Option Expiration, etc. So after the huge "Ben Rally" yesterday, I came into the session with the idea that market would pause or chop around. That was true for most sectors, although the financial gave back a bit and some of the commodities extended the rally. But the main point is that I wanted to profit from smaller moves, as opposed to trying to catch big moves. That is what I call target trades. The profit target for the "target trades" is typically a major PP or another meaningful indicator such as PDH, PDL, or round numbers.

So here are my for today:
NKE gapped down, but the bulls were in control and took price to RZ, NKE then retraced to the PDL and printed a nice NR bar with a long wick at the base of PDL. I used that as my trigger bar and exited at RZ.


WFC showed weakness at the open and printed a nice h pattern. The trigger bar is an "in the tail" weak bar and the target was RZ.


BUCY was also an "in the tail" trade after a successful retest of R1. The target was R2.

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.

March 12 - CNX

CNX dropped quickly at the open and printed an "in the tail" red bar below PDL and S2. I used that bar as my trigger bar and took a partial at S1. CNX printed a very clean hammer (hint of a reversal) and a NR, Doji at the base of S1. I exited when the high of the doji was taken and at the same time I entered long. Partialed my long position at PDL and held the rest until EOD.

March 10 - SLB -JPM

What a great day! I have meetings starting at 1pm PST but I wanted to post a few trades. Note that there is still half hour to go, so the charts are "unfinished."

JPM gapped up and printed 3 very bullish bars at the open, but I did not see an entry. I thought that price would retrace 50% from the initial swing low to the high and that would have matched $18. However, JPM printed a doji just above $18 so I decided to jump in. The draw back was that R1 was just above the high of my trigger bar and could act as resistance. Price took off after my entry and I exited in full at $19.00.


SLB was a beauty. The second bar is an IB (but leaves a higher shadow). The third bar fills the shadow of the first and second bar and closes above R1. The draw back here was that the PDH could act as resistance. My first entry was on the break of the 3rd bar high. Price took the PDH and printed a NRIB (doji) at the base of PDH. I liked very much that formation so I added to my original position. I took a partial at R2 and exit the rest at $40 (important PP).

March 2 - CAL AMB POT

I am a bit frustrated today. The market gave so many opportunities, and I just feel that I was focussed on the wrong stocks. I made money today, but I should do better.

POT had a steady move down until around 1pm and then it printed a higher low and a small base. I entered on the break of the base, took a partial at the previous swing high, and exited when buyers could keep price above $76.


This is a "top out" setup developed by Trader X. I entered on the break of the 4th bar low, and exited at the close of the 5th bar. I did not really like the long lower tail at RZ and that proved to be the right call.


AMB was a nice setup but I ended up taking a small loss. AMB gapped down below PDL and S1 and it printed 2 NRIBs. The volume pattern was not great, but I thought price would collapse. Well, it hang around that area for a long time (while the rest of the market was tanking) so I finally decided to exit (four bars after my entry).

February 26 - STI

Very nice dummy setup on STI. Price open strong with buyers in control and clearing both PDH and R1. The second bar is also strong, clears R1 and leaves a small upper wick. The third bar is a hammer-like IB with the body filling in the wick of the second bar. Entered above on a break of the 3rd bar high and exit in full at R2 (a few cents below $14). I considered taking a partial there, but I find the market not having a lot of follow through, so I took it all out.

The next one was inspired by the trades that Jamie is doing on the lower time frames. The pattern I saw was an inverted H&S, and the entry was perfect, but I chickened out 4 bar later on the red candle with high volume, so I exited in full. That was totally silly, and if I would have stayed ...

January 27 - RIO

I have to say that trading the plan is not as easy as I thought it would be. During the trading session I am tempted to take other trades, but it is nice to only execute what you think works. That gives you the chance to see how the other trades (the ones one does not play) unfold. And I can see that if one wants to get consistent results, one has to apply consistent methodology and consistent execution.

I only traded RIO today.
Entry criteria:
- First bar is bullish
- First candle characteristics:
= It closes on the upper half of the 15min bar range
= Body is at least 50% above the RZ line
- IB characteristics
= Top 50% of the previous bar
= Fills the wick of the previous bar

Target
Initial target is the PDH
Final target is $13.96. That is R2, the 38% fib ext drawn from PDL to PDH, and it is also a few cents below $14.00 (round number that is likely to act as resistance).

For me, the most important psychological aspect of this trade was the red bar at 11:30am. In the past I would have exited at the first sign of red ink. But now I know that I need to give price the chance to test the previous PP (or the previous consolidation area) before moving on. In this case, it worked like a charm.