frankz

The SP500 has been in pullback mode for the last two weeks; it now sits on top of its 50-day moving average.  Just as the Twitter folks started making fun of the bears and screaming that new highs were coming the market stalled. The Nasdaq composite has not faired as well as the SP500; it's down ten out the last 11 days with -4.4% return. The cheerleaders from the 2100 level are nowhere to be found now that the market has a more favorable risk-reward ratio.The Non-Farm Payroll numbers are due out at today at 8:30 am, this could be a [...]

The buzz word this year has been "SECTOR ROTATION", the minute one sector takes off for a few days it settles down and then the weakest starts to move up. In other words, it has been a mean reverting market, last year's losers are this year's biggest winners; ENERGY, METALS.With that being said, the XLE (energy ETF) is down five days in a row, and many energy stocks are as well.  AR, CENX, are two of interest at this very moment. They both are retesting multi-month breakouts which I expect that they will hold, and if mean reversion takes effect [...]

This week we have quite a few possible market moving events; earnings from Apple and Chipotle on Tuesday, Facebook on Wednesday along with a Fed meeting, Amazon and Gilead on Thursday.We also have a couple of breadth indicators at interesting levels; Stockbee's amount of stocks up 50% or more in a month is now above 20.  When we have more than 20 stocks up 50% or more for the month, the market tends to slow down a little bit.  I certainly don't want to get overly aggressive on the long side in the short term especially in the sectors have [...]

The futures are slightly under pressure this morning partly based the oil news from Doha (Oil prices dive after producers fail to agree to output cap).  When the news first came out oil futures took a nose dive and equity futures when they opened did as well, but have recovered 75% of the initial loss.My trading watchlist has dwindled to a handful of names over the last few days from a lot of names a little over a week ago.  Which means I will probably be doing less until the market moves sideways to down and more set-ups emerge. VNCE [...]

Vince Holding designs, merchandises, and sells fashion brand products in the United States and internationally.The stock has been a dog ever since coming public a couple of years ago, however, things might be changing here in the short-term. Nothing says 'passing the baton' in the trading world than a breakout from a long base.I'm always intrigued by huge bases from stocks that are trading near their 52-week low.  A long base that was preceded by a long downtrend usually means that the sellers are no longer in control, they've run out of supply, and or the buyers (new set of [...]

Unlike the rallies of the last 15 or so months, individual stocks are working, they are moving, and it's not only Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.  THC, FEYE, SPNC, PAH were some of the standouts from yesterday's list.I have a very short list today compared to the last few days.  As the market moves higher my list will more than likely get smaller by the day until we get a pullback or some sort of consolidation. This market has been rotating from sector to sector, what has been strong takes a break and what has been weak gets bid up, [...]

We are walking into a decent overnight gap higher, I'm not a fan of chasing gap ups nor buying my alerts if they trigger right at the open.  Oil names and miners were the big winners yesterday, we've highlighted a bunch of those name last week here --CHK,CLF,CNX,BTE,WPX,MUR,ECA.  $AR was the big standout from yesterday's list, another oil name, Huge Base BreakoutOn my list today; WLB, FOE, WAB, PAH, THC, FEYE, FIVN, SPNC, VNCE, DBD, DDS, TWTR, CENX, SAIA, YELP.There are 3-5 day long swing set-ups.I only have an interest if they go through yesterday's high plus a few pennies.Most of [...]

Antero Resources is an independent oil and natural gas company; the stock happens in one of the hottest sectors since the January lows which is the energy sector.$AR is trying to emerge from a 9-month base; I'm always on the look out for breakouts from big bases because a prolonged period of contraction leads to a prolonged period of expansion.Antero started its base in September of 2014 after being a long term downtrend right along with the entire energy sector.  Once a stock starts to base after a huge decline it typically means that the buyers and sellers have found [...]

Overall momentum has been waning across the board except in the oil and mining names, which are extended now in the short term. CLF, TAHO, WPZ, are some of the commodity names we were involved with over the last few days.The SPY on the 30-minute chart has a pattern of lower highs and lower lows that started at the beginning of the month, it has also been struggling with its 5-day moving average.We still have a decent amount of tight set-ups that with a little help from the market can do well over the next 3-5 days.SSYS WLB PAH THC FEYE TASR [...]

There is one thing that does not get mentioned at all when it comes to trading, and that is adaptability. One or two guys are constantly talking about it now, specifically Dr. Steenbarger.  Most trading books tell you to stick to one strategy that a disciplined trader knows his set-up and sticks to it, and when the market is not favoring his set up, then he'll sit out. Whatever.I believe in changes and adaptability, the market changes; it has different cycles where different set ups work.  In a bull market, you can buy breakouts; a range market typically mean reversion [...]