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I have to say, the list has not been acting the way I think it should, normally at this stage in the market I normally have a lot more names making bigger moves, play it tight here.  $CMCM was the big standout yesterday up 12%.Here is today’s list; $INSY $TNXP $YELP $BBSI $VLP $FCX $ALLE $CALL $FNGN $SWM $LITB $CMG $CRCM$NYT $PAYC $CF $SKUL $BCRThe Process;Every morning I go through a few of my scans to find buy candidates for the day.  Depending on the current state of the market the size of the list will vary, usually its no more than 50 names.  My process is based on market structure not on beliefs or myths of what [...]

22 names on the list today, 2 of them have some decent call activity; $MCD, $QIHU.  I’m always a big fan of volatile stocks that print an inside day — $KANG $TOUR $CCIH $SCTY $CMCM.Here is the whole list $CMCM $BBSI $KANG $SKUL $CCIH $SCTY $TOUR $GNRC $CALL $NYT $FUEL $NDLS$MCD $QIHU $SWM $BOFI $DDD $CRCM $GOGO $KNDI $HTHTThe Process;Every morning I go through a few of my scans to find buy candidates for the day.  Depending on the current state of the market the size of the list will vary, usually its no more than 50 names.  My process is based on market structure not on beliefs or myths of what works– or what doesn’t work.  They are certain behavioral patterns that have been around for [...]

A style of trading that attempts to capture gains in a stock within one to four days. Swing traders use technical analysis to look for stocks with short-term price momentum. These traders aren’t interested in the fundamental or intrinsic value of stocks, but rather in their price trends and patterns. –Investopedia.Holding period Flexible, well-balanced strategy with solid reward-risk characteristicsNear-term trades are several days to weeksIntermediate-term trades are 3 to 6 monthsPros* Strong risk control due to market timing (learn more here)* Flexible enough to take advantage of shorter-term technical trends in both directions* Based on technical analysis, which works because stock picking is [...]

Just like the last few days the watch-list is getting very small and the amount of stocks actually breaking out as dwindled.  This is why it is important to keep track of your rolling 5 day watch-list, it will give you an idea of what is working, how its working, themes or sectors that are in play and more importantly how hard to press in the current environment.$CRCM $FEYE $PNRA $MXWL $WTW $FCEL $PLUG $CCIH $VLRS $KNDI $CMG $ACAT The Process;Every morning I go through a few of my scans to find buy candidates for the day.  Depending on the current state of the market the size of the list will vary, [...]

Right off the bat I felt that we were not going to have a lot of actionable ideas from yesterday’s watch-list based on the gap up pre market.  I’m not a big fan of buying gap ups especially one that comes after an extended move.  What ended up happening is a gap and crap, the $SPY traded as high as $201.75 before settling at $200.50.A few things that you should know about this swing strategy;1.  It’s main goal is to get you in when stocks are moving and keep you out in choppy/sloppy markets, it is imperative that you allowed the market [...]

The list was somewhat lackluster yesterday with only a few standouts that took off right from the open which made them hard to own; $GOOGL $BIDU $BABY were the few that stood out.The market is gapping higher this morning and will become officially overheated today by the close based on one of Pradeep Bonde most trusted indicator.  What you usually see when this indicator flashes a caution signal is junk stocks start to fly for the next few days and then you see choppiness / retracement over the next week or so.  So far this year this indicator has flashed a signal on (1/2-1/3), [...]

Every morning I go through a few of my scans to find buy candidates for the day.  Depending on the current state of the market the size of the list will vary, usually its no more than 50 names.  My process is based on market structure not on beliefs or myths of what works– or what doesn’t work.  They are certain behavioral patterns that have been around for 100 years that are based on market structure, these behavioral patterns are recognizable, observable, and quantifiable.  On daily basis we have 5,000 stocks that we filter based on certain market structures that [...]

A big deal is being made in the social media front about the $XLF “breaking out” technically today as if that is suppose to mean something.  ETF’S are for the most part mean reverting vehicles, in which I’m more incline to buy them once they pull back and look “ugly”, not when they breakout after being up 4 days in a row or up 9 out of the last 10 days  like the $XLF currently.  The context of the breakout is more important than the actual breakout. The $XLF is up over 5% in the last 10 days and this has been the most dominant pattern [...]

Liquidity is completely relative to the size of your portfolio.  I know that most people have this arbitrary number to say what is or what is  not “liquid”.  Some people say at a minimum a stock has to trade 1 million shares or 500k shares, but the fact is, a stock that trades 1 million shares per day might be liquid for many but maybe not for a 25 billion dollar portfolio manager.  And vice versa, a stock that trades 100k shares daily might be plenty liquid for a trader that only has a $30k dollar portfolio.  So forget the arbitrary numbers [...]

There's so many myths in the market place, mostly coming from people who have failed investing/trading a certain way or are only allowed or want to do a certain type of investing.  It’s like a manager who only runs a long only gold fund that has to be fully invested at all times, he will obviously like gold under every circumstance and cycle.  Or a bank stockbroker who can only recommend mutual funds, of course he will steer you away from individual stocks, he will give you every reason on why its stupid to buy individual equities.There has always been [...]