6/16/2018 Weekly review and next week’s forecast. I found some more pullback setups!

Market Stocks 6_16_2018.PNG

I’m bearish in the short term (next two weeks), and you can see that reflected in my targets for June 29th. I hate fighting the trend though. Even if we move up, I expect very muted gains (no more than 3% higher).

I’ve added three more stocks to the watchlist. I’ve added a long position (at $46.9) on Alcoa Corp (AA) with 2% risk to my account instead of my normal 1%. The stock checked off every single box I had on my trading plan.

For reference, I’ve only found two other trades in my 10 months of trading that checked off all the boxes. Those two trades were MU trading at 47.4 and BABA trading at 167. I exited those positions recently near 59 and 206 respectively.

Unfortunately, AA immediately dropped 5% the same day I bought it. Sometimes you find the “perfect” setup and trade everything according to the plan, but the trade still goes against you.

Let’s look at my analysis of AA, and then we will look at the major indexes.

AA Trade 6_16_2018.PNG

Here’s the AA trade that is in my trading journal. It’s a little bit more messy than my normal entries, but hopefully it’s easy to understand. RR = Risk Reward, SL = Stop Loss.

If we snap back above 47 in a couple days, that would signal a false downside breakdown and I will probably be adding to this position and raising my stop loss up.

QQQ Daily 6_16_2018.PNG

I mentioned last week that I expect QQQ to retest at least 170, which I still think is the most likely scenario. It might take 2-4 weeks for that to happen since volatility has died down. Thus, I am not adding any long positions and will be buying QQQ in the 167-170 zone with a reasonably tight stop loss.

I have not changed my opinion on the other indexes (DIA, SPY, and IWM) since last week.

If the markets drop, I expect DIA to test 243, SPY to 272.5, and IWM to 163.

Thanks for reading!

6/9/2018 Market Review and Next Week’s Forecast. Warning Lots of material this post!

Market Stocks 6_9_2018.PNG

Greetings, and welcome back!

I noticed I was spending upwards of 6 hours a day watching my account value go up and down during the day, so I needed to take a break from stocks for a week. As a result, I couldn’t blog. Counting gains and losses when they weren’t “lost” or “gained” yet made no sense and was extremely frustrating. I’m currently trying to break that habit of wasting time watching intra-day fluctuations.

I’m thinking of going back to the regular schedule of blogging 3 times a week (every other day). However, I will likely do just one post next week sometime between Friday and Sunday, and take it from there.

Anyways, back to stocks! Most of the stocks hit my target a week ahead of time. MSFT was about 30 cents off from my target intra-day, and DIA was the biggest laggard. I think markets are due for a pullback here, so I flipped bearish for the next 2 weeks. Please note that I’m not recommending to short sell, but perhaps trim some positions and wait for a dip to add more.

I will update my targets sometime next week after I look at the price action.

I’m glad to finally see the support zone bounce from WB and BRKB. I don’t hold any BRKB, but it still looks like a promising pick if you bought in the 190-192 zone like I recommended. A good level to sell BRKB at would be 200. ANAB hit my stop loss on my paper trading account a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to mention that just in case you were wondering where that pick went. Can’t win them all! 🙂

For WB, I added my initial position at 103.5 a couple weeks back, and then doubled my position in after hours yesterday (Friday 6/8). To keep my risk the same, I’ve raised my stop loss up from 95 to 99.6. I’m a little nervous that the stop loss is too close, but we will have to see what Mr. Market thinks about that next week. My target is still the resistance zone near 130-140, and I plan to aggressively pyramid (averaging up) into this position if all goes well.

Also, note that I’ve added a bunch of stocks that I’m currently thinking of buying. You can find those under the “Watchlist Stocks” area in the image above. The “Value Zone” is the distance between the 100 and 200 day EMAs on the daily chart. I believe that is a good area to buy stocks at.

Let’s look at some charts, and then wrap up.

QQQ daily 6_9_2018.PNG

Above is the QQQ on the daily chart. I’ve highlighted a strong resistance level near 170. I suspect the market wants to retest that level, and then make a move higher. Bulls do NOT want to see a close below the bottom of that rectangle (near 167), as that will signal that the Bears are in complete control. From here down to support at 170 represents about 2.5% downside, which isn’t too bad.

DIA analysis 6_9_2018.PNG

DIA looks similar to QQQ, but just significantly weaker. Resistance is near 257, with support near 250. I have no idea where price will move, but I favor a test of the 245-250 support zone first. Of course, we could have good news next week and hit 257 within a day or two.

SPY Daily 6_9_2018.PNG

SPY is at resistance right now. SPY is clearly stronger than DIA, but weaker than QQQ. I favor a retest of at least 275 in the next few weeks. Any daily close over 280 is very bullish.

IWM Daily 6_9_2018.PNG

The IWM, which tracks the Russell 2000 ETF (small cap stocks), is the strongest index of them all. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I would not buy or sell at this price. If I was forced to pick a direction, I would say there’s a 51% chance it closes lower next week.

Here’s a bonus chart since I haven’t blogged for a while.

WYNN 6_9_2018 Daily.PNG

Here’s a chart of WYNN on the daily chart over the last two years. The blue line is the 100 day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) and the red line is the 200 day EMA. The “Value Zone” is the area between those two lines (when the 100 day EMA is above the 200 day EMA). WYNN has bounced off the value zone 6/8 times in the last two years (75% success rate). Not only that, but the risk to reward ratio is excellent! I will be aggressively buying if it hits 170. I’ve learned to be more patient with my trades recently, but you could make a valid argument that now is a great time to buy too.

5/30/2018 Markets recover yesterdays losses. It looks like a bear-trap for the QQQ, DIA, and SPY.

Fun Fact #55

A 529 plan is a college savings plan where money is put in post-tax, and then the account grows tax free! This is similar to a Roth IRA.

Market Stocks 5_30_2018.PNG

My targets have been slightly modified for June 15th. I am still bullish (more so than before), but if we do break below this minor breakout support level, I will quickly turn bearish for the short term.

Today’s price action completely wiped out yesterday’s losses. Since DIA and SPY broke through support yesterday but bounced back today, I think we have a potential bear trap. Any more upside will result in a lot of shorts panic covering. I think we might first move sideways or down a bit, then reverse higher next week.

DIA analysis 5_30_2018.PNG

The rectangle shows the consolidation zone, with DIA breaking down below support. However, notice that price has snapped back into that rectangle. I predict we break upwards of the rectangle, but it would be advised to sell if it breaks below the bottom of that rectangle again.

SPY analysis 5_30_2018.PNG

The SPY chart looks like the DIA chart, so I’m also expecting an upwards break of the rectangle. Again, another break below 270 is bearish so that might be a good time to sell.

QQQ 5_30_2018.PNG

QQQ is still the strongest of the three major indexes. It is currently running into overhead resistance near 170.

IWM 5_30_2018.PNG

IWM is the strongest index by far, and has made a new all time high today. I would consider buying in the 158-160 support zone (breakout location) highlighted above.

4/24/2018 Markets Slump and QQQ breaks through a key minor support level. MU is a “screaming” buy.

Fun Fact #34

Did you know that lump sum investing (investing all your money when you get it) is significantly better than dollar cost averaging (investing a fixed amount spread out over time)? Here’s the source from Time magazine.

Market stocks 4_24_2018.PNG

As you can see, the stock market sold off really hard today. The major indexes did significantly better than the FAANG stocks, with most of them selling off over 3%. The Russell 2000 index (IWM) only dropped .57%, signaling that small cap stocks are still holding up nicely. That is the one reassuring thing about today’s price action.

As I was saying yesterday, I believe that if QQQ broke through 162 and closed below it, I would turn bearish. That is exactly the case. You can see that I’ve switched sides for my targets. However, I am not short, and wouldn’t advise shorting until QQQ retests 162. Your target would be 154 since that is the next support level down.

In conclusion, I still prefer sitting on cash over shorting an up trending market.

I do favor a bounce upwards in the next few days, but I think we are ultimately heading lower to retest the previous lows since QQQ broke through 162.

IWM 4_24_2018.PNG

Above is ticker IWM, which is the ETF that tracks the Russell 2000 Small Cap Index.

QQQ analysis 4_24_2018.PNG

Here’s the QQQ. Since we broke through and closed below 162, I would either sit on cash until QQQ tests 154, or be aggressive and short QQQ if it retests 162 from blow.

MU analysis 4_24_2018.PNG

I think MU is a screaming buy here because this trade presents an excellent risk:reward ratio. Also, MU has fallen into a support region highlighted by the rectangle above while being in an uptrend. Your stop loss would be placed at or near 44, with a profit target somewhere between the mid 50s to low 60s.