This session drew on our entire bag of tricks in one way or another – from ‘camouflage’ entries on the one-minute bar chart, to ‘mechanical’ triggers using daily and weekly bars, to counterintuitive trades that seemed all but guaranteed to produce easy profits. All of this happened in real time. Judge for yourself the value of reliving this one-hour lesson in recorded form.
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A Camouflage Gem in the E-Mini S&Ps
– Posted in: TutorialsFor the record, the E-Mini S&P set-up that we scrutinized at the beginning of this session worked perfectly, albeit not before the class ended. It involved very subtle ‘camouflage’ to get short without much stress , and so it will be well worth your while to follow the logic closely if you’re keen on mastering this type of trade in its many forms. We also pored over AMZN’s four-second bar chart to come up with a way to trade a $700 stock without getting dinged too badly. Check it out!
Taming an 800-Pound Gorilla
– Posted in: TutorialsWith a possible Fed rate hike just hours away, stocks were acting too coy to offer easy pickings. Even so, we found ways to trade GOOG, an $800 stock, while holding entry risk down to the usual, theoretical pennies per share. While ‘mechanical’ entries are best suited to this task, in this case we used a ‘counterintuitive’ entry and a buy-stop limit to get us aboard. I did not green-light the trade for students because the point ‘C’ low of the pattern was less than ideal. But the rationale for the trade is as clear as could be, and that is why there is something useful to learn here. If you want to cut to the chase, skip to the final 20 or so minutes of this session. It is there that we get on GOOG’s one-minute chart to make tradable sense of the stock’s seemingly chaotic, malicious price action.
The Long and the Short of It
– Posted in: TutorialsWe searched high and low for day-trading opportunities during our hour together. Alas, there were none to be found. But there are some analytical gems to be mined from this session, and they encompass both short- and long-term perspectives. For one, a day later, the E-Mini S&Ps appear to have stalled a single tick from a 2250.00 target first aired on the Rick’s Picks home page weeks ago. If you want to see why, check out my analysis toward the beginning of this class.
Scalping a $700 Stock
– Posted in: TutorialsEven though it's possible to make $500 or more in just a few minutes, We know better than to try to initate trades in a $700 stock using buy- or sell-stops. Typically, we are looking to reduce entry risk to relative nickels and dimes using Hidden Pivot 'triggers.' Unfortunately, that won't work with very pricey stocks that can leave gaps of $2 or more between ticks. It turns out, however, that the 'mechanical' entry technique is perfectly suited to getting around this problem. Check out the material toward the end of the recording for real-time examples involving AMZN ($751) and PCLN ($1503). There is also some material that demonstrates how very useful ABC patterns can be for reading the stock market confidently and accurately intraday. In this case, when the Dow was up by nearly 100 points, it was possible to infer that buyers were spent and that stocks would close lower on the day -- which they in fact did.
Clocking Gold
– Posted in: TutorialsWe took a close look at gold's charts during this session because the futures were getting a nice boost for a rare second straight day. Bullion quotes are seldom moving higher mid-morning, when tutorial session are held. On this particular day, however, bullish technical signs were so compelling that they allowed a confident -- and very tradable -- forecast of even higher prices in the remaining hours of the session. For the record, the intraday high occurred just 30 cents, or three ticks, from the target we'd identified.
One-Off Nuggets
– Posted in: TutorialsAlthough we seldom spend an hour together during these sessions that doesn’t produce tradable ideas, sometimes the opportunities are one-off, to be revisited later in the day, or perhaps in the week. This particular lesson yielded some small nuggets in the form of trades combining ‘camouflage’ and ‘mechanical’ set-ups. Still, the ‘counterintuitive’ trade remains the best tool in our arsenal. It is particularly well suited for relative beginners looking for a way to bolster their confidence. Toward the end of the recording is some material concerning the big picture in T-Bonds. This is must viewing for anyone needing to be convinced that long-term rates are eventually headed much lower.
Fine Shadings, with a Focus on Gold
– Posted in: TutorialsWe found no juicy trading opportunities during our hour together, although we did cover some subtle points that are going to be of particular interest to seasoned Pivoteers. A nuanced discussion of gold’s technical picture puts a somewhat darker shading on the outlook contained in my touts, and that’s why the recording should be considered a must-view for anyone with a stake in bullion.
A Trader’s Smorgasbord, with a Smattering of ISIS
– Posted in: TutorialsThis session provided a smorgasbord of trading opportunities, although nothing ripe enough to pluck during our hour together. If you find this a tad dull, there’s a digression concerning the potential of ISIS to affect financial markets. See if you don’t agree that the logic behind my argument is hardly farfetched. Unfortunately.
A Questionable ‘Mechanical’ Trade
– Posted in: TutorialsAlthough we searched in vain for tradable opportunities, there were relatively few appealing morsels to plunder. Even so, we lingered on an E-Mini S&P chart for long enough to shed light on a matter of concern to anyone attempting to initiate a trade using a ‘mechanical’ signal. If the tradeworthy pattern displays most clearly on a daily chart needing just a few more idle bars to trigger us in, can we jump the gun by shifting to the 60-minute chart, where those idle bars will occur in a fraction of the time? This recording holds the answer to that question, as well as to other questions of interest to the diligent Pivoteer.