Not many daytrade setups today, at least setups I could find. Was not focussed and had other things going on at the same time, so that might have been a reason.

Did find JWN and that was the only trade for today.

Very nice base near the high of the day

• Entry 41.04, just below previous days high (blue line)
• Initial stoploss: 40.94, but could have been even tighter. However if the stop is less then 10 cts I usually use 10 cts anyway
• Took half off at 41.24, 2R.
• Right after that I set the stop to breakeven
• Trailed the stop on the 5 min chart, jsut below the swings and the sma 20
• Sold the rest 5 minutes before the close at 41.31
• Result: 2R+ 2.7R=4.7R/2=2.35R

must come down and vice versa? NTRI was one of the top gainers in 2009 and it broke down really hard this year. After what seems to be an exhaustion gap in the beginning of march it showed up on my gainers list. I don’t know what the news was, but clearly there was a pleasant surprise. It ran up hard but finally offered a beautiful opportunity to enter. It was a pleasant surprise in a choppy market where most of the strong stock seem very extended and offer less opportunity.

Beautiful 1 min cup and handle pattern

• NTRI shows up in gainers list early
• It took until 11.00 to correct for the first time
• The next hour it formed a beautiful 1 min cup and handle pattern
• Entry @ 17.04, SL @16.95
• As it moved up a lot I was conservative in my first target, just an equal move from the 1 min flag (right side of the cup and handle
• Exit1@ 17.30
• I put the stop on the rest to breakeven and was hoping for a larger equal move though that was very ambitious
• Despite my doubts second target was reached 1 hour later
• Exit2@17.95
• Result: 26 ct + 91 ct = 117 ct /2 =58 ct or 5.8R for the trade
• Other trades: DNR; 1R, VECO -1R on a lousy entry

I have a love and hate relationship with PCLN. Once in a while it offers great profit, only to take it back, r by r. Today again I had a losing trade  in PCLN. But I was able to compensate for it with a nice 30 min dummy setup, that worked out great.

There was not a lot of movement in the market all day. After the gap up it stayed pretty much in range.

The 30 min dummy setup was a reverse head and shoulder on the 1 min chart

• PCX gapped up slightly on high volume and made a 20 day high
• Daily chart looks like it has room to move up
• PCX had a great run in the morning but pulled back gently for about an hour
• The 6th 30 min candlestick was a hammer
• The dummy bar was in fact a nice 1 min head and shoulder pattern
• Entry at 19.30 with a 10 ct stop
• Exit 1 at 19.50 =2R
• Exit 2 after an avalanche on the 1 min chart @ 20.30
• Result: 2R + 10R=12R/2=6R on the trade
• There was also the 1.1 R loss on PCLN
• 4.9R for the day
• No other trades

I had a hard time finding nice setups today. There were a few good daily charts with intraday momentum, but I did not trust most of them so I passed.

One of them was PCLN, from my watchlist. It had a tiny 1 min bull flag after the first 10 minutes of trading but it was not ideal. Despite my doubts it ran all day.

Another one was APKT, nice 1 min base at 10:50. Passed on it too. The one I did take was PLL, a fresh gap up after a daily consolidation.

1 min base after a gap up

• Market tone was positive for most of the day
• PLL had a nice daily consolidation before today’s gap up
• After the gap up, PLL stayed in range until after 10:00
• Just before the breakout to a new daily high it formed a tiny bull flag
• Entered on the break of that flag, just before price made a new high
• Entry was at 40.87
• Closed half the position at 2R (41.28)
• Was planning to trail the second half on the 5 min swings, but momentum slowed
• The second leg on the 5 min chart went further but at a slower pace, so I thought it might correct more than I’d like
• Decided to trail behind 5 min bars, got stopped out below the tiny inside bar just after 11:40: exit @ 41.67
• Result: 2R + 4R/2=3R.

Due to other commitments I missed the open and first hours of trading. By the time I got behind my computer I had missed all the fun. Momentum in the market made it clear there was not a lot of downside, while it still was too early to go long. I did scan for longs but was not prepared to enter unless the market gave a clear reversal pattern.

The nice thing about Quotetracker is the possibility to set trendline alerts. I have found no other software that can do that except freestockcharts, but while freestockcharts is great, the alerts are not great of my kind of intraday trading.

After scanning many, many charts I had set several trendline alerts on charts I thought might prove interesting but only a few triggered. Most of them I skipped for one reason or the other. I thought I was not going to put in even one trade.

The first time WSM triggered I still was waiting for the market to give a signal, though downside momentum was clearly slowing. Just at 14:00 a 5 min double bottom triggered in the SPY and WSM gave another alert as it cleared the previous swing high. I liked the 5 min Cup and Handle WSM was forming so I quickly clicked the order.

The market stayed choppy, but WSM performed great. Around 14:30 it showed a reaction, after that I updated my stop to just below the sma 20/5 at that point. I was aiming for an equal move target but just short of that target price stalled. I cheated on my stop and tightened it to just below the consolidation. I was not going to risk all the paper profit for a few extra cents. Half an hour later it it target and I sold all.

I was frustrated becuase I missed out on all the fun, but by just sticking to the routine of focussing and scanning, setting alerts and observing the market, I managed to get a great result despite that, even if only with a single trade.

• Entry: 21.16; SL: 21; exit: 21.60
• RW/R: 2,75 R