Happy New Year StockBandits!
I hope your holidays have been good and relaxing, and you’re mentally prepared for a new year of trading. Let’s make it a great one!
Last week we saw the market finish with a little downside as some late-day selling on Thursday carried over into Friday morning. The buyers never surfaced, but the market still didn’t crack, and instead remained in its short-term holding pattern.
We’ve seen quite a few narrow-range days over the past two weeks, and that’s likely the result of a market which has run a long way. That has left traders less willing to chase stocks after a run, while leaving those with some inventory on their hands unwilling to dump it in case we happened to see some continued strength into the end of the year. And those quiet days have served to digest the recent run, even though we’ve yet to see a meaningful pullback.
But with a brand new year comes some new challenges, and we’ve got to prepare for anything to come our way in the days, weeks, and months ahead. As a short-term trader, I’m of course interested in what takes place now rather than months down the road, so I’ll leave that to the economists and those who attempt to predict how stocks will move and what will cause it. So let’s talk present-tense…
We’re in an uptrend, and it has become pretty mundane. I’m not eager to short this market until some technical evidence emerges to support that it’s time to start selling. But I am on my toes and keeping an open mind in case such things begin to surface. I’ll be staying aware in case rallies fail, we see some weak finishes, and we see pullbacks intensify rather than pull buyers off the sidelines. And we could also persist higher. There are resistance zones from 2008 we could challenge, or we could blow right through them as if they don’t exist. Either way, I don’t care which way stocks head, because you and I will still have opportunities to profit if we continue to study the price action and wait for good risk/reward setups to come along.
For tomorrow, there are a handful of setups I think could offer some potential, so I’ll focus my efforts on them and otherwise look to lay low while the cross-currents of the first trading session of the year come to pass. I’d like to see the overall volume improve, and I expect it to this week, but will be patient the first session or two of the new year to see if the market can settle into a rhythm.
I’ll cover my game plan for tomorrow in the video, and as always, feel free to share your own thoughts, trade ideas, and questions down below in the comments section.
Here is tonight’s video:
The Bandit Broadcast Video – Click to Watch!
–
Video Stocks Discussed: SLB, STEC, ATML, NFLX, COH
Swing Trading Candidates:
NONE TONIGHT
Bullish Watch:
LVS, MGM, HL, WFT, SLW, ATML, AIG, SLB, NTAP, ENTR, POT, STEC, AXU
Bearish Watch:
BIDU, NFLX, COH, KMX, RHT, CMG, DRIV, FSYS, DRQ
The Hit List is a separate post which contains discussion on open positions and swing trade stops and targets, so be sure to check it for further details on swing trades.
ISIL never stopped out?
Hey Peter,
Yes ISIL did stop out last week, please see the Hit List for 1-2-2011 for my notes on it (and a mention of being cash after getting stopped). Did something imply otherwise?
Have a great Monday!
Just wondering if you posted intraday targets on your day trades Jeff?
Thanks, and nice calls today.
Not for the day trades, only for the swings. Day trades are provided as trade ideas for those who are either experienced traders or who don’t mind managing their exits, ideally both.