Intraday/Swing Plays

This has been a very interesting week in which I am fortunate enough to have made money. The type of positions I have carried overnight the last week and half show that you do not always have to judge which way the market is going a take all positions accordingly. You scalpers don't have to worry about this but as a swing trader it is very important to due your DD and stay disciplined in your trading. I have picked a few longs due to technical analysis and other indicators that have afforded me the luxury of not loosing much money in this down market. When the market bounces back, hopefully soon, I believe these positions will react more than favorably. When I post my targets, as you might have noticed by now, I don't always adhere to my targets prices. If I had limited BP I would hold the position to or very near my target price before I closed the position. I look at each profitable stock I'm open in and evaluate the potential return of that position and where it is currently trading versus another stock I have researched. If I'm on the plus side of the position and think I can make a more $$ in the new position I will close the profitable position before my target is reached. This practice has been very beneficial over the long run and will continue to trade with that principle. I will need to spend quite a bit of time this weekend to digest this week and try to understand why and what happened to cause this. This is a great time to go back over your charts and notes and compare indicie and stock chart patterns, your own trading patterns and be able to describe to yourself why you opened and closed positions each day over the last week. If you can't, then you shouldn't have traded. You should always have at least 3 reasons why you open a position. Closing is slightly different because taking a profit is the only reason you need. I still will have at least 2 reasons why I close a position, profit or not. Have a good weekend!

TODAY'S EXECUTIONS:

10:19:26 TLB SHRT 2000 31.57
10:12:39 AAPL BOT 2000 24.83
09:52:40 VOD BOT 3000 15.89

OPEN POSITIONS:

Long SBUX 2000 24.41 +0.71
Short TLAB 3000 9.68 +0.30
Long AAPL 2000 24.83 +0.16
Short AOL 2000 20.25 +0.11
Long FWC 5000 2.75 0.00
Long PALM 5000 4.01 -0.27
Short TLB 2000 31.57 -0.33
Long CKP 2000 18.50 -0.85
Long .PQODY 20 1.60 -1.55

CLOSED P&L: $3,810 OPEN P&L: ($2,920)
TOTAL CLOSED P&L: $45,219

Techs Lead Stocks Higher

Stock prices rose, but Blue Chips stumbled heading into the clubhouse and finished off the highs of the day. March retail sales and consumer sentiment were weaker than expected, while energy prices drove prices at the wholesale level higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15 points (0.1%) to 10,191, the S&P 500 index rose 7 points (0.7%) to 1111, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 31 points (1.8%) to 1756. Software, airline and biotech shares paced the gainers while energy related shares led the losers. Volume on the Big Board was 1.3 billion shares as 1.5 billion shares changed hands on the Nasdaq. For the week, the DJIA lost 0.8%, the S&P 500 index fell 1.0% and the Nasdaq was 0.8% lower.
 
I'm about to begin futures trading part time in the next week or so and was curious what the pros and cons are of trading futures vs. stocks. I have a good friend that I've traded with for the last 2 years who just went out on his own and has traded solely NQ's and made 38% return in 2 weeks using our new automated execution system. We both are stock oriented but he swears that the stress level is much less trading futures than stocks and obviously the fills are lightning quick. I am very familiar with futures and their trading mechanics and would like to know what anyone else's take or experience has been with this comparison. Thanks in advance!
 
The market continues to remain fragmented. The DJIA and S&P 500 are approaching support towards the lower end of trading ranges while the the small and mid cap continue to advance. There is a good chance however that the major averages will hold their trading ranges support levels. Merck (MRK) released some postive news which should help the DOW somewhat. Further weakness especially in the DOW below 10,100 would result in short breakdowns which would mean more trouble ahead.

LTD - Buy
Stop: $18.50
Target: $24.00
After a 2 month trading range LTD has borken out to new highs with support at 18.50.

INTC - Short
Stop: $29.50
Target: $25.00 (Major Support)
Stock has broken below minor support. Expect continued decline.
 
Hi Seanote,

Intel is in a very news environment right now, with earnings tomorrow and a $300M settlement against it in a lawsuit. Further, it is entering the historically low season for its business.

How does such data figure into your thinking about INTC with respect to selling short, and how much does the technical analysis influence your analysis?

Thanks.
 
My decision on the INTC short is based equally on fundamentals and TA. Generally with pending news of this nature information leaks early and insiders/majority owners get wind of the info before it is released to the AP. With a consistent sell off over the past 3-4 weeks signals a possible confirmation of the lawsuit plus index averages testing support. I have a few other indicators that I rely on and plan on going short at some point today.
 
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