Over & Out!

I've closed all of my open positions in the market. However, I will still be looking for new Long setups for the time being. However, I may be a bit more selective, as market conditions have changed - although not necessarily indicating the start of a bearish move.

Market Analysis

The NASDAQ has just broken the ascending trend line, on increasing volume. It may be getting into consolidation, or start a new downtrend - who knows?

But clearly, the market conditions have changed, so I need to adapt my trading strategies as well.

I will stop taking new Longs, and pretty much liquidate all my open positions, when the market opens in the next trading session.

I'll sit on my hands and just see what the market wants to do next, before jumping back into the market.

holx

I hate the almost deafening non-responsiveness of this stock, so I cashed out at a minimal draw down. I would rather put my money to work elsewhere.

bkh

Exit per plan.

nsc

I only realized that the ER would take place tomorrow, after I had bought this stock a day earlier. I certainly don't want to be trampled by the stampede should I end up on the wrong side of the fence, so I bailed out as quickly as I can for a small profit.

lpx

Exit per plan

Avid

This guy dropped like a sack of rocks after it's ER! Luckily I had bought Call options instead stock, so my loss is pretty much limited.

Agilent

Take profit

TKR

Take profit.

Cut Loss

Cut this trade off, as my setup pattern failed.

The Significance of Volume

Volume is a pretty useful indicator to me. It sort of measures the interest of market participants in a particular stock or index that I'm looking at.

It's kind of like the roar that you hear at a stadium, where a football game is being played. If you hear a roar, you know something interesting is going on. It could be a goal scored at either hand, a "sitting-duck" miss, whatever. But definitely an interesting play that had the crowd very excited.

Well, volume is like the crowd noise at a football game, it lets you know if an interesting play is going on or if it is a good time to be taking money off the table.

The markets volume pattern tells successful traders whether to be aggressive or conservative. Some volume patterns indicate that traders should be taking profits, other volume patterns indicate that traders should be increasing position sizes or lengthening holding times.

Trading without understanding price and volume patterns can expose traders to unnecessary risks and lead to wide account swings. A doctor listens to a patients heart beat and traders carefully listen to the markets volume patterns.

Good Times Ahead?

The US market looks pretty bullish, as long as the market stays above the ascending trend line (denoted by the red arrow line).

Market volume has also shown signs of accumulation.

I have now entered a few Long positions in the market.

The market is now outside of the BB, so it may rest a bit. But I'm still bullish, as long as it stays above the red line.

If it continues up, I will add more Long positions.

We'll see.

Trading the News

Some traders have the knack of capitalizing on news release in their trades. This is something that I could never figure out.

To me, it's going to tough competing with the big dogs this way, as they no doubt have all the resources available to them to watch the market all day.

So is this bad news for us, mere mortals?

I don't think so.

Any news that matters will be reflected in the price and volume patterns. Focusing on the price and volume patterns more often than not telegraph what real people are doing with their hard earned money.

They do not have to guess how the stock may react to news, they see exactly how the market
and the stocks setups are behaving and act accordingly.

OK, rant over!