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BRCM gapped up big time, moved nicely off the opening range. I missed that move but into lunch it had retraced almost the complete move. What caught my eye were several things.

• It had found support on the morning range bar.
• there was a nice 2 wave pullback

Especially the pace development in the pull back was nice. It fell hard at first, rounded of near support, but then again made three pushes down, each penetrating the previous low less then the one before, hence the ’rounding off’ appearance. When the reverse head and shoulder like pattern formed (a very tight 30 min dummy bar) I entered with a very tight stop. (first red line, the thin blue line is my entry)

2R was around the first resistance level so I took half off, keeping the rest with a break even stop. The higher thin red lines are the trailing stops, but I did not enter the last one in TWS, figuring I’d see what would happen.

The dark red line was my second target but it did not make it so I closed the remaining position at exactly 5 minutes before market close.

Tags: 2 wave pullback by Art Vandalay
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Solar Power to the rescue… I missed most of the shorting ‘fun’ today, had a few scratch trades. In the afternoon the market started a reversal and I spotted FSLR. It had a 1 min 2 wave pullback and a nicebase after that. As the market was consolidating at the same time it was the ideal spot to enter, but I did not expect it to run right to my target. It did try to scare me out by retesting my entry, but I stayed put and closed all at first resistance, previous days low (thin red dotted line)

Tags: 2 wave pullback, daytrade by Art Vandalay
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Somehow my natural inclination is to go long stocks. Once a bear market start I am usually in trouble first, until I readjust.

Today I had a few good trades, IBN was one of them, but I kept anticipating the market reversal.

I traded CIEN long twice, only to be stopped out. It was all very obvious, but it was a matter of trading what is, instead of trading what I want to happen.

IBN was a great trade. The market gapped down and IBN too. The gap down corrected with 2 up waves, the second one slower in pace than the first wave up. See the pink lines below the chart.

The second wave up bounced into the 5 min 20 SMA, that was falling. My first target was the equal move, it got there pretty quick. I took a partial at that target and trailed the rest. I was hoping for a lot more, but I just got a tiny bit more. 3.5R is nothing to sneeze at and it was a nice offset to my anticipating a reversal.

There must be a reason for the expression: “The market always does what the trader expects, but never WHEN he expects it.” This was the case. After giving up on a reversal, the market reversed…

Tags: 2 wave pullback, daytrade by Art Vandalay
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Click the chart for an overview

This was a very nice trade. But there could have been more in it. A lot more!

CNQ gapped up and formed a nice base. Just before 11.00 pace changed. The first wave down was the steepest. The second wave was a lot slower and the third wave stayed even more in the upper end . As price was approaching the rising sma 20(5min, light grey line) I entered a long position. I took all of at 2R, instead of partials. Don’t ask me why!

This would have been a great stock to stay in all day. I deviated from my rules and it cost me! Well better this then deviating from the rules and making more money, becuase it reinforced bad habits.

The POT trade was not a really nice trade. I don’t know why but when I entered I had a feeling that the consolidation was not enough. But then I thought, ‘but what if it will go anyway and I’ll miss the move?’. Usually if I think that before entering a trade its going to turn out bad. This case was no exception. My best trades often are those that I really don’t want to enter but I can’t think of a valid reason not to… In this case I ignored this knowledge, traded it and traded it badly.
I gave this trade more leeway then I usually do and had to take a full loss.

Tags: 2 wave pullback, daytrade by Art Vandalay
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• big momentum move
• consolidation
• red lines are initial and trailing stops
• 1st pink line is long entry ( 8.67)
• 2nd pink line is partial exit (8.93)
• 3rd pink line is closing trade (9.25)
• risk was 0.13, reward was (0.26 + 0.58)/2= 42 cts or more than 3R

Tags: 2 wave pullback, daytrade by Art Vandalay
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