Tickers discussed: SPY QQQ IWM STX ABT WORK Strategy & Tactics
The Daily Profit Compass provides the stock market analysis for the day. Key levels and trading locations for the indexes are provided, along with trading plans and timely commentary to keep you on the right side of the trade.
Trader’s Couch
The aspiring trader should never lose sight of the fact that growth in one’s trading success is largely a measure of understanding themselves. You’ll never understand the millions and millions of interactions that make a market and efforts to do so will result in frustration and wasted time. Spend the most time and effort working to understand yourself and to eliminate the psychologies that undercut our performance on a daily basis. You know the mechanics of what to do; now go do it.
Earnings
August OPEX
August expiration is today. be sure to clean up any positions so there are no surprises tomorrow morning with unwanted assignments.
Not a lot to say that I have not said recently. Longer term trend channels in SPY / QQQ are in tact. In this largely FAAMG driven run, lots of yellow flags have been waving but have not played out. The next worry is the post – August OPEX rollover. Not uncommon for the week after an option expiration to be an inflection point for markets. Not a bad time to review positions to tidy them up. Let’s see how they wrap up this opex Friday.
Strategy & Tactics –
- FAAMG – THe 60 min levels on these names have been pure gold. Use them to your advantage if you are an active traders.
- Staying bullish does not mean complacent
- Stay vigilant! Ratchet stops / Strikes higher on your winners and keep exposure at manageable levels.
- Dont be afraid to go short if you get a price signal; especially if you’re holding a bunch of longs. You’ll like that balance on red days.
- Mark clear levels on your holdings for exits; honor those levels on a pull back.
- You know they can pull the rug at any time for no reason at all.
- Stay Fluid and flexible in both positions and thinking; Dont lock in on Narratives.
- Expecting a hi-vol summer with Covid and political headlines whipsawing markets
FAAMG Live Annotated Charts
Click on the Links to view my annotated live charts
Updated Aug 17
FB Daily
AAPL Daily
AMZN Daily
MSFT Daily
GOOGL Daily
Charts of Interest / Trade Ideas
$STX Daily
Something is terribly wrong in the computer hard drive / storage space. $WDC has already broken down and appears headed toward the March lows. Here, Seagate has already broken down below the neckline of a head and shoulders formation that projects a measured move back to the March lows. Set yourself an alarm at $44. On a break below, get short. Nothing much to stop this from finding $39/38 on a break below.
$ABT
Abbott Labs is consolidating in a nice $4 wide box. Alarm $102 and wait patiently for the breakout. Get long on the breakout and look for $106-107
$WORK
To be frank, $WORK has been soggy for a couple months after a nice move off the lows. Now however, price finds itself at an interesting spot. A break above $30 would put price above downtrend resistance and all the moving averages with some room to run above. Alarm $30 for the breakout and get long. Once above $30 there will be a lot of technical and ema support below it.
Active Trade set ups / Positions
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Aug 20 Activity:
XRT- Extreme bearish order flow has again picked up with big players shooting against our long position. In the face of soggy retail numbers and the bearish order flow we closed the Sept 50 Calls for $3.05
$V Rolled stops to breakeven
Aug 19 Activity:
Trade Idea to get long $V at the money Sept Calls against $200.
Aug 13 Activity
$XRT – Sept 50 C ; Closed 1/2 of position. Entered Aug 5 at 1.90; closed at 2.90. On the other 1/2 of position sold Sept 53 C for $1.20 credit. These moves were prompted by extreme bearish order flow into the Aug 28 exp $51 puts over 15,000 x. Retail Sales and Retailer earnings forthcoming.
EBAY Opened Sept 60 calls. $1.23. Looking for a move back to the highs
$IBB Closed short position for a small loss.
Aug 12 Activity
$INTC I finally gave up on this short. More a time thing than price hurting. Closed Sept 47.50 Puts for about a 30% loss.
$GLD Re-entered short with Aug $180 puts. Needs to move rather quickly, if it does not, will need to exit or buy more time.
Aug 11 Activity
$IBB – opened Aug $132P $2.32
$MNST – opened Aug 80P looking for gap fill coming out of bracket low. $1.02
$CF – Taking a shot at Sept 40 C at 45c. after players hit that strike 2600x ++
$DNKN – opened Sept 72.5 C looking for a breakout ahead of earnings after the Sept options expiration.
$GLD Closed puts for massive 340% win. looking to re-enter; – Bot GLD Aug 14 $190 P Aug 7
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
$UUP – Initiated Sept UUP Sept 25.50 calls Aug 3 looks like a fail. Will post if i exit
Index Chart Review
SPY 30 min
QQQ 30 min
IWM 30 min
Get inspired, empowered and prepared. Join us!
As the host of Trader’s Profit Compass, I work hard to inspire, empower, and prepare aspiring traders to face the markets with fortitude, quiet confidence and inner calm. It’s a protein-rich, sugar free environment without ego or judgement. While I can’t promise that joining our group will change your life, I’d like to think it will help your trading. Give it a spin! Nothing to lose and potentially much to gain.
Our group of aspiring traders are into active swing trading using technical analysis to find objective, high-probability, low-risk trades. Using these processes we’ve been fortunate to be winning; not perfect but winning. If that is appealing to you, join us! I’d like to think you’d benefit from the work. You’ll get premium content 6 times a week including a copy of my Daily Profit Compass, Weekend Profit Navigator,along with other actionable content delivered directly to your mailbox. You’ll even get an invite to our new trading room on SLACK.
Registration is simple and FREE Visit our homepage HERE
