Showing posts with label DDD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DDD. Show all posts

Sunday, September 08, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

Aloha everyone. The Big Wave Trading model is in a mixed variety of signals, with the Nasdaq currently under a BUY signal, the SP500 and Russell 2000 are under a NEUTRAL signal, and the DJIA is under a SELL signal. It is not too often you will see us under all three signals at once but here we are. Overall, the market does have the “feel” of a market that is ready to launch higher. The reasoning behind this is our analysis of leading stocks, leading industry groups, speculative stocks, and the technical condition of the overall market. Right now, things look really good for a continuation in prices in the uptrending direction. We are basically fully invested here, with only a small hedge working in the SDOW. This position will be closed out, obviously, if we switch back to a NEUTRAL or BUY signal in the Dow. We are not fully invested based on what we believe or think the market will do. We are fully invested because so many leading stocks have triggered legitimate buy signals that we have utilized all our capital. Do you know what year it was the last time I was all out of cash to deploy in the market? 2003. So the thinking is that based on past analysis the rest of the year should be solid. Still, do you think we will not sell EVERYTHING if the market tells us to? You know we will. If the market reverses, sell limits or hit, or our big winners reverse on huge volume, trust me we will not waste any time running to the exits and reversing our positions to the short side via leveraged ETFs. At Big Wave Trading the most important thing is to be prepared for everything. Nothing in life is ever guaranteed. Shock events and black swans show up all the time. However, we would like to point out a correlation between the current market and that 2003 market that remains my best trading period ever in my life. In 2003 we went into Iraq. Now it is 2013 and we are going into Syria. Is history repeating itself again? Probably not. But it sure is rhyming. Have a wonderful upcoming week. I wish you all the best. Aloha from Maui. TOP CURRENT HOLDINGS – PERCENT GAIN – DATE OF SIGNAL CAMP long – 202% – 4/26/12 WAGE long – 145% – 1/8/13 FLT long – 132% – 9/6/12 POWR long – 123% – 12/11/12 HEES long – 103% – 9/4/12 INSM long – 102% – 4/19/13 MEI long – 92% – 4/10/13 ADUS long – 81% – 4/22/13 LGF long – 54% – 4/19/13 WDC long – 48% – 1/9/13 GMCR long – 46% – 4/23/13 CHUY long – 42% – 1/10/13 TRLA long – 38% – 6/28/13 V long – 37% – 8/31/12 ADS long – 37% – 12/11/12 OCN long – 37% – 5/8/13 DDD long – 35% – 4/30/13 CCF long – 34% – 6/28/13 WST long – 34% – 1/22/13 LOCK long – 33% – 5/20/13 BEAV long – 31% – 3/5/13

Sunday, August 04, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Market Model remains under a BUY signal with zero pressure weighing on it. With the indexes hitting all-time highs and leading stocks leading the way higher, everything is aligned for further potential price appreciation in all asset classes. Stocks continue to trend higher and while it would have been very nice to see the market consolidate gains this summer allowing the 200 day moving average to catch up with price it is not in the cards. Still, there is no reason to complain that stocks are continuing to move higher as we are well positioned here. Still, it would be nice to see stocks consolidate these gains and get that 200 day moving average closer to price. With the market so extended from this line, making new investments here is a very risky proposition. If you are not already long, it is going to be very hard to play catch up. However, playing catch up has indeed been very possible as earnings season is allowing plenty of opportunities to play catch up with leading stocks producing some nice gains following earnings and after those earnings. The buyable gap ups have worked very well the past two weeks. The best play, for our intraday chat room members, by far, has been buying calls or straddling/strangling stocks with strong EPS/sales growth that are heavily shorted. Recent straddles in FB and QCOR has made one or our members very wealthy and with earnings season still in full swing there should be other opportunities in the upcoming couple of weeks. If you are not playing the calls, straddles, or strangles and are not buying the buyable gap ups, it has been a rough go for EOD trading signals. Recent signals on the long side have not performed as well the past two weeks as I would like to see in an uptrending tape. However, most signals are not of the high quality standard that previous signals were due to the fact that this market has been well extended past its upper regression line and 200 day moving average for a while now. This is why recent signals have been weak and why we have kept them small relative to more recent signals. Still, it is a strong tape and many more signals are sure to present themselves as we move along. As long as the trend trends higher, there is no reason to top call this QE tape. Set your buy stops in leading stocks and get long at the pivot points, straddle the heavily shorted leading stocks, or buy the buyable gap ups. These trades have been doing very well in this most recent move higher. Buying stocks on an EOD basis following a powerful breakout is still not seeing the follow through that we became accustomed to from 1996-2008. So keep that in mind as if we continue to move higher from here. While a nice consolidation allowing the 200 DMA would be nice to see it is what it is and this trend is strong. Don’t fight the tape and whatever you do NEVER top call a strong market. One day, this market will go climatic or parabolic, leading stocks will too, and lower highs and lower lows will be set in leading stocks in leading industries. That is when you need to be on the lookout for a top. Until then, ride the trend which is your friend higher. Have a great rest of your weekend and I wish you the best during the upcoming week. Aloha from a very beautiful west side of Maui. Aloha!!! Top Current Holdings – Percent Gain since Signal – Signal Date CAMP long – 178% – 4/26/12 POWR long – 149% – 12/11/12 RVLT long – 133% – 3/26/13 FLT long – 121% – 9/6/12 WAGE long – 95% – 1/8/13 HEES long – 94% – 9/4/12 CSU long – 88% – 9/4/12 ADUS long – 74% – 4/22/13 CHUY long – 57% – 1/10/13 SBGI long – 54% – 3/22/13 TECUA long – 49% – 2/5/13 WDC long – 48% – 1/9/13 INSM long – 48% – 4/19/13 V long – 43% – 8/31/12 LGF long – 42% – 4/19/13 TRLA long – 42% – 6/28/13 GLL long – 40% – 2/14/13 ADS long – 40% – 12/11/12 MEI long – 38% – 4/10/13 OCN long – 28% – 5/8/13 DDD long – 25% – 4/30/13

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading portfolio remains under a BUY signal with only a minor amount of pressure on the indexes following the weak price action on Tuesday and Wednesday in the overall market. Besides that there is no pressure in our model as leading stocks, speculative stocks, and the overall market continue to trend higher in lockstep. With this being the case, it does not make much sense to drone on and on about the minute details of the trading action the past week. It was a very successful week in terms of playing straddles/strangles before earnings on a few stocks like FB, BIDU, and TRIP and buyable gap ups remain the best way to return alpha in this low volume uptrending market. Overall, it was a decent week with not much to dissect or psycho-analyze. There is no need to waste any more of your valuable weekend time. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I wish you the best during the upcoming week. Aloha!! Top Current Holdings – Percent Gain since Signal Date – Date of Signal RVLT long – 191% – 3/26/13 CAMP long – 167% – 4/26/12 POWR long – 143% – 12/11/12 FLT long – 103% – 9/6/12 CSU long – 91% – 9/4/12 HEES long – 91% – 9/4/12 WAGE long – 90% – 1/8/13 SBGI long – 64% – 3/22/13 ADUS long – 64% – 4/22/13 INSM long – 50% – 4/19/13 V long – 50% – 8/31/12 TECUA long – 47% – 2/5/13 WDC long – 42% – 1/9/13 MEI long – 41% – 4/10/13 LGF long – 38% – 4/19/13 CHUY long – 37% – 1/10/13 GLL long – 34% – 2/14/13 GMCR long – 34% – 4/23/13 ADS long – 32% – 12/11/12 PFBI long – 31% – 11/19/12 WST long – 30% – 1/22/13 BEAV long – 28% – 3/5/13 CCF long – 26% – 6/28/13 DDD long – 25% – 4/30/13

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Model remains under a BUY signal with very little data weighing against its current signal. The stock market climbed higher, across the board, this week and despite the lower volume there remains very little to zero selling pressure in the current tape. Friday’s intraday action confirms that above analysis as a morning gap lower found support early on the SP-500 and DJIA and mid-day for the Nasdaq. This kind of action, following a gap lower, is very constructive and says a lot about the strength in this market considering how extended the major averages are from their respective 200 day moving averages. We are not in the business of attempting to call tops at Big Wave Trading. We simply move like water with the market. As the market’s trend flows upward, we will ride that wave accordingly. When the shift comes, we will be quick to hedge our positions and sell off securities that violate trailing cut loss levels or key moving averages. Despite the strong market and our success this year, we have no interest in trying to limit the gains by trying to anticipate a turn in the market here. Therefore, there is nothing to do here, currently, but ride the trend higher until it does turn. When we see another day like 5/22 we will start a hedge and then operate around that hedge according to the price action in the market. Right now, we have a lot of momentum inherent in this market and based on past historical strength like this, we expect more bases to be formed in the coming months and a resolution to the upside. However, we are not betting on this information and only using it as a possible guide to the upcoming rest of the year. If the market begins a selloff, starts making lower highs and lower lows, with leading stocks breaking down hard, we will be very quick to sell out our long positions and move to the short side. However, in this tape, betting on the short side has continuously been a losing proposition and not one we are interested in entertaining as long as the fed’s liquidity injections via POMO/ZIRP/QE continues. One day the uptrend will end and when it does the short side will be extremely profitable to trend traders. For now, though, the trend is up and I will be more than happy to ride it much higher if it does have much higher to go before the inevitable sell off happens. I would not mind at all if this market went parabolic before climaxing and reversing lower. It would make for a much more profitable venture for our current long positions and give us a better base to begin our short side work on. Right now, that is all forward thinking and planning. The reality of today is a market that is hitting new highs on low volume with no sellers above. To bet against a continuation of this trend would be to make a major gamble against history. One day we will not hit new highs. Until that day happens, I do not advise fighting this tape. I know a lot of traders that decided to do this on 5/22. I got a lot of messages and emails telling me that 5/22 was the top. How do you think these “traders” feel now? Based on my near 20 years of doing this for a living, I can tell you almost for sure that they more-than-likely still believe they are right. Too bad the stock market doesn’t care about what they believe. Either you want to be right or you want to make money. Which is it? I can tell you which one we focus on at Big Wave Trading. I hope you are choosing correctly. If not sooner or later your bottom line results will let you know if you chose correctly. Have a great rest of your weekend and I wish you all the best during this upcoming week. Aloha from the gorgeous island of Maui where all of us that live here are 100% grateful to call this our home. Top Current Holdings – Percent Gain Since Purchase – Date of Signal RVLT long – 196% – 3/26/13 CAMP long – 167% – 4/26/12 POWR long – 150% – 12/11/12 CSU long – 104% – 9/4/12 HEES long – 98% – 9/4/12 FLT long – 95% – 9/6/12 WAGE long – 86% – 1/8/13 ADUS long – 66% – 4/22/13 SBGI long – 63% – 3/22/13 INSM long – 61% – 4/19/13 WDC long – 59% – 1/9/13 TECUA long – 56% – 2/5/13 V long – 48% – 8/31/12 CHUY long – 46% – 1/10/13 MEI long – 43% – 4/10/13 GLL long – 42% – 2/14/13 LGF long – 37% – 4/19/13 PFBI long – 31% – 7/19/12 GMCR long – 31% – 4/23/13 WST long – 31% – 1/22/13 ADS long – 30% – 12/11/12

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Light Trading Volume persists; Stocks pull back notching a Day of Distribution

A better than expected Homebuilder sentiment reading failed to lift stocks and sent homebuilding stocks lower. Trading volume rose above Monday’s level, but again was below average. The major stock indexes did notch a day of distribution in technical terms. However, the damage was minor and we are considering this to be a light distribution day. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite ended its win streak at 8 straight days of gains. Traders now await Ben Bernanke’s testimony tomorrow. There were pockets of weakness, but until we see more of this action this uptrend still is in play. TSLA was the talk of the town after the stock fell more than 18 points. The stock has had an amazing run since its initial breakout in April. The stock has more than tripled from that point to now. It is not unlikely to see the stock break after hitting new highs. If you bought the recent low volume breakout you are likely underwater and highlight a point of being nimble when buying extended stocks. However, if you are in from April you have plenty of leeway. Just remember to take profits along the way. If you have a sound trading plan you aren’t panicking over the move. If you are, come join us. Yesterday we pointed out the homebuilding sector as being weak. After initially climbing after the sentiment release the entire sector sold off. Today’s action highlights what you think may not necessarily happen. The price action as of late has been bearish, not bullish. Could the sector turn around after tomorrow’s release of Housing Starts and Building permits? The answer is yes, but given the evidence we have now it doesn’t seem likely. Stick with price and ignore the noise. There were plenty other leading stocks like XONE and SSYS who were hit today. It is not unusual to see leaders get hit, but when they begin to get hit all at once over a period of time it usually spells trouble for the overall market. Today was one day and we remain in an uptrend. Until there is sufficient evidence given to us from price we are going to stick to the long side. Maybe the top callers will be right here…or they won’t. Enjoy watching the fireworks go off courteous of the Fed Chief.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading portfolio is currently under a BUY mode across the board, with the Nasdaq fully switching to a BUY signal on the 9th with the SP-500 and DJIA following on the 11th. These indexes now join the Russell 2000 which was placed under a BUY signal last Friday. The Russell 2000 is leading the current model switch and was able to build on the gains nicely the past week. Every index performed well this past week. It was nothing short of extremely impressive. What makes it even more impressive is that the rally in the overall market is on fumes. That goes for many recent breakouts in high priced highly liquid CANSLIM quality securities. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of leading stocks breaking out on volume. However, there have been too many TSLA, SPWR, PCLN, GOOG, AMZN, MCD type moves for my personal liking. At the same time, while I may not like it, it doesn’t matter. Those that are focusing on price action alone in leading stocks are enjoying their gains as long as they are buying at the exact pivot points in their technical consolidations. For those that can not watch the action all day, I will remind you that you can use buy stops to buy a stock as soon as it breaks out to new price highs. Even with the overall low volume, the rally is still impressive. Many stocks are moving higher on volume and many others are setting up in price consolidation patterns with solid accumulation/distribution patterns. I am sure that even if the market pulls back here, knowing that the Fed is in full-on QE/ZIRP/POMO mode, support should be found in the overall market. This hypothesis is based on the current technical patterns remaining as they are and in turn developing into even more bullish technical patterns in the upcoming weeks. If individual stock price patterns falter, this assumption on price action will be nullified. Still, the trend with POMO/QE/ZIRP is very clear. Pullbacks are to be bought and stocks can not sell off more than 10%. That will definitely change one day and this will definitely lead a lot of people that are greedy into the poorhouse but until then you simply can not fight the overwhelming trend. Calling tops has been killer to traders the past five years and yet I still see constantly on stock twits and facebook. It was not too long ago on 5/22 that so many new traders/investors were confident this market had top. Now these same traders find themselves underinvested and/or not invested at all. This is the purpose of the market. It is there to fool most of the people most of the time. Looks like they were fooled again. This is why in times like this, if you do not have a system, and invest on emotions, you are going to have a bad time. Emotions are a killer in the stock market. They can only hurt returns over the long run. You must learn to eliminate them, if you are going to learn how to hold stocks like the stocks you see listed below for the big long-term gains. The big money will always be in the sitting and in this market sitting has never been harder. Trust me. I don’t even come close to seeing the gains I saw in my personal accounts from 1998-2008. On top of that, stocks simply do not move like they used to. Compare the performances below to some of my past big winners and you will see times have changed. One day they will go back to normal. However, until that day happens, it is what it is and price action is all that matters. The trend is your friend until it bends at the end. Make sure that you don’t show up late to the trend and ride it lower when it bends and all the smart money is exiting. The Nasdaq has been up 12 of the past 13 stock market sessions yet I see many traders looking to get heavily long here. Seems a tad late to me. However, what do I know compared to what the market knows? The exact same thing you know. Nothing. The market discounts all. Price action is all that is real. Continue to follow price and ignore volume. In this QE world it is leaving many traders underinvested. You must learn to discount it. Have a great rest of your weekend and a wonderful upcoming week. Make sure you obey your systems, especially your stops. Always cut your losses short. Never ever ride a losing position and never ever add to a losing position. Especially in a melt-up tape like we have now. PS: Can you tell I just got done reading my third Jesse Livermore book of the summer? It is an annual ritual. I recommend it both for new and experienced traders. Once again, have a great weekend. Aloha from Maui!! Top Current Holdings – Percent Gain Since Signal – Date Of Signal CAMP long – 181% – 4/26/12 RVLT long – 165% – 3/26/13 POWR long – 150% – 12/11/12 CSU long – 107% – 9/4/12 HEES long – 95% – 9/4/12 FLT long – 93% – 9/6/12 WAGE long – 90% – 1/8/13 ADUS long – 86% – 4/22/13 SBGI long – 71% – 3/22/13 CHUY long – 69% – 1/10/13 WDC long – 54% – 1/9/13 TECUA long – 49% – 2/5/13 V long – 48% – 8/31/12 GLL long – 47% – 2/14/13 INSM long – 44% – 4/19/13 MEI long – 40% – 4/10/13 LGF long – 39% – 4/19/13 ADS long – 31% – 12/11/12 WST long – 30% – 1/22/13 DDD long – 27% – 4/30/13 BEAV long – 26% – 3/5/13

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio remains under a NEUTRAL condition, following a week of choppy price action. The overall market continued its choppy trading the previous week with neither the bulls or bears asserting any real directional power. The bottom line is that we remain trapped between the recent highs and lows of all the major market indexes during the past month. Our model will not move to either a BUY or SELL mode until this trading range is broken. The other possible model change could occur if the indexes make a powerful one day price move on higher volume. If that occurs and the indexes still remain range bound it is possible, if there are leading stocks in confirmation of the move, that we could switch before the trading range is resolved. If we were forced to make a bet on which way the market is going to break next, we would laugh in the face of someone suggesting such a preposterous notion. However, if we were asked to analyze the current situation of leading and other individual stocks in relationship to the pullback in the overall indexes, that would be a welcome logical request. When it comes to leading stocks in the market, based on EPS and RS ratings, everything is crawling along well. Our current holdings and leading stocks have done remotely well during the pullback in the market, with many of these stocks forming constructive consolidation patterns that historically should lead to further price breakouts. Some of our favorite examples include SCTY, TSLA, TNGO, DPZ, INVN, BLMN, SWHC, LNKD, and many others. These stocks are either consolidating nicely or are trending higher, despite the weak market. This, in our analysis, is a positive sign for a possible resolution higher. This being said, nothing is concrete and for all we know the market might break out to new highs to just reverse lower on huge volume. The point is that anything can happen in the stock market and if you are not ready for anything and everything, then at some point you will be caught off guard and pay the price. We shall see what the upcoming week has in store for all of us traders. As it stands, we continue to be very neutral here ready for anything to happen. Once again, based on our current holdings and leading stocks, we should expect a resolution higher. In reality, however, remember, anything can happen and everything must be prepared for. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Aloha from a very beautiful, warm, and sunny west side of Maui. Aloha!! Top Current Holdings – Percent Return Since Signal Date – Date of Signal RVLT long – 162% – 3/26/13 EAC long – 156% – 12/17/12 CAMP long – 136% – 4/26/12 POWR long – 135% – 12/11/12 CSU long – 106% – 9/4/12 FLT long – 97% – 9/6/12 HEES long – 86% – 9/4/12 ASTM short – 73% – 7/17/12 INSM long – 68% – 4/19/13 WAGE long – 63% – 1/8/13 ADUS long – 59% – 4/22/13 CHUY long – 55% – 1/10/13 SBGI long – 50% – 3/22/13 WDC long – 45% – 1/9/13 V long – 41% – 8/31/12 GMCR long – 39% – 4/23/13 BBSI long – 38% – 2/13/13 TECUA long – 36% – 2/5/13 GLL long – 27% – 2/14/13 PFBI long – 26% – 11/19/12 DDD long – 25% – 4/30/13

Saturday, June 01, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Directional Model has switched from a BUY signal to a NEUTRAL signal, following the final hour of action during Friday’s stock market session. The vicious sell off on Friday, combined with the churning and distribution days adding up this month, is more than enough evidence that it is time to be fluid and ready for a move in any direction in the overall market. Longer-term there is a lot of support in the overall market that could easily lead us to further upside price. However, on the short-term we are indeed extended on all major market averages in relation to the 200 day moving average. The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 also remain a bit extended from their respective 50 day moving averages. Therefore, a pull back here is not a surprise and is in fact welcomed if we want to continue with higher prices in a more measured and somewhat safe manner. What will be more important to watch from here on out is how the major indexes will act around these key averages. Support at these key areas, along with high quality stocks showing Relative Strength to the overall market, would be indicative of a market that wants to continue higher over the intermediate term. If, instead, the market decides to find some support, begin to bounce, and then rolls over below the 50 day moving averages on the indexes, then we can start to prepare for some form of correction. Right now, most of our long positions (you can see 75% of our current holdings below as 3/4 of our portfolio holdings are up 25%+ per trade), are riding their key moving average lines higher and if they start to break below we will continue to take profits, cut our losses, and add to our hedges. Right now, since we are heavily long, we have been building a hedge in case the market does decide to correct harshly over the next couple of weeks. If the market decides to move lower, we will continue to pair back our long positions and add to our hedges. If the market decides to roll over and enter a prolonged downtrend, we will be ready via our market direction model and we will go short stocks that produce short signals accordingly. For now, it is best to be ready for anything. Emotions are very strong for those in the bull and bear camp. That can cause some extreme short-term price movements, as we saw in the final hour on Friday. Therefore, the best plan is to have a plan for every outcome. We do this on a daily basis at Big Wave Trading and that is why you will find very little to zero emotions involved in our methodologies. It is all about price signals. It is never about opinions or emotions. The only good opinion is no opinion, in the stock market. Have a great weekend everyone. It looks like our summer shores are in store for another large swell. Good news for me. Once again, have a great weekend. Aloha!!! Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Signal Date EAC long – 204% – 12/17/12 HIMX long – 201% – 12/19/12 CAMP long – 134% – 4/26/12 RVLT long – 128% – 3/26/13 CSU long – 112% – 9/4/12 POWR long – 108% – 12/11/12 FLT long – 95% – 9/6/12 HEES long – 86% – 9/4/12 INSM long – 79% – 4/19/13 ASTM short – 71% – 7/17/12 GNMK long – 71% – 11/16/12 WAGE long – 60% – 1/8/13 SBGI long – 48% – 3/22/13 ADUS long – 45% – 4/22/13 WDC long – 44% – 1/9/13 CHUY long – 39% – 1/10/13 V long – 38% – 8/31/12 BBSI long – 38% – 3/22/13 PFBI long – 31% – 11/19/12 GMCR long – 30% – 4/23/13 GLL long – 30% – 2/14/13 AMWD long – 28% – 2/1/13 DDD long – 26% – 4/30/13

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Russell 2000 Escapes with Gains as the Market Finishes well off its Lows of the Session

It all began in Japan where the Nikkei hit an all-time high only to end its day lower down by more than 7%. Selling swept the globe where Europe was hit hard, but it was the United States market to see some resiliency. A better than expected Jobless Claims figure did help the mood, but it was likely to due to the larger than normal POMO from the Federal Reserve. More than $3 billion was pumped into the market from the Fed and was likely “the” catalyst pushing stocks off their lows. At the open the market hit pretty extreme oversold readings and the move off the lows is not all that surprising. Volume was lower on the day even with the lower open. Institutions weren’t all that excited to jump right back into the market. Our uptrend was hit, but it is still standing. Yesterday was a great example of why chasing stocks well beyond an acceptable price is dangerous. But, panic selling is just as dangerous. Plenty of stocks gapped lower like DDD to only close much higher displaying excellent strength. Reacting with emotion will not get you anywhere but heart ache city. Avoid making costly mistakes and join Big Wave Trading! We’ll steer you clear of making mistakes. Get on board. Sentiment from inviduals jumped to lofty levels, but away from their most extreme readings. II Bulls hit 55% an extreme reading, but AAII Bulls only registered 48.97%. Near 50%, but still below the ’13 high as well as ’12, ’11, and ’10. AAII bears slipped to a new low for the year at 21.58%. However, it is still well above the readings seen in ’10 and ’12. We were at lofty levels, but we simply cannot declare a market top without further evidence. That evidence is price and market leaders. Anything is possible in the game we call the stock market. April we had piled up quite a bit of nasty distribution days and we were able to climb out of it. Will this time be any different? Perhaps, but we we aren’t going go out and declare a top. It boils down to price trends and your process to take advantage of price trends. We are sticking with our process. Cut your losses and ride your winners.

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Stocks Advance as Volume Swells

The lone economic piece of data for the US was Mortgage Applications showing a 7% gain. Economic data will be light for the rest of the week excluding tomorrow initial jobless claims figure. Commodities pushed higher as gold and crude led the way higher. The dollar index fell on the day and still trying to find a way to move above its 50 day moving average. Earnings season continues to stroll and we continue to see positive action. Volume rose on the session giving us an odd feeling as we normal see volume tail off when the market rises. This uptrend remains intact and unflappable. You know it is a bull market when you have a stock like DDD offer up a secondary share offering and have the stock rally and close higher. A 3D printing stock is certainly a hot sector with tremendous long-term potential. Usually a secondary will sink a stock, but not for DDD. It would be nice for the stock to put in a handle for 3 weeks breaking out from a cup with handle chart pattern. One can dream and we’ll just stick to our trading rules. Today’s action in DDD certainly shows the strength of this market and the stock itself. The II sentiment survey is out showing a jump in both bulls and bears. Bears remain below 20% of survey respondents. Bulls on the other hand jumped back above 50% with 52.1% of respondents indicating they are bullish. Both bulls and bears are near extreme levels. However, neither are at extremes. Tomorrow we’ll get a read on the individual crowd from the AAII survey and the “pros” at NAAIM. AAII has been quite bearish and it will be interesting given the move in the market if they have pushed the bulls back in control. Today’s after-hours session certainly had fireworks. GMCR and TSLA responded well after reporting earnings. Both stocks have had nice runs and will look to add to those gains tomorrow. On the downside RAX continues to struggle with their earnings report. FIO had its co-founder and CEO leave sending the stock lower. We want to get after stocks rising in a good market and GMCR as well as TSLA are a great example of stocks moving in the right direction. Cut those losses and ride your winners.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio remains under a BUY signal, as the market consolidated recent gains the past week. Volume was lower overall for the week and that is always bullish for a continuation of a trend. Unfortunately, when the market rallies it rallies on below average volume. The good news the past week was the selling volume was also below average. This action the past week has helped form a lot of solid consolidation patterns out there and two stocks that are on watch from the 3D printing arena include DDD and SSYS. If the market decides to move higher those two stocks will definitely be closely followed. On top of that, there are plenty of other stocks forming constructive weekly consolidation patterns. If the market breaks out to new highs here, expect these stocks to follow. Another positive for the market was the inability to really sell off following the Cyprus and Eurozone news all week long. The fact the market held up so well, despite this development, is a testament to the power of worldwide QE. When the market does not sell off on bad news, that is always a short-term bullish development. The other side, of course, is that a market that sells off on good news is a market flashing that it is in trouble. So, so far, so good. As long as leading stocks continue to do well and trend higher there is nothing to do but to follow the trend until it ends. While we are long a lot of stocks doing very well, we have our trailing moving averages to tell us when to get out partially or completely. To think that any emotion is involved in our current long positions is a grave mistake. We do not have emotions in regards to the stock market at BWT. We only have quantitative signals. Nothing more and nothing less. When we are wrong we cut our losses immediately like in a recent long signal generated in WNC on 3/15 that we had to reverse on 3/19. The good news about that loss is that the stock is now setting up in an even more constructive consolidation pattern thus making the next long signal a higher reward to risk ratio setup. On that same note, however, a further follow-through on the recent breakdown below the 50 day moving average will have WNC completely wiped off our watchlist for now. OK everyone. Try not to get caught up in all the Euro news dramafest this upcoming week, let your winners run and cut your losses short, and most importantly have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week. Aloha. Current Top Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal CSU long – 104% – 9/4/12 EAC long – 92% – 12/17/12 CAMP long – 90% – 4/26/12 POWR long – 80% – 12/11/12 HIMX long – 76% – 12/19/12 FLT long – 70% – 9/6/12 HEES long – 69% – 9/4/12 CPSS long – 56% – 1/31/13 AXLL long – 46% – 1/4/13 WAGE long – 42% – 1/8/13 ASTM short – 41% – 7/17/12 GNMK long – 38% – 11/16/12 MNTX long – 36% – 1/17/13

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

NASDAQ Lags as S&P 500 Ends Flat as Volume Slides; European Woes continue

Overnight the Nikkei jumped 3.8% as the country remains hell bent on trashing their currency. Europe resumed moving lower as the DAX fell more than 80 points. On this side of the pond futures were lower on the moves in Europe. Just before lunch time rumors of a special dividend helped send the stock higher dragging the NASDAQ along with it. Just after noon time fortunes for the market reversed and the market headed back to the lows of the session. It appeared as if sellers were going to rule the day. At the close, buyers were able to get the market back to breakeven. Our uptrend remains. Tomorrow we’ll get a rate announcement from the ECB followed by Draghi’s press conference. The EURUSD has been on a tear as of late as the US and Japan intend to print their respective currencies to oblivion. At this point the ECB can only cut rates as it cannot monetize debt. Draghi’s comments has moved the markets before and tomorrow shouldn’t be any different from the past. Which direction shall the market respond is anyone’s guess, but given our current uptrend we are going in long. There is some bright spots out there including DDD and SSYS. Banks continue to act well lead by BAC, GS, JPM, and one of our new longs for tonight. The action in EXPE left a bit to be desired and it appears more and more stocks reacting to earnings aren’t able to hold their breakouts. AMZN is one while having a rich PE has been performing well until the most recent earnings report. Another blemish is the two leading stock indexes we follow remain underperforming the overall market. This can change in a hurry, but we are keeping an eye on our leaders. Tomorrow morning will hold some fireworks and we are looking forward to seeing how our stocks react. Cut those losses short. Short-term trends: TICKER ST TREND CHANGE DATE CLOSE % SPY UPTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 151.16 0.07% IWM UPTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 90.46 0.42% QQQ UPTREND CHANGE 2/6/2013 67.24 -0.33% USO UPTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 35.04 0.03% UNG DOWNTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 19.36 0.94% GLD DOWNTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 162.39 0.27% SLV UPTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 30.81 0.16% DBC UPTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 28.55 -0.14% FXY DOWNTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 104.85 0.07% FXE UPTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 134.13 -0.41% TLT DOWNTREND NO CHANGE 2/6/2013 115.98 0.82% QQQ changed back to an uptrend. This is due to the short-term nature of signals generating more signals.

Monday, January 28, 2013

S&P 500 Ends Win Streak as VIX Rises; Some Leaders Stumble

Small losses on the S&P 500 and Dow ended their win streaks as AAPL boosts the NASDAQ to close in the green. Durable goods orders were boosted by BA orders coming in better than expected. Disappointing pending home sales were blamed on low supply, but nonetheless there weren’t as many pending home sales as expected. The VIX was able to hold its mid-point despite the market getting support at the lows. There were a few troubling signs with 3D printers facing heavy volume selling. Recent long signals haven’t been working as well suggesting we may be in for the market to take a rest. Our uptrend is still intact, but we do have a few warning signs of a possible pause in the market rally. DDD and SSYS faced big losses today as these stocks have moved quite a bit from the 11/16 low in the market. It doesn’t matter if these stocks are the way of the future, for now the heavy volume selling suggests these stocks have further to correct. Today’s action is why we have our exit rules with our stocks. Outside of these stocks we don’t see too many trouble signs other than a few new longs not working immediately. KORS another leading stock had trouble today, but LNKD had no issues breaking out. It is very possible we are rotating into new names and this market will resume closing at highs by week’s end. Stay disciplined. Tomorrow we’ll get the Case-Shiller index regarding the housing market. The index has shown much improvement since the utter disaster back in 2008 and 2009. However, it will be Wednesday when we get a reading on fourth quarter GDP growth as well as the FOMC rate decision. Federal Reserve days tend to be positive for stocks and Wednesday shouldn’t be any different. Of course we’ll allow our signals guide us via price, but the reaction to the comments by the Fed should be entertaining. We aren’t about to call a market top or even a correction, but given the extreme sentiment readings last week and a few leaders getting hit the probability of a correction is greater. Stick to your game plan and execute. Short-Term trends: TICKER ST TREND TREND CHANGE DATE CLOSE % SPY UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 150.07 -0.12% IWM UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 90.00 0.07% QQQ UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 67.15 0.22% USO UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 34.94 0.46% UNG UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 18.55 -4.97% GLD UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 160.29 -0.22% SLV UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 29.85 -1.19% DBC UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 28.00 -0.04% FXY DOWNTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 107.97 0.14% FXE UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 133.5 -0.03% TLT UPTREND NO CHANGE 1/28/2013 118.03 -0.36%

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading portfolios all remain under a strong BUY signal as stocks tacked on more gains the past week with volume coming in higher than the previous week. Overall, it was another strong week and nothing out there is currently of concern on our radar. Despite the low VIX, the high amount of bulls in the Investors Intelligence survey, and lack of extremely strong volume when we do rally, we find nothing out there that indicates this rally is in danger of failing any time soon. As long as we continue to see breakouts and stocks setting up in tight consolidation patterns, we will continue to operate from the long side accordingly. While some stocks like SSYS and DDD are beginning to get ahead of themselves, overall there is still a lot of upside potential left in many high-quality CANSLIM stocks and stocks with low P/E ratios that offer high dividends. As long as they continue to move higher and set up as they are, there is simply no reason to be looking for a top any time soon. Since there is not much to do but continue to set buy stop orders on stocks nearing breakouts, there is not much to address this weekend. While I do hear some commentators trying to call a top, we believe that price is truth and fresh breakouts from strong consolidation patterns are more important than talking heads. We will become cautious on this rally after we either see stocks go into parabolic price gains on arithmetic charts, see stocks breakout and then reverse (like NTE recently) in mass, or see 5-6 distribution days hit the overall market in 2-3 weeks. Until we see this happen, as previously noted, we will continue to hunt for strong leading stocks setting up in consolidation patterns nearing breakouts and trade accordingly. Remember, even though the VIX is now below the 13 level, it can go much lower. In 2007 the VIX went below 9. That means that we could still see a substantial rally in US equities, despite the low VIX Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal CSU long – 65% – 9/4/12 HEES long – 56% – 9/4/12 CAMP long – 49% – 4/26/12 VRNM short – 44% – 4/10/12 POWR long – 33% – 12/11/12 FLT long – 32% – 9/6/12 ASTM short – 31% – 7/17/12 GNMK long – 28% – 11/16/12 HIMX long – 25% – 12/9/12

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Stocks Stage a Big Rally, but Hit Some Resistance

The S&P 500 and Russell 2000 found very little resistance at last week’s high as the NASDAQ backed away from its high of last week. Volume was strong, but the market could not find enough buyers to clinch a true follow-through day. We continue to operate without a follow-through day, but with the NASDAQ and the rest of the indexes above their respective 50 day moving averages we are back in buy mode. The move at the end of the day does bring a bit of caution and only did a few buyers at the end of the day save the rally. Tomorrow’s reaction to the FOMC rate announcement and Bernanke’s press conference will tell us a great deal about where this market is headed. We are in buy mode despite the sluggish end of day action and will look for this trend to continue. We simply cannot ignore the move in small caps today with the index lagging only the NASDAQ today. Breaking out of a small consolidation area the group pushed higher and continues to look quite solid. It is very hard to ignore the relatively strength displayed by the group and we are going with it. Focusing in on price action IWM looks poised to continue its move higher. Of course, we have an exit plan and if this move fails we’ll simply exit and move on. There is no need to guess what may or may not happen here, but for now small caps look poised to lead this market higher. AAPL continues to be the talk of the town, but it too found resistance at its highs. GOOG did manage to get above its 50 day moving average during the trading session. However, by the close the stock was unable to close above it. Bad news for the stock as it is doing a lot of work well below the mid-point of its most recent sell-off. On the bright side of things CRM was able to punch through and breakout on very strong volume. We’ll see once again if this breakout can hold. QIHU, SSYS, DDD continue to struggle after breaking out. Tomorrow brings on the Fed and the potential for a fiscal deal. It will be fun watching the market dance to the sound of Ben Bernanke’s voice.

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

ISM Shows Manufacturing Contracted as Stocks Reverse and Close in the Red

In a surprise to the market data out of ISM showed the manufacturing sector contracted waking up sellers pushing the market lower. The market gapped to the upside with the hope the economy wasn’t in that bad of shape with Europe and China’s PMI data. At the open the NASDAQ hit the high of the day and was never able to recover. SPY and DIA staged an outside reversal day while IWM and QQQs were able to avoid the pattern. Volume was lower on the day compared to Friday’s massive volume surge from end of the month rebalancing. While today wasn’t an official day of distribution it was certainly a big warning sign to longs buying has been exhausted. We still have not seen a true follow-through day and it appears after today we may not see one. Tread carefully as today was not a good day for the market if it wants to push higher. The outside reversal gets negated if the market is able to retake today’s high. Volume doesn’t matter too much, but we’ll need to see the highs taken out if this market has any chance of moving higher. The other game changer was the reversals at major moving averages. For example the NASDAQ gapped above its 50 day moving average only to cut right back under it. This is not the type of price movement you want to see from the market whatsoever. To make matters worse for this rally off the November lows is market leadership. Two stocks DDD SSYS broke out last week and were looking good until the last few trading sessions. The reversals are a clear indication breakouts are failing and a big clue to the health of this uptrend. CVLT is hanging in there and with QIHU breaking out it will be important to watch how these stocks act over the next few trading sessions. Given the market conditions it is very difficult to hang onto these stocks for big wins. Remember, have an exit plan for any trades you make and do not get caught without one. Not a good start for the bulls this week. It is best to review your trading plan and execute!