Menu
By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis
The following is a brief excerpt from today’s premium analysis that I emailed to subscribers at lunchtime today. This does a good job of explaining how we should respond during sessions like this.
Market Mentor
We always knew this retreat could happen and it shouldn’t surprise us. I liked the mid-week resilience, but that was no guarantee this situation was resolved. But as long as we included this possibility in our trading plan, it won’t catch us off guard and we will respond to it intelligently.
This intelligent and thoughtful response is miles away from the way most people have been trading this situation. Rather than buy early in the rebound when they could keep a sensible stop close to their entry point, they waited until it looked like things were safe and jumped in at much higher levels. Now the market tumbled under their entry points and their positions are in the red. What felt safe at the time turned out to be anything but. Now many of those same late-buyers are having second thoughts and dumping their stocks for a loss today.
While today’s retreat proves my initial purchase wrong, having a sensible purchase point [near Monday’s lows], appropriate position size [1/3 position], and nearby stop-loss [under Monday’s lows] means any resulting losses will be trivial.
Today’s lows undercut my stops, meaning I’m not out of the market. But rather than give up, I’m already looking for the next opportunity to get in. If today’s weakness proves to be fleeting and is a false alarm, I’ll buy back in and try again. While these whipsaws can be frustrating, the protection against bigger losses while still maintaining the opportunity to profit from the rebound is more than worth it. As long as we are smart about our entries and stops, we won’t lose much from these swings and will be ready to profit from the inevitable rebound.
(All of that said, if the market has an absolutely horrid close this afternoon, I might be tempted to buy a small position just before the close. The lower we go now, the less room we have to fall on Monday, so any selling today actually reduces the risk of holding over the weekend. This definitely counts as trying to catch a falling knife, but if we do it with a reasonable position size, it can be more entertaining than dangerous.)
Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every week.
What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours
Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket
Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM
By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
Traders are GooGoo-GaaGaa for TSLA’s latest earnings report, sending the stock surging 10% today. The company blew away expectations by actually making money last quarter! Adding those profits to the previous three quarters and the company only lost $862,000,000 last year. What a relief!
All sarcasm aside, we need to be realistic about both the company and the stock. Traders love this stock and the share price doubled since the third quarter’s earnings report last October. That’s one hell of a performance and no matter what a person believes about TSLA’s future prospects, there is only one way to trade a move like that. Unfortunately, bears cannot help themselves and countless cynics have been absolutely demolished by this strong move higher.
But now I feel the tide is about to turn. These late buyers are going to be the next ones in trouble. The first thing to remember is institutional money managers control the bulk of all money in the stock market. What they say goes no matter what anyone else believes. The challenge going forward for TSLA is institutional managers are a cautious bunch. They’ve been around long enough to know these explosive surges higher never last. Even if they love the company, they won’t chase a move like this. Instead, they wait for the inevitable pullback from these frenetic levels.
What happens next is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The majority of big money managers avoid what they think is an unsustainable move. And when enough of them do that, eventually the retail investors run out of money and bears finish covering their shorts. Once that happens, supply dries up and prices tumble.
The above most definitely isn’t a judgment on the company’s financials or growth prospects, but more a look at the supply and demand cycle that is behind every hot stock. Big money fears heights and they won’t embrace this move until prices cool off. Without their deep pockets, this sharp rally will not stick.
Smart money is taking profits at these levels, not chasing prices recklessly higher. Only fools are buying TSLA above $600 and the thing to remember about fools is they don’t have a lot of money. Expect this stock to cool off very soon. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling today a top and I most definitely wouldn’t short something just because it is “too high”. But I do know for certain at some point soon this stock is going to come crashing back to earth and anyone who is patient will be able to buy all the TSLA they want at lower prices. At the very least, we should expect prices to return to the $500s and even a dip into the $400s is highly likely. I would feel much better buying the company at those levels after this frenzy cooled off.
Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every week.
What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours
Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket
Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM $TSLA
By Jani Ziedins | Free CMU
Cracked.Market Univerity:
I will be the first to admit my gut isn’t always right about the stock market. Sometimes I overthink a situation or assume a move has more potential than it really does. Regardless, if I traded exclusively on gut feel, I would have a lot less money than I do. My secret weapon? Planning my trades and sticking to my plan. It doesn’t get any more straightforward than that.
Every time an opportunity arises in the market, look at it and ask, “what would take to get me to buy this?” Moments after answering that question, ask yourself the follow-up, “okay, if I’m in, what would it look like if I’m wrong?”. Answer those two simple questions, follow through on those commitments, and you will be miles ahead of almost everyone else who trades stocks.
Let’s look at a few recent examples where my gut was wrong but my trading plan got it right. Back in December, TSLA moved to the upper end of its trading range. While my gut is reluctant to believe TSLA is the second most valuable car company in the world, the stock was at an important inflection point. Either it hits its head on resistance like it has done so many times over the last several years. Or it smashes through resistance and keeps on going. While my gut was cynical, my trading plan said to buy $TSLA above $390 and stick with it as long as it stayed above this level. Here we are nearly two months later and the stock is up almost 50%.
Gut 0 – Plan 1
Bitcoin is another one I don’t trust. I even wrote a post last year questioning its viability after the $10k rebound tumbled back under $7k. But you know what? I was wrong. Instead of tumbling back to the lows, Bitcoin rebounded and retook $7k. My trading plan said that level was the line in the sand and no matter what my gut felt, as long as Bitcoin was above $7k, I had to give it the benefit of doubt. Here we are a few months later, up 35% and pushing up toward $10k again. While I still question the viability of Bitcoin over the long-term, it has been trading well over the short-term and there was only one way to trade it after it retook $7k.
Gut 0 – Plan 2
And lastly, this week’s Coronavirus tumble. I like taking some profits proactively and keeping a trailing stop on the remainder of my winning positions. That discipline meant I locked in profits when the S&P 500 was above 3,300 and had a lot of cash ready to buy this week’s dip. That said, I was a little nervous along with everyone else when the market gapped 1.5% lower Monday morning. Most of the time these emotional selloffs get carried away and go far further than anyone expects. My gut was hesitant to buy Monday’s early bounce because I feared another waterfall selloff, but my trading plan told me to buy the bounce and protect myself with a stop under the opening lows. While it didn’t feel good, this was my plan’s entry point and keeping a stop nearby limited my risk. It was a very good entry even if it didn’t feel good. And here we are a few days later, well above that entry point.
Gut 0 – Plan 3
No one can correctly predict the market’s every move, but if we plan our trades intelligently and stick to that plan, we will do a lot better than most.
Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every week.
What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours
Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket
Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM $BTC Bitcoin $TSLA
By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
The S&P 500 recovered a big chunk of Monday’s losses as fears of a runaway Coronavirus epidemic receed. That said, there were not any concrete headlines supporting this change in outlook, just a wave of dip buyers jumping in and hoping for the best.
The bigger question is if this rebound is the real deal or just another sucker’s rally on our way lower. I wish I could tell you the answer, but predicting the whims of an emotional market is one of the most challenging things to do in the market. But just because we don’t know what the market will do doesn’t mean we cannot trade these swings intelligently.
If a person took profits proactively when the market broke above 3,300 or alternately, used a trailing stops to lock-in profits at this level, they should have cash available to take advantage of this dip. If we don’t know when and where this market is going to bottom, our plan needs to tell us when to act. Obviously we don’t want to catch a falling knife, so that means waiting for a bounce. But how do when know when the market is really bouncing? Unfortunately, we don’t. That means our plan also needs to include contingencies for being wrong.
While Monday’s gap lower open was dreadful, prices bounced off those early lows minutes after the open. That is considered a bounce and is a great entry point. The biggest advantage is the early lows give us a definitive and close stop-loss level. Buy the bounce and hold on as long as prices remain above the opening lows. Easy enough.
This morning’s bounce also gave us a good entry point. Not quite as nice as yesterday, but we buy the early bounce and keep a stop at yesterday’s close. This entry is less attractive because we are buying at higher levels and the stop is a little further away, but it is still a decent entry with well-defined risk.
Typically we control our risk by starting with a smaller position and only adding money after it starts working. And while we start this trade the same way, this situation is a little more tricky because most of these Chinse headlines come in the middle of the night. That leaves us vulnerable to a dramatic gap opening like we saw Monday morning. For this reason, we might want to hold less risk overnight than we normally do. Or at the very least, acknowledge the increased risk and be willing to hold something that could jump past our stop-loss levels.
While buying the dip in the face of all of these spooky and uncertain headlines feels risky, if we follow a sound plan, the risks are actually quite modest. By the time it “feels safe”, the discounts will long gone, and in fact, the higher prices actually make the “safe feeling” time riskier. Jumping in at the lows with a sensible plan and well-defined stop-loss gives us both protection and profit opportunity. Hard to argue with that.
Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every week.
What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours
Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket
Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM
By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
The S&P 500 tumbled for a second day on growing Coronavirus fears. While the odds of a massive epidemic remain very small, the risk is not zero and that is making investors nervous. As high as stocks climbed over the last few months, there was a lot of air underneath us and it doesn’t take much uncertainty to knock down a highflying market.
As I wrote last week, today’s tumble shouldn’t have surprised anyone. While history tells us these things don’t have a lasting impact on stocks, they do make a lot of waves in the moment and we were definitely seeing that today.
The bigger questions is if today was the worst of it. And unfortunately, the answer looks like “no”. These things usually end in a capitulation bottom when the selling climaxes and we exhaust the supply of fearful sellers. Today’s market traded mostly sideways and there wasn’t a lot of aggressive selling. The majority of owners held steady through the rocky open and the lack of new supply prevented prices from falling under the early lows. While this stability felt reassuring in the moment, it leaves many owners at risk of getting spooked out. That overhang means the worst could still be ahead of us.
This morning’s resilient open gave us a great buying opportunity. The early bounce gave us a clear stop-loss level to limit our risk. But if this was going to be a good trade, we would have seen prices climb decisively throughout the day. Instead, the market stumbled into the close. That is never a good sign.
This lethargic close means we probably have lower prices ahead of us. Luckily, most readers of this blog either took profits proactively last week or at the very least used 3,300 as a trailing stop to lock in their profits Friday. Rather than fear this dip, these proactive profit-takers are looking at this dip as a fantastic buying opportunity. Instead of lying awake at night debating whether they should stay in or get out like most investors, these proactive traders are looking at this dip as a fantastic buying opportunity.
Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every week.
What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours
Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket
Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM
By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
Does the Coronavirus really matter? Well, yes…..and no. The virus definitely matters to the people directly affected. It also matters to health organizations and governments. Their quick and decisive action will definitely help slow the spread of this deadly virus. And hopefully, their proactive response will keep this from spreading any further than it needs to.
Aside from the obvious human element, we are traders and we want to know how this will affect the stock market. By this point, everyone is drawing parallels to previous outbreaks and how the ultimate result was inconsequential for stocks. But the important thing to keep in mind is that assessment was only after it was all said and done. The only reason we remember these previous episodes is because they were big deals when we were in the middle of them. And chances are good the same thing will happen this time too.
While there are a lot of bulls arguing with the market dipping a handful of points over the last few sessions, the thing to remember is no one wins an argument with the stock market. Either we go along with it or we get out the way. If this market wants to dip on these headlines, great. Pull the plug on your longs and wait to get back in at lower levels. If you know this won’t last, rather than argue with it, be proactive and profit from it!
As I wrote previously, the greatest advantage we have as independent traders is our nimbleness. If we don’t take advantage of this strength, we are giving up the most important weapon we have in our arsenal. But if we are going to sell, we need to be proactive and do it early. I took a big chunk of profits last week because the market had a good run since December’s 3,200 breakout. These things always move in steps and I like taking at least some of my profits off the table after the market runs to the next obvious resistance level. That said, I did leave some money in with a stop near 3,300 just in case this kept racing higher. One foot in and the other foot out gave me the best of both worlds.
But as expected, the market dipped under 3,300 and I got stopped out of my final position today. I didn’t know what would happen when I planned this trade, I just new odds were good that something was going to come along and knock us down. And that is exactly what happened today.
Now that I’m out of the market, I have a pile of cash itching to get back in. Maybe that happens on Monday when all of this Contravirus stuff blows over and prices rebound back above 3,300. Or maybe the situation grows more grave and stocks dip even further. Either way, I have a plan to get back in. Do you?
Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every week.
What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours
Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket
Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM
By Jani Ziedins | Free CMU
Cracked.Market University:
There is plenty of advice on how to get out of the market. Whether that is taking profits when the market hits your price target or bailing out defensively when the market retreats to your stop-loss. But what you don’t hear very often is how important it is to get back in when you realize you sold too early.
The single greatest strength we have as independent traders is the nimbleness of our size. While institutional investors have impressive degrees, decades of experience, an army of researchers, and industry contacts we could never duplicate, what they don’t have is speed. It takes them weeks, even months to establish full positions, something we do in the amount of time it takes to make a few mouse clicks.
But with that nimbleness comes responsibility. Taking profits early and often is always a good idea. But so is continuing to watch the market for the opportunity to get back in. All too often people flip their outlook on a trade as soon as they sell. All of a sudden what was a great and profitable trade transforms into an outdated and used up idea. But a lot of times there is life still left in a good ideal and we should not let ourselves miss out on it just because we sold last week, yesterday, or even an hour ago.
Every time you sell, have a plan on what it would take to get back in. Maybe you jump back in if the market pulls back to a certain level. But what if the pullback never happens? Do you have a plan to get back in if it keeps going higher? While we never recklessly chase a move higher, maybe the stock is more resilient than we expected. But rather than missing the next leg higher because we are stubborn, have a plan to buy when prices exceed the prior highs.
There is nothing wrong with taking profits when your trading plan tells you to take profits. In fact, it would be wrong to not follow our trading plan. But once we are out, always be looking for that next entry point. It could happen a lot sooner than you expect.
Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every week.
What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have actionable analysis and a trading plan delivered to your inbox every day during market hours
Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket
Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM
You must be logged in to post a comment.