How to Spot Pivots in the VIX

Gap Trading Fundamentals

All of a sudden, there’s a gap in the chart of your favorite stock.

Surprise news, earnings, something unexpected caused a bout of extreme optimism or pessimism that resulted in the move.

Look at Palo Alto Networks (PANW), for example.  In early June 2017, shares closed at $118.59.  However, shortly after the close, news of a massive cyber attack began hitting headlines.  Orders come flooding in overnight.  The next day, the stock opens at $140.

Why it Pays to Use these 4 Key Technical Tools

Sometimes, simplicity is the best way to spot opportunity.

In early August 2018, shares of Weight Watchers (WTW) plunged $12 unexpectedly on an earnings overreaction. But the news really wasn’t worthy of such a gap lower.

Three of the Most Consistent Candlestick Patterns

When Munehia Homma first created candlestick charts in they 1700s, he had no idea it’d change the way we look at stocks 300 years later.

To him, candlestick charting was meant for the rice trade.

He’d record the opening day’s price of rice, the low and the close. And over time, he’d begin to see price patterns in his recordings, mapping out repetitive signals in the price bars. He’d soon give them names, like spinning tops, dojis, and hanging man – candlestick names we still use to this day. The discovery of such patterns helped him successfully predict future direction of rice prices, giving him a significant advantage over other traders.

Williams’ %R: One of the Most Essential Technical Indicators

One of the best ways to become a great trader is to try new things.

Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a perfect strategy. But if you’re willing to trade outside of the box, you can become a better trader.

Trading with the 50 Day and 200 Day Moving Averages

When it comes to technical analysis, one of the necessities for success is the moving average.  In fact, for years, I’ve personally relied on two of them – the 50-day and even the 200-day moving averages.

Each is powerful because they give us a view of a stock’s trend, as well as a look at where we may find support and resistance along the way.  For example, if I find a stock that historically bounces every time it hits its 50-day moving average, I’m likely to buy on a test of that moving average. 

That’s because, as they say, the trend is your friend.

Three of the Most Powerful Technical Pivot Indicators

When bungee jumpers plummet off a bridge, what happens?

They pop back up, right?

The very same thing happens with stocks when they become too overbought or oversold. And if we can position ourselves for the exact moment the “snap back” happens, we can make money. And it’s actually quite easy to spot.

The Exact Time to Jump out of Any Trade

It’s not about having the perfect strategy.

It’s about the rule you abide by with each trade. 

One of the biggest issues facing all walks of traders is a severe lack of discipline and structure in stock buying habits. Many fail to use stop losses, or even protect gains with a simple trailing stop loss strategy. Others risk far too much.

Price Expansion and Retraction: The Rubber Band Effect

If you pull a rubber band too far, too fast, what happens?

It snaps back, right?  The same thing happens with stocks, indexes, and currencies.  If they’re pulled too far in one direction, eventually they’ll snap back and revert to back to the mean.  In fact, we see it happen all the time.

The Two-Step Process to Uncovering Value after a Pullback

“Why would I want to touch a stock that just plummeted?”

My answer, “Why not?”

What many traders don’t understand is that many pullbacks create opportunities, especially when it happens to a well-known stock. 

How to Properly Catch a Falling Knife

Traders are often told to buy excessive fear.

Warren Buffett even advises to buy when others are fearful.

It’s part of the reason some bought Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB) after both witnessed ugly downturns on earnings fiascos.

How to Know When a Trend Reversal Is Likely

We have all heard the phrase, "the trend is your friend" and as traders we also know just how amazing profitable it can be trading alongside it as well as how devastating it can be to out accounts when we trade against it. But before we are truly able to spot likely trend reversals, we must be able to spot a trend itself.

Trading the J-Hook Continuation Pattern

Technical analysts attempt to predict direction by studying past price action and charts. And understandably, there are critics. In fact, some see it a pseudo-nonsense. 

Forbes for example says it’s fundamentally flawed.

Analysts Turn Bullish on Gold, But Beware

Investors piled into gold in June 2019, sending the precious metal to a six-year high.

All thanks to tensions with China, a more dovish Federal Reserve, and the latest “hard-hitting” sanctions on Iran after a U.S. drone was shot down. Remember, gold is a safe haven and a good store of value during times of a weaker dollar, slowing economic activity, and geo-tensions.

How to Spot a “Blood in the Streets” Opportunity in Big Tech

In early June 2019, markets pulled back sharply.

And it wasn’t just because of the trade war. This time, falling knives in big tech forced the NASDAQ into correction territory. All thanks to antitrust regulator’s plans that could lead to broader oversight on Facebook, Google, and Amazon.

How to Identify Flag and Pennant Setups

Once you begin to understand technical analysis, you’re literally looking at a consolidated view of the very forces of supply and demand – the two key forces that drive markets. 

We’ve already discussed some of the most powerful and most used patterns, like Bollinger Bands, Fibonacci retracements, relative strength, head and shoulder patterns, breakouts, and even how to use candlesticks.

The Magic of Moving Average Crossovers

By now, you’re well aware of how to find trends using simple moving averages, such as the 50- and 200-day moving averages.   But you should also know how to potentially spot when a trend could stop dead in its tracks, or birth a new trend.