Love the FOMC Chop

Took a position in CTSH before the FOMC minutes, and glad I did as it held up well. BRL is doing absolutely nothing, but it does remind me of trades a while back that took time to develop. As long as I remain objective, I'll be fine. See my notes below on CTSH. Had to mix things up a bit because the usual Stockcharts.com charts were unavaiable. I added my criteria check at the end of the day, so it is a little biased due to the price increase...

CTSH:


CCI: Yes, barely below -100
Stochastics: Yes, nice
Sector/Industry: Yes
Market: Yes
Industry > Market: Yes
Signal: Good engulfing
Upside::Downside > 2: 2.0 (with rounding, also, stop set at yesterday's open, not low)

I will be watching the following stocks tomorrow, may be an interesting day given it is the end of month, quarter, and half year...BPOP s, NCI s, and SGMS s. Not the prettiest charts but okay.

For now,
Masterjaz out

Holy--530 Charts downloaded today, how to chose

Practically every REIT, financial, home builder and tech stock printed monster bullish engulfings today, making it impossible to pick a nice, short watchlist. Somehow narrowed it down to 14, but even then, I may have missed a couple. Also, of the 14, some are much better than others with respect to volume and sector. Here they are (not looking forward to typing and linking them all): KDE s, CPY s, DSPG s, JBX s, LFUS s, MTH s, SHFL s, AFFX s, BLC s, CBRL s, CTSH s, MCHP s, MAT s, and SBUX s. Also note that some have very large bars leaving the risk:reward highly skewed toward the risk if the stop loss is set at today's low! I also noted that when looking on Yahoo! after the close (~6pm EST) a lot of stocks had significant after hours drops--don't know exactly is going on, pre-FOMC positioning?, but it was a curiousity...

For now,
Masterjaz out

BRL and Watchlist

Another choppy day for the markets. Took a position in BRL after it met my criteria (which I think I will elaborate or check off below). See my notes for some annotations of charts etc. Also, as mentioned yesterday, I had to sell RAH after it blew past my stop loss during yesterdays market tanking. Sold 5.50967 shrs @ $53.01 for a net of:

RAH: -$7.94 or -2.65% (high, although slippage was significant)

BRL:

CCI (below -100 and turning up): Yes
Stochastics (crossover below 25): Yes, a few bars back
Sector/Industry Up: Yes
Market Up: Yes (least important criterion)
Industry stronger than SP500 last 5 days: Yes (new criterion I'm testing)
Doji or Engulfing: Yes
Upside:Downside > 2: No, 1.57

I think posting these checklists will help improve my trading, especially my objectivity.

As for new candidates, not a lot to chose from, only 45 charts downloaded. I like ATK s and CLX s. Coming into earnings season, I need to remember to check for earnings announcements before buying...

For now,
Masterjaz out

Hmm, hmm, hmm, humming a song to ease my blues...

Another swing stock fails, but that is par for the year, no real worries, followed by system. Market is just sucking wind right now and my stock picks are as well. Sold KIM, 7.63262 shrs @ $38.994 for a net of: (luckily got out higher than my stop loss, stock tanked later in the day--the joy of objectivity)

KIM: -$2.37 or -0.79%

RAH will be sold in the morning as the later afternoon 'swoon' took it down hard. May have super slippage or may get a little bounce--don't care it is sold and I am moving on.

I'll be watching the following stocks (3 restaurants/casual dining, not the best picks): SONC s, EAT s, AMED s, GY s, PZZA s, and BRL s. As always, if my criteria are met and I make a trade, I'll post the transaction and my notes.

For now,
Masterjaz out

Monday Morning Update...

Had a new trade on Friday, KIM, and you can see my notes below. Weak day for the markets but both KIM and RAH held above my stop losses, so I'll have to see what happens today.

KIM:

I'll be watching NAPS s, THG s, TRB s, UTSI s, and WEN s today. Some are a little risky, but the charts are decent.

For now,
Masterjaz out

Finally out of VRTX...

The VRTX saga is over, finally. Stock took so much money from me, poor trading, poor results, hmm, interesting how that works. Stock hit my stop loss and I sold in the afternoon window. Just a dead stock, should've sold some at $28 when I had the chance, but it would've been subjective as well. That's the way it goes. Sold 10.96892 shrs @ $26.98 for a net of:

VRTX: -$4.07 or -1.36% (nice objective trade, just a dead stock)

But now I have two positions ready to be filled. Interesting market today, choppy, but maybe an upward trend is developing?...I'll be watching: AMED s, RRGB s, REG s, KIM s, SPF s, and BGP s tomorrow. SPF is the chart of the day, just a beaut!

For now,
Masterjaz out

Splat...

Markets just tanked this afternoon, too bad they took a couple good stocks with them. VRTX was acting wonderfully until the closing hour sell-off; no stop loss hit so maybe it can resume, with more vigor, tomorrow? Same with a new position in RAH, good morning, holding up and then splat. Stock was an objective purchase, met all my criteria and I likely would buy it again. Did not hit my stop loss, but the trigger is a whopping 2.2% from my entry, talk about leaving some room to work. Tomorrow is going to be interesting. I am expecting a continuation of today's sell-off (would actually embrace it as I have retirement cash waiting to be reinvested if the dip is big enough), but at the same time, I would like to have VRTX and RAH show some strength. Oh well. My notes on RAH and no candidates for tomorrow...


For now,
Masterjaz out

Staying Objective...

I like it when my plan works; I make moves according to my system and I make money. Sold the remaining 1/2 of my NEWP position. The stock opened above my 1% target, causing me to up my stop loss, then the stock hit the stop loss and I sold, just like I am supposed to. Ended up getting out 10c better than the close. Certainly not at the high, but within my desired range. Sold 10.33855 shrs @ $15.72 for a net of:

NEWP: +$16.54 or +5.51%

Some decent looking charts today, so I'll be watching the following stocks in the morning: AMED s, FED s (again), MRCY s, QSII s, RAH s, UFCS s (a little thin), VOL s, JCP s, and WRI s. Don't like having quite so many stocks to watch, but after trying to remove a couple, all the charts met my initial criteria, so kept them all.

For now,
Masterjaz out