Sunday, April 27, 2008

Divergence spotted on major indices

Beaish divergence was observed coincidentally on all 4 major indices i am tracking. This is a warning to me that the current uptrend is showing weakness. This does not mean the price will definitely turn down sharply. So how do we make use of this information?
1) I will not take any new position since there will be a risk of a retracement. Buying now may result in buying at the high.
2) I may turn to short stocks which are trading at resistance, weak on the indicators.
3) Watch how the bearish divergence may be invalidated by a strong bull movement.
Other observations include the high trading volume which has no follow through on Friday. I never like it when there is high volume and yet the price could not close higher. Granted, it may be a typical Friday where investors are more cautious. But high volume??? Also, i had this fear that we may be experiencing distribution recently.
Fed meeting is coming up! Time to play big small again keke Anyway, bradley turn date on the 27th Apr.... i will be cautious for any big movement.
Chartered recent strength caught my attention. I wonder any good news coming from the coy.
The rest of the shares, plenty of room to retrace since they are too far extended from 20DMA
DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

China garment support market

Now we know why S-shares were so hot over last 2 weeks. China side has reduced trading fees. This is one of my favourite tagline at seminar, price moves ahead of news. I still remember there was a time when i was speaking at NUS, one student ask me, how come the price moves up before the news is known? I can only smile and wink at them.... yes insider trading is illegal... but does it happen in the market? Up to your imagination i told them. *I had to be politically right* keke However for the rest of us, i'm sure we know this is why Technical Analysis works. When the buying starts, it leaves trail.

No wonder every night when i screen one of my MUST screen rules using XPertTrader, big volume, plenty of china stocks keep coming up. All the 4r1g signals work.

Today's closing was not bullish. We saw alot of stocks closing off the high. This is where we should start looking at heavy dumping at this level. When i screened for big volume, this time round i have 54 stocks appearing in my list!!! Usual will see twenties. What's more, most of them are China stocks. This is like a warning sign flashing in front of me.

As for Dow, if we see 12,650 trades, there could be immediate weakness to be wary of.

So any chance to load up shares? I think we need to observe how the market trades tomorrow. It is normal for market to retrace after strong gains. However, i noted that STI is unable to break above 3186 this week. Furthermore, today it closed a shooting star... ugly!

DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

T.A should be easy and fun!

Sorry guys, i was too busy with my personal matters as well as work. My grandma was hospitalised and I had to visit her in the evening, leaving little time to blog. Ever since i started trading, the most obvious change in my life is the sacrificing of time with my family. Ironic... when she is at home, i no time to visit her.... when she is hospitalised, i make it an effort to visit her as often as i can. What is this nonsense???

Work wise, exciting stuffs coming up. Everyone should know we have a training team now. While i seek to increase the team, i myself will have an opportunity to step back and take care of the after course support! Yes, we have more than 1000 graduates and it will be a good number to work with. Also i have stepped up sending T.A case study to all ChartNexus users, i want to promote the use of T.A in the investment community. This is really something that inspire me. Why? Because i was just a usual computer engineer in a MNC company just 1 year ago. Now i have the chance and opportunity to persue my personal interest as a career. Just like Beckham able to play foot ball to make a living. Not only that, now i have the chance to change the life of others in a small way. By promoting the use of T.A in the investment community! : )

Also, i have been supporting the graduates only forum actively. I must start to instil confidence in them in this volatile market. I can share the T.A, but trading experience is something not able to cover 100% in the course. That's why my trainers and I will share what to do in daily post.

Lastly, my own trading. Since last week, the market rebounded nicely at support levels. This is very key to where the market is heading. As i mentioned in the last post, i was biased to the upside. But amidst all the bad news, it's not easy to go long. Hence, i built a portfolio with 1 short and 2 long positions. My rationale being, if i am wrong, i will cut the 2 long positions and my short position will make me money to cover the loss and more! Why more? Because when the market goes down, it is always faster than coming up! That's why, when the market heads up, my short position go against me slower and that my 2 longs make back the loss and gained more as the market climbed higher. During intra week weakness i collect 2 more long positions and sold those near resistance to avoid risk. Yes, during volatile times, i do not take too many positions otherwise will be badly expose to downside risk.

Last Friday i was sharing T.A at this Professional Engineers Associations. I made T.A look so simple and fun to apply. How? Cosco Corp, all i did was show them just how MFI say rebound coming... and look at where Cosco is now? I do not like to over analyse. According to my experience, the highest probability way to use T.A is when we only take the most obvious signals. This is something i learnt during my early years where i paid for not through courses but through tuition fees in the stock market.. keke

As for my take on the market, i am looking at any bearish continuos patterns forming. I am not blind to the bad news in the market, i still feel one day market will react to the bad news. And the possible date maybe 27th Apr thereabouts... i am looking out for signs of weakness. Will inform via this blog when i see the signs.

Flavour at the moment, properties and S-shares.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Market selling subdued

After Monday's plunge, I notice the volume wasn't at the high side. Dow's mixed closing suggested that the bears are taking a breather. Will it continue tonight, no one will know for sure. I have seen one day plunge, next day doji and then gap down again. But the market actions after the plunge was different from what i remembered. Hence there is a chance market will react differently. Another observation is how many of the stocks refuse to break last week's low. The logic is simple, if it is really bearish, we would have gone down swiftly. Hence, i found the actions biased to the upside. However, we must be wary of a bear flag in the making. I cannot ignore the fact that bad news have been absorbed very well by the market. It doesn't seem to make sense that the market can moves up with bad news all around. What i can make out of this is, let us profit from this rebound and then turn short accordingly when market decides to digest the bad news. I waited for 2 weeks before pulling the trigger to short last week. Patience will be rewarded. Like what Raymond said, "Our goal is not to trade often, but to trade profitably". I have strong reasons to believe, the worst is yet to come. This pretendance by the market will one day shows the true colors.

My team and I will be at SGX Auditorium sharing trading strategies with like-minded investors this coming Thursday. If market continues to edge higher cautiously from today, i'm sure the "live" sharing will be very beneficial and meaningful.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Market left confused

My convictions paid off as my market opinon was acted out by the market. Following my plan, i initiated more short positions and was looking forward for STI to crash below 3k. Alas, Friday's surprising strong performance forced me to cover back my shorts intra-day. I remembered reading this phrase from Livermore's book, "If you see a train coming at you at 80km/hr, you are plain stupid to still stand in it's way. We can always jump off first, wait for it to past and then jump back onto the track." Similarly, i was feeling the same as i saw the buying strength and i especially do not like the way the selling was absorbed. Without saying, Nikkei and HSI big rally give the bulls a boost. Boy a i glad i covered early and not leave it to 5pm as the late buying really squeezed lots of shorts out there. All these before Dow opened for trading few hours later... now i wish i haven't sold.... hahaha

Overnight, Dow crashed at long last! It was the reason why i was so cautious about turning long in local market as i expected a big drop to happen... but it just wouldn't. Guess what? the day i took my profits off my short positions, it crashed 259 points. How frustrating! Think i have to go waterloo street temple to get some flowers home to bath in...

Despite having decent profits from last week's operations, i wasn't happy. How to be happy when the market is swinging up and down with such volatility. I don't like it when i can't ride on trend for the easy money. Ok since i have sold, i think i can officially declare the counter which i have profited from the upside despite the market swings left and right. ISDN. Check out it's chart. Simply amazing. I didn't want to post online for fear of inducing you to buy and this is unethical since i am vested. Now that i have sold, no qualms about sharing. I sold the day i add one more short position in the market. This is part of my money mgmt. I wasn't comfortable with too many positions so i had to reduce.

I am still umm ga wan... tomorrow if it breaks last week low, i may initiate new shorts. However i am cautious, because no doubt, things are not looking pretty for Dow, the strong buying on Friday in Asia is something i should take note of.

STI forms a hanging man on the weekly chart... i will be looking out for signs of black candle confirmation.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Psychology in trading

If anything, last 2 weeks of the market is a mean test to my psychology in trading. With prices soaring, i am vested light in stocks. Every passing day tested my patience. Every intra-day weakness was magified as "the moment" through my bearish glasses. Alas, who am i to dictate where the market should go. If I am late in the party, I shall wait. But little did i expect this wait to last 2 weeks. Truth be told, at times i am really tempted to initiate long position.

I stood by my analysis and convictions where experience reminded me to hold my horses. Those painful and demoralising losses of the past lingers in my mind as i try to initiate any long positions. I asked myself, if i buy here, where is my stop loss, peering through the charts, the stop-loss would be quite a distance from where the closing price is. With 2 weeks of rally, pull back is imiment. It certainly does not make sense to initiate a long position at this stage. Coupled with Astrology analysis where bradley turn date is tonight and indices trading at resistance, what odds do i have? How about quickies? Yes i imagined if i have bought during intraday weakness, i would have pocketed profits here and there. But in Hokkien, there is a saying, "Eat pig, pay dog". It means to say, for all the small profits here and there, soon, this suckers rally will suck me in an even more risky position and that single loss will wipe out all the small profits. Yes, been there done that. Big money is made from trading along with the trend! I already have a set of methods known as technical analysis. If I do not follow my methods, i will lose the consistency that I have and will be trading at random.

Earnings season is coming up at US side, with the buy up leading to this week, "factored in" could be the fashion in analysis if the market comes down. Of course if the results is bad, it will confirm a slowdown many had feared. Fed minutes will be ready for the market to digest tomorrow and also the crude inventories. All the market need is an excuse to come off, one of them may be it.

China shares has performed remarkably well. Last week i seen many stocks trading near their resistance and today, most of them broke through. This is indeed strength which i cannot deny. I recall just months ago during the last reporting, many of these china companies report lower earnings. There is little incentive for them to be up at this stage. If a rally is not backed by fundamental reasons, surely it cannot last? Synear? I remembered the dumplings turned sour due to margin squeezed... why on earth the sudden interest in the stock? 2004, the year i blindly followed the herd and got into the red army frenzy. Those rally looked so real back then and i was so blind to the resistance that the selling off really caught everyone flat footed.

We still have 4 trading days to go. Let's see Mr Market's trump card.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Hesitation near resistance


Dow Jones: 3 small bodied candles signify hesitation of the bulls. DJ resistance stands at 12,760 thereabouts for now. If it pulls back, i will be watching for a test on the 20SMA. MFI also trades at resistance. Once again, despite a bad non-farm pay roll data, DJ refuse to head lower. Normally this would mean the market may not head lower in the near term. But i'm giving more significance to the resistance levels thinking there is no incentive for the market to head higher. Also there is a bradley turn date on the 7th Apr.


STI: There's a gap to be filled for STI. Currently it has traded above the resistance level. The last few candles could be a bull trap if market falls back into the range-trade. MFI shows a similar level when the index traded at this level.

As indices are trading near resistance, I want to short at the next turn down. 2 things can happen. If i am right, the market may retest the lower range and my shorts make me money. If I am wrong, the stop loss is near and I cut my losses short and wait to long. The study of the retracement is very important as well because, there is a difference between a normal retracement and jumping off the cliff kind of actions.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Dow surges ahead

I was caught by surprise when Dow finishes up so strongly. Never estimate the power of "intervention". With the latest Paulson move, market cheered even a small bounce in ISM. Yeah, maybe afterall the recession is just a scare. The writedown of UBS was largely ignored "tabi" for the intraday sell down yesterday afternoon. Yes! I went to short YZJ. To my dismay, in less than 1 hour i have to eat the humble pie and cut loss. But luckily I cut, otherwise today my face sure go red!

Now that the 3000 resistance is convincingly broken and that too of the 3100. It's time market takes a breather. It is this breather where I will be watching for how well the selling is absorbed. As for last week til today, the selling in intra-day was often absorbed and market pushed higher. What about the fund dressing?? Aren't they going to undress? I shall not let this handicap my analysis, it is better for me to be objective.

Last week i screened and saw many stocks trading at resistance. If it is bearish, the stocks would have went down from there. By breaking through, the underlying market tone could have changed. In terms of market psychology, i'm pretty sure many of the retailers are not heavily vested in this run-up and this cautiousness may augers well for further upside as money can still flow into the stock market.

When bad news is ignored, looks like market don't wanna go down. Let us look at the next market moving news or data. I be still looking to short, my eye is on how Dow takes the resistance 12,700. Right now on the 30mins chart, i can see bearish divergence liao!

Banks are super today with powerful gap up. Now it has a big gap to fill... the coming down may be very painful. Properties are also strong as i can see many stocks appearing in my screening. China shares closed weaker after HSI pulls off a late stunt. I am still interested in the short side for now and will wait for my signals to appear.

Do allow me to complain abit about life, really want to write it out to vent frustrations...... Time... it seems like my new life doesn't leave me with enough time. Today is a rare day where i can blog and do homework at 8pm! Just like the good old days. Otherwise, homework is done late at night and after the analysis i am too exhausted to post anything. I don't like this at all because i know this blog is widely followed and I feel unhappy to not able to share the know-how to beginners who would like to learn trading. I for one really believes that trading is a life skill and it is the only insurance against retrenchment and to this day i never forget that it is this fear that has driven me to take this path. Although it's been 4 months and i'm still trying to strike a balance between business, family and trading.... i'm sure one day everything will fall in place... I don't remember giving up trading when i was a loser and it's the same perseverance that saw me through. looooon ah!!

By the way, whoever wants to go Bedok camp for RT, we can all go together liao coz' i sprained my knee during shuttle run and couldn't run the 2.4km and the dateline is next week. This time confirm tio RT.... haha Not bad la, i see people do RT, majam relac one corner... we all can discuss stocks ma! hahaha

DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings.