Friday, May 30, 2008

Base & Break - Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (Public, NASDAQ:CTSH)

I found CTSH through the TI momentum scan yesterday, but it was too far gone. I liked how orderly it traded and decided to add it to my focus list. Today, it set up a near perfect B&B (mini C&H on 5 min.).

I scalped CLF long in the very early going and let it go after a 1 pt. gain as price moved into resistance at the lower blue line. Too bad.

Took it short in the afternoon. Again my target was the lower blue line. I was hoping that the market would roll over before my target was hit, so that I could partial out and hang on for a bigger gain. But the market reluctantly carved out a minor new intraday high, so I had to stick to the original plan.

CNQ carved out a symmetrical C&H pattern. Once the trade got underway, the lower volume on the BO was suspect. The second BO bar stalled, again, due to a lack of volume. The the third BO bar took off on a volume spike. Again, this was suspect because volume spikes of this size should come near the end of the move. So I partialed out at $99.00. Smart move. The bears finally got into gear in the last hour.

9 comments:

Szélanyó said...

Hi Jamie,
I'm watching your site for a long time, actually it's my favorite trading blog. Looks like you know when to push the button:).
.
I'd like to know though how many positions you take daily? Are these your favorites or all that you do?

TJ said...

Thanks Szélanyo,

Some days I do a fair amount of scalping (trading not to lose). Yesterday, for example I caught small moves on CLF and ENER. Problem is that scalping requires a lot of attention tightening stop after each new higher high, so I can only do it when I have few open or real good B&B prospects.

Szélanyó said...

So the difference is that you don't have price tartgets while scalping, only a regularly adjusted (tighter) stop can take you out?

Anonymous said...

I agree with Szelanyo (Re: "... my favorite trading blog"). I was on vacation last week and actually flew across parts of Canada. It is great to come back to some good trading commentary for the days that I missed. Thanks Jamie!

TJ said...

Yeah, scalping is usually when I see a less perfect base, somewhat choppy, but still worth a try. The expectation is that price will not reach the full extension.

TJ said...

Thanks Jim. Welcome back! Hope you had a great vacation. Curious as to what parts of Canada you flew over?

Anonymous said...

Jamie,

It was a great vacation! I will send you an email with more detail.

bl said...

Jamie,
What is your TI scan for a CTSH, if you don't mind sharing. I don't use TI once market opens. Use Scottrade scan, like >$1up, or 2%, or 4%

TJ said...

BL,

The scan is called upside momentum. It's one of TI's pre-configured strategies. Most of the alerts are ripping, so you have to wait until price consolidates or carryover to the next session, as many of these names go up for several days in a row.