Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Dummy Gapper Trades - Walter Industries, Inc. (Public, NYSE:WLT); Fording Canadian Coal Trust (USA) (Public, NYSE:FDG)

WLT and FDG were earnings gaps. WLT opened strong but retraced 75% before finding a bottom and beginning the base building process. I saw a 3 PP base at $94.00 and jumped in. Took a partial on weakness and then folded after it took out the morning swing high and gave it back.

I thought that FDG was setting up for a flat base breakout so I took an early entry. Once I was in the trade, I didn't feel any volume coming in, so I traded not to lose by moving stop after each completed 15 min. bar. After tagging the ORH twice, it failed and my stop saved the trade.

Failures usually lead to fast moves in the opposite direction. So I managed to make FDG work for me by short scalping it twice. The first scalp was a break of a bear flag. The second scalp set up after a full retrace back to the base and a mini C&H heading south.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice mindset reversal on FDG. That is one of the toughest things to do in trading.

TJ said...

Thanks Jim,

Yeah, sometimes easier to just move on. But, I like to wait and see if it forms a bear flag because it's such an easy pattern to trade.

Anonymous said...

Jamie,

Which are the 3 pivot points touching the base? I can see more than 3.

Love to read about your trades every evening.

Susan

bl said...

Nice switch. Also 8/30" WLT looks good

TJ said...

Thanks Susan,

You're right there are several pivots at $94.00, some on the way down in the morning. The ones I'm referring to are around 12:30, 1:00, and 1:09.

The key to these PP trades is waiting for a pivot to form near the base. If price travels too far to get to the base, it will likely fail, or BO, and come back in again.

TJ said...

BL,

Yeah, WLT looks better on the 30 min. than the 15.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jamie.