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Getting Short Up the Wazoo

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Starting fresh this week, after closing out the last pick as of last Monday’s open, I am making some tactical adjustments going forward. First, I am now incorporating screens from the whole week, not just Friday. In that way I hope to snare charts going through a progression of short term buy signals leaving them more likely to move sooner, and in the right direction.

I will continue to (mostly) forego stops in the first week that a pick is added to the list. But I will avoid the stupidity of being overconfident after having some success for a few weeks, and then going on vacation without having trailing or protective stops in place.

I continue to feel that stops should only be used as triggers for exiting trades that we want to close out. That would include both those that have gone well and those that have not. I still do not like arbitrary stop loss as a strategy to reduce loss, because it has equal or greater potential to reduce profits on trades that ultimately turn into big winners. Stop running and false breakouts and breakdowns are time honored strategies of dealers and big speculators. Such whipsaws often lead to big moves.

The raw data for last week as a whole showed a preponderance of buy signals. But lo and behold, when I ran a screen on Friday just on the universe of stocks that had had signals earlier in the week, there were just 4 that had short term buy signals on Friday, versus 42 on the sell side!

I reviewed those 46 charts for structures that looked promising. I chose 9 shorts, shown on the table below.

Sticking my neck out, for sure, but those 9 charts look well positioned to roll over in the weeks ahead. I think that some patience will be needed. They may or may not pop a bit in the short run, so I’m giving them room to breathe without stops for now. It’s a risky strategy, but it’s consistent with the liquidity outlook and the intermediate term technical outlook for the overall market.

The table and charts of open and new picks are below (subscriber version only).

The strategy and tactics opinions expressed in this report illustrate one particular approach to trading. No representation is made that it is the best approach, or even suitable for any particular investor.

These picks are illustrative and theoretical. Nothing in this report is meant as individual investment advice and you should not construe it as such. Trade at your own risk. 

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