A Great Week for Swing Trade Screen Picks

Last week, the list had an average gain of 11.2% with an average holding period of 2½ weeks. It was a very good week indeed. We have to be careful though. We’ve seen previously that when the list has double digit gains, the stocks on the list have reversed sharply. So I continue to tighten stops to close out the pick at an opportune time and protect profits.

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The percentage gain is based on 100% cash positions, with no margin and no use of leverage or options.

Last week, 4 picks hit those stops. 3 were shorts put on in early May. The gains on those were 1.1%, 23.3%, and 28.1%, with an average holding period of 3 day. One pick was a natural gas play that whipsawed and still looks good, so I put it back on the list.

The final list of double screened output for last week resulted in 24 charts with multiple buy signals, and 7 with more than one sell signal.

The screen results come from a universe of approximately1200-1500 stocks daily that meet the criteria of trading above $6.00, and with average volume greater than a million shares per day. I start the weekly process by screening for daily buys and sells from the previous Friday through Thursday. I then rescreen that output, for additional signals in the progression on Thursday and Friday.

I reviewed the charts from the final output visually. I didn’t see any worthy of adding to the list, on either the buy side, or the short-sale side. We’re in an in-between stage where nothing looks particularly interesting either way. So I’ll ride the ones what brung us as shown on the table below.

Picks closed out in May have so far averaged a gain of 3.4% on an average holding period of 2 weeks. There have been 25 closed picks. All were shorts.

5/9/22 April was a challenging month. The final tally of closed picks in April had an average loss of 0.4% with an average holding period of 11 calendar days. My system does not do well when the average low to low cycle duration drops below 4 weeks.

March was better. Picks closed in March had an average gain of 4% with an average holding period of 23 calendar days.

This week we start with 8 picks including the one rebuy. All 8 are longs. Six are direct energy plays.

I’ve adjusted stop levels to protect profits and close out picks as they age.

All active picks and those closed last week are shown on the table below. Charts of open picks are below that.

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Last week we started with 23 picks on the list. There were 6 longs and 17 shorts. I set one to be covered on Monday’s open. 13 others hit their stops during the week and were closed out. Including those and the picks still open at the end of the week gave us average gains of 3.6% with an average holding period of 13 days.

Closed picks closed out in May have so far averaged a gain of 1.4% on an average holding period of 13 calendar days.

April was a challenging month. The final tally of closed picks in April had an average loss of 0.4% with an average holding period of 11 calendar days. My system does not do well when the average low to low cycle duration drops below 4 weeks. Normally that doesn’t happen too often, but we must roll with the punches when it does.

March was better. Picks closed in March had an average gain of 4% with an average holding period of 23 days.

The percentage gain is based on 100% cash positions, with no margin and no use of leverage or options.

This week we start with 11 picks including the 2 new ones. 8 of the 11 picks are longs. Only 3 remain short. If the market crashes this week, I’m sorry, but we’ll miss it and hopefully the 8 longs being mostly energy and one precious metal, won’t be among the casualties.

I’ve added new stops to the picks from last week, and adjusted stops on the remainder. This week’s new picks will be added without stops as usual. I like to give them breathing room at the beginning, and manage risk by having multiple picks.

The new picks, along with picks that remain open, and those closed out last week, are shown on the table below. Charts of new and open picks are below that (subscriber report only).