My stock market trading plan today

Another dose of “Buy the Dip”. At one point it was down as much as 18 points. I kid not, but once the afternoon rolled around, that 18 points shrank to just under 4 points by the close of business. In the meantime, that kind of price action leaves scores of bulls frustrated, because the charts shows signs of charts starting to roll over and they start booking gains or getting stopped out, in order to preserve gains, only to see their stocks go marching right back up. 

Such is the life of a trader. You can’t control the conditions, only try and profit from them. 

Even with yesterday’s perfect bounce of SPY off of the 50-day moving average again and SPX holding that trend line off of the December lows perfectly, the bears have some developments going their way on the short side of things. Just looking at the charts, the S&P looks like it is trying to roll over. On the otherhand, you have a good chance that this is a bull flag the market is trying to establish. Either way, play it safe – don’t get overly long or short in either direction that you cannot change quickly to accommodate the market’s direction. 

Do that and you’ll be fine. 

stock market today

S&P 500 Chart

stock market trading plan

Current Stock Trading Portfolio Balance: 

  • 2 Short positions, 1 Long position

Recent Stock Trade Notables:

  • UPRO: Long at 91.94, closed at 96.54 for a 5.0% profit.
  • Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at 105.736, closed at 108.22 for a 2.4% profit. 
  • Facebook (FB): Long at 134.27, Closed at 139.23 for a 3.7% profit. 
  • CDW Corp (CDW): Long at 58.65, closed at 58.91 for a 2.7% loss. 
  • Redhat (RHT): Long at 82.41, Closed at 83.53 for a 1.4% profit. 
  • Ambarella (AMBA): Long at 57.15, Closed at 55.52 for a 2.8% loss. 
  • Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at 104.73, closed at 106.05 for a 1.3% profit. 
  • Broadcom (AVGO): Long at 218.63, Closed at 222.71 for a 1.9% profit. 
  • American Airlines (AAL): Short at 44.76, Closed at 44.03 for a 1.6% profit.
  • UPRO  (Day-Tade): Long at 95.35, closed at 96.50 for a 1.2% profit.
  • OZRK: Long at $56.12, closed at $54.69 for a 2.5% loss. 
  • FNSR: Long at $34.25, closed at 34.70 for a 1.3% profit. 
  • UPRO  (Day-Tade): Long at 96.92, closed at 98.03 for a 1.2% profit. 
  • JP Morgan Chase (JPM): Long at 87.21, closed at 89.67 for a 2.8% profit. 
  • Chevron (CVX): Short at 110.03, covered at 111.85 for a 1.6% loss. 
  • Flex Technologies (FLEX): Long at $15.62, closed at $16.57 for a 6.1% profit. 
  • Baidu (BIDU): Long at $174.70, closed at $187.00 for a 7.0% profit. 
  • Ollie’s Bargain Outlet: Long at 33.20, closed at $32.50 for a 2.1% loss. 
  • Corning (GLW): Long at $26.98, closed at $27.45 for a 1.7% profit. 
  • Illinois Tool Works (ITW): Long at $127.74, closed at $129.86 for a 1.7% profit. 
  • Marriott Int’l (MAR): Long at $86.16, closed at $87.51 for a 1.6% profit.