My laptop died on me when I needed it most. It blue screened last night and never recovered. While I have most of my data backed up, I ended up having to replace the laptop today and it looks like I will spend the better part of the next few days installing programs. This all of course comes at a time when I am confined to my family room in crutches, so none of this has been easy. There is a lesson here that I learned a long time ago however. Because I have a trading plan in place, with orders (or alerts) managing my exits for me, I was comfortable today despite not knowing what my positions were doing all day. I actually had a fairly active day with a few target hits and stop outs. Even the most discretionary of traders should have an emergency stop in place somehow. You never know what can happen, and it's better to have some assurance.
Good Trading,
Joey
Stock Chart FSTR
L.B. Foster Company (Public, NASDAQ:FSTR)
FSTR's chart is showing a fairly common rectangle base that can also be interpreted as a W bottom or double bottom. While some may say that double bottom's only exist at the end of a downtrend, I prefer to look at what the price action is telling me, and disregard what the pattern is labeled. FSTR's base may be setting up for a reversal of the 1-2-3 correction it began last December, or it could easily be setting up as a continuation base. I prefer to look at this for an upside breakout, because it it close to doing so, and the longer term trend supports it. It looks like it attempted a breakout a couple of weeks ago, but it also has traded a pretty tight range after that refusing to give up too much ground. However, I just realized that FSTR reports earnings on the 24th of April, so that may be the catalyst for which direction it takes. I will not trade this at this point due to upcoming earnings, but I decided to post it anyways, because some readers may actually be holding it already, or some of you may have safer ways of playing it with option strategies.
Good Trading,
Joey
for more analysis, check out downtowntrader.com
Stock Chart Analysis HD
The Home Depot, Inc. (Public, NYSE:HD)
While HD has been in a downtrend for years, there seems to be some bullish behavior building in the stock. While it technically below the most recent long term base (looking at the weekly charts), it looks like it has formed a solid base on the daily charts and that it may attempt a run at the previous breakdown area. This would carry HD into the $32-34 area. The measured move of a breakout from the triangle base would carry to $35 which may be pushing it near term, but would yield a respectable trade.
Good Trading,
Joey
for more analysis, check out downtowntrader.com
I had my second reconstruction of my right Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) on Friday. Both of my knee injuries have been on freak accidents on the basketball court, and it's amazing how a split second decision by someone else can ruin your year. About 14 years have passed from my first surgery and all I can say is surgery still sucks. They have all these new techniques and options and the end result is not much different from how I felt the first time. If anything, I'm in more pain now. I was supposed to have a femoral nerve block but I had complete feeling in my entire leg immediately following the surgery. As hard as it is to believe, I had more pain on the night following surgery, then two days later when the anesthetics supposedly wear off. I also had one of those fancy On-Q pain pumps and while it may of helped (hard to tell), I basically have been bleeding out of it all weekend. Thank god that thing comes off tomorrow. I think I will feel much better once that thing is removed. On the bright side I was able to avoid "microfracture" surgery, despite "extensive" cartilage damage. I can't wait to see what awaits me in my golden years.
Between the Doctor and Physical Therapy, I don't think I will have much time left to trade tomorrow.
Good Luck,
Joey
