C: Pre-earnings run pattern ahead of Monday reportCitigroup has a pre earnings run pattern which tends to be caused by Pro Traders setting up to take advantage of the earnings reaction. The company will report its 1st quarter earnings on Monday. C had a reactionary gap up at open caused by the JPM gap today. It formed an indecision day candle rapidly. The early gap could interfere with the technical patterns for the report release day.
Protraders
NTAP: Filling gap, solid candlestick patterns ahead of earningsNTAP has moved into the gap area, and is now poised to challenge the next resistance level. This stock has had recent HFT activity and is likely to have more HFT attention on the day of its earnings release. The candlestick patterns are solid ahead of earnings. Watch for pro traders setting up for a pre-earnings run.
TER: Similar technical pattern to AMD, moving with momentumTER is one of the few stocks moving with momentum in an indecisive market condition. It is a semiconductor stock that has a similar technical pattern to AMD, with Dark Pool buying intermittently through the bottom formation. The stock recently pushed through strong resistance. With earnings in 3 weeks, this may be the start of a pre-earnings run. Watch the next levels of resistance around 45 and then 50 for profit-taking risk from professional technical traders.
HD: Bottom breakout, support to sustain gains ahead of earningsHD broke out and above the short term resistance levels of a bottom completion area. This bottom is an intermediate-term bottom formation. The breakout has support to sustain the gains and is occurring ahead of the earnings season which provides potential for a pre-earnings run which tend to be fueled by pro traders, who provide sustainable momentum runs.
VZ: Defied Dow sell-off Friday with pre-earnings runVZ was one of the 4 Dow 30 components that defied the huge DJIA sell-off on Friday.
The communications company is riding higher on 5G technology coming to market and has a pre-earnings run underway, which means the stock is on the radar of the pro traders.
MKSI: Longer bottom completed and moving with momentumMKSI worked on a longer-term bottom formation that is completed and moving up with momentum at this time. The consolidations of the past two 1-day runs are very precise and horizontal. These candlestick patterns offered excellent low-risk entries. The stock has an all-time high around $128, so ample room to move up further. It has also completed a near perfect V Trough formation on the long-term cycle indicator chart. Currently price is controlled by professional technical traders.
Small Cap Stock to Watch: NSTG with Dark Pools, Pro TradersNSTG had a speculative momentum run out of a short term bottom. This small-cap stock has finally broken out of its long term trading range to a new high. Now it needs to shift sideways to avert a falling stock price. There is some mild accumulation in the consolidation patterns that are representative of one or two Dark Pool giants and some pro traders who both stabilize and control price to a neat and tidy-looking consolidation.
NSTG is not a buy at the moment as the run is overextended at this point, but it is worth considering for a possible watchlist candidate since it is in Nano technology, which is finally forging ahead again with more products moving to the market acceptance phase.
NTAP Earnings: Short-term Bottom, HFT, Pro Traders, BuybacksNetApp is a Data Storage company for Cloud Technology. The Financial Services Industry is reporting a huge increase in Cloud Services usage that is starting in 2019 after a very conservative interest in Cloud Based Storage and services. This could potentially help NTAP complete this short term bottom and begin a new business cycle for the next couple of years. NTAP topped around $88 and declined to a low of about $56 before starting this first attempt at a bottom. HFTs are likely to be targeting this stock tomorrow as it reports its earnings. NTAP technically has stopped just below resistance for a completion of bottom. It is technically in a sideways pattern at this level. BOP shows HFTs were the drivers for the stock to drop in price to the short term bottom low of $56. BOP is not yet showing any quiet accumulation. Some pro traders are in the mix. The stock may also be under buyback mode as well.
LRCX: Dark Pool & Professional Trader Patterns Ahead of EarningsLRCX has an important technical pattern. The stock chart is technically precise. Lines drawn on a weekly chart match perfectly to daily support levels. This is not always the case. The technical precision of certain areas of this chart shows where the professionals have entered and exited. The ability to see the footprints of Dark Pools and Professional Traders is what I have termed Spatial Pattern Recognition Skills for Traders™. This technical analysis skill makes a huge difference in your end-of-year profitability from trading stocks whether you day, swing, position, momentum or intermediate-term trade.
AMD Momentum Run, Velocity Run, Profit-takingAMD has run with momentum driven by pro traders’ activity. The Pros will often be the initial driving force behind a Velocity run (see rectangle around the velocity run.) A velocity run is different from a momentum run as the candles do not overlap. One thing for options traders to remember is that when pro traders are swinging a giant lot trade for a short-term profit, they will often buy Option Puts as an insurance policy against the risk. So rising Option Puts doesn’t mean that the “options market thinks this stock will go down.” Rather, a surge of options puts with a velocity run is indicative of pro traders.
Currently the stock is under heavy large-lot profit-taking. Smaller funds are buying too late in the run.
The Gottcha ADBE TrendThe ADBE Trend is one that is often a “gottcha” for new swing traders. The problem is trading leadership. The runs are not initiated by Dark Pools or Pro Traders. The runs are initiated by smaller funds using VWAP or, worse, the retail crowd. The retail crowd is more emotional, has less experience and minimal training. Therefore, the runs they create are harder to trade. Try to avoid trading stocks that lack strong runs. Strive to trade with the Pro Traders, as the follow-through of the run is more reliable and the profits are usually much higher. This is not the ideal stock for swing trading at this time.
Martha Stokes, CMT