Dan Zanger: Examine Breakout Quality Before the Entry

A hypothetical stock spends six weeks below 80.00, then closes at 80.60 on twice its usual volume. By the time another trader notices, it is at 84.00. The chart still…

Comments Off on Dan Zanger: Examine Breakout Quality Before the Entry

10-Week Moving Average: Reading the First Pullback

Six weeks after a breakout from a 48.20 pivot, a hypothetical stock has run to 61.80. Then it gives some back. Three weeks in a row close lower, and the…

Comments Off on 10-Week Moving Average: Reading the First Pullback

Brian Shannon: Put Timeframes and Anchored VWAP to Work

A hypothetical stock breaks above 42.00 on a fifteen-minute chart while its daily chart sits beneath repeated highs at 42.50. The short-term move is real, but so is the nearby…

Comments Off on Brian Shannon: Put Timeframes and Anchored VWAP to Work

Wide and Loose Base: Reading Unstable Consolidation

Picture a stock that ran from 41.20 to 84.60 in five months and then spent eight weeks moving sideways. On a zoomed-out weekly chart the pause looks respectable. Price held…

Comments Off on Wide and Loose Base: Reading Unstable Consolidation

Volatility Contraction Pattern: Reading Shrinking Swings

Picture a growth stock that ran from 40.00 to 72.50 in about four months and then stalled. The first pullback took it down to 58.00, a drop of 20.0%. Weeks…

Comments Off on Volatility Contraction Pattern: Reading Shrinking Swings

Three Weeks Tight: Reading Clustered Weekly Closes

A growth stock clears a base at 54.80, runs for six weeks, and then the weekly chart goes quiet. Three Friday closes land at 61.20, 61.65 and 61.05. On the…

Comments Off on Three Weeks Tight: Reading Clustered Weekly Closes

Cup With Handle Pattern: Prior Trend, Handle and Pivot

A growth stock runs from 32.00 to 60.00, pulls back to 44.40, works its way back up to 58.90, then drifts for two weeks inside a narrow range just under…

Comments Off on Cup With Handle Pattern: Prior Trend, Handle and Pivot

Failed Breakout: Reading the Sequence After the Pivot

A growth stock spends seven weeks building a flat base under 48.20, then closes at 49.35 on volume running 2.1 times its 50-day average. Two weeks later it might be…

Comments Off on Failed Breakout: Reading the Sequence After the Pivot

Pocket Pivot: How to Read Demand Before the Breakout

A growth stock has spent seven weeks moving sideways between 46.80 and 52.10. The 50-day moving average sits at 48.90 and is still rising. On a quiet Tuesday the stock…

Comments Off on Pocket Pivot: How to Read Demand Before the Breakout

IPO Base: Reading the First Consolidation in a New Stock

A company lists with an offer price of $22.00, opens at 31.50, trades as high as 38.20 in its first session and closes at 34.10. Six weeks later it's trading…

Comments Off on IPO Base: Reading the First Consolidation in a New Stock