Swing trade turned into day trade: AXP

AXP (American Express Company)


I have started looking a little into short-term (5-7 days max.) swing trade recently. I started to paper trade in my simulated account but did not follow through how they performed. So I decided to trade with real money and see how it goes. My risk is less to avoid emotions play into the trades while I am learning. Right now my plan is to time the entries as day trade. SL will be like day trade stops (other end of the trigger candle).

I entered AXP as a swing trade when price took out the high of the 6th candle high with PDH as first target and $24.50 as the final target on the remaining. AXP hit both it's target today turning it into a day trade. Honestly, I was expecting price to hit the PDH today but not the final target. I will post the charts on my swing trading blog (http://swingtradr.blogspot.com) to track how it did after my entry and exit.

QLD - Hammer on PDL


QQQQ gapped down in the morning and formed a very bullish green hammer on PDL. I went long QLD instead of QQQQ which is 2X of QQQQ's. Entered long on the break of the hammer (2nd candle). Since the candle was very wide, I used $36 as SL and not the low of the candle. My reasoning was that price should take off after that bullish hammer. 3rd bar was strong, followed by a red bar. I moved SL to BE wondering if the 2-4 bars were just attempt to fill the morning gap before moving down. Price moved up smoothly reaching PDH where I partialled and exited the remaining at 38% FE of PDL - PDH. I was not expecting such a smooth ride.

SOHU - Cup & Handle


SOHU had a big move yesterday and retraced in the afternoon after hitting a previous resistance. Today SOHU formed a NRB below the PDH. Entered a little above PDH and set my sell order at 50% FE of the C&H pattern (PDL to PDH). Price missed my target of $66.40 by 2 cents and I exited when price formed a bearish candle on 15 min. chart.

I also had a short in AGU which initially moved in my favor but then took me out at BE.

One of my best day

A nice day in terms of R profit. 4 trades in total. X was 0.6R loser. Happy with the other 3.

QLD (Trade based on 5 min. chart)


Nasdaq gapped above the PDH and the first 5 min. bar of QQQQ was a doji. I went long QLD which is same as QQQQ but is 2X which means if Nasdaq moves 1%, QLD moves 2%. This saves some money on commission because I have to go long half the number of shares as QQQQ. Went long on the break of the doji. My target was 38.2% FE measured from PDL to ORH (15 min). 7th bar spiked down and I exited half my position at around 36.21 (1R) to book in some profit and moved the rest to BE. 7th bar formed a nice green hammer on ORH which would have been a nice place to add back to my position but I did not. Price reached the target smoothly after that.

Inside Bar: WYNN


WYNN (Wynn Resorts, Limited) gapped up and the first bar closed just above PDH leaving an upper tail. Real body of the 2nd candle filled the tail and closed strong. Long on the break of 2nd candle high. I was ready to exit my position if the low of 9/5 was taken out. Luckily it did not and price continued up reaching my target of 61.8% FE of the first bar.

Relative Strength: AXP



Market rallied in the morning but AXP (American Express Company) was very weak compared to the market. First bar (1/15) saw some selling and the third bar was a doji that bounced off the 20 EMA. 6th bar formed a not so good red spinning top, 7th candle closed very weak and below PDH and 5 EMA. Entered short on the break of the 7th bar low. Covered my entire position when the bar (shown on the chart with a white arrow beneath) was formed a bullish engulging candle.