Online Trading

HBAN is nearing a decision point after a somewhat lengthy uptrend since March of this year and a few intermittent spike rallies.  HBAN has a somewhat similar setup to the FITB setup that I had written about in the past.

HBAN has been consolidating between roughly the 3.5 and 5 level for several months now and has already touched the bottom up trendline 5 times giving it good significance.

I cannot speak as to whether HBAN will be able to get an upside move off of this structure into the green shaded area.  Typically the market in general is vulnerable this time of year to some downside shakeouts.  But so far the broad market is holding up like a champ.  The retracements have been intraday retracement and not significant corrections.

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There is not too much new to say about CTIC today other than the fact that it is still doing what it is supposed to do.  CTIC held above both the original blue longer term resistance line (which is now support) and it also held above the shorter term red minor trendline.  This is important because if it goes below either of those two lines next week there may be a problem with the continuation scenario.  Next week ought to really provide the verdict on what CTIC really wants to do.

Right now it is still teasing us here after the initial successful breakout on the 19th of August that occurred on bombshell upside volume.

So in summary, we still have a green light signal on CTIC, but I would really like to see it pick up steam early next week.  It just makes me nervous if CTIC spends too much time hanging around this near term red up trendline.  So lets hope for more decisive continuation moves next week.

It seems I have spent so much time focusing on a lot of really cheap and speculative stocks here at BestOnlineTrades that I haven’t been able to see the forest for the trees.  Well I saw the whole forest today and Citigroup jumped right out at me.

Citigroup looks like a really good setup to me right now.  Even though it has already rallied the last few weeks we have closed on August 20th right at the previous resistance line.  The volume comparison between the two swings noted by the red arrows shows a decline of about 13%.  That may be a sign that we get a minor pull back tomorrow, but I think Citigroup is going to bust out topside from this 4.50 resistance level and head on towards the 6 to 6.50 range perhaps during the next few weeks.

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CTIC had a nice confirmed breakout move with confirmed volume and sign of strength above the down trend resistance lines of its larger triangle formation today.  This is part 3b in a multipart series on CTIC.  I first started tracking CTIC when it was compressing into the apex of this triangle on August 15th, 2009.

So far all systems are go on CTIC in my opinion.  The bombshell volume today and wide price spread is exactly what we wanted to see as confirmation of the beginnings of a breakout.  The price of CTIC did retrench at the end of the day but it still achieved a somewhat better than mid range close for the day. Not bad at all.

It appears that the price is starting to move in anticipation of that so called forward looking news event that may or may not occur on August 24th which is upcoming Monday. 

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EPEX Edge Petroleum needs to get at .50 or higher and stay above the level for me to start thinking we get get a spike higher.  But so far this congestion above the down trendline is not inspiring me that much.  It may be a failed break or a teaser break that may resume into a downtrend for the rest of August.

Volume needs to start coming in strong and again, EPEX needs to see and hold .50 or higher for me to start getting interested.

The positives still exist in that EPEX has a triple bottom and has a wide price swing that tested the previous swing on much higher volume.  See my previous post on EPEX where I detail that a bit.  That volume relationship says to me that EPEX still has a shot at .70 to .80 cents.  BUT the first sign that it has a chance at that level will be a move and break above .50.

Based on my first mention of CEGE at .38 we had an extension to slightly higher than .42 so far today.  So there was roughly 5 to 10% to be had with this setup.

I am trying to figure out if CEGE is going to get any follow through tomorrow or if this run is done for now.  My read right now is that the run is done short term. The chart above is the 15 minute intra day chart of CEGE and I would say that CEGE needs to hold .385 or higher in order for the near term breakout continuation scenario to continue.  If it violates .385 then I would say this run is over for now.

The other aspect to CEGE which is not clear from the chart above is that .42 was a significant supply area based on previous resistance.  The fact that we are having an intra day reversal today is indicative of that supply coming into price today. 

So I am going to have to make the conclusion that this setup has expired as far as risk reward attractiveness.  There was 5 to 10% to be had today in CEGE and there are better setups out there right now.

I am going to be watching , CEGE and CTIC, EPEX for Tuesday August 18th.

EPEX turned down today and broke back inside its downtrend.  Will be interesting to see if it can jump back above the down trend and maybe start some kind of run.  If the market tanks again tomorrow then EPEX may turn stale again so we will have to see what it looks like tomorrow.

CEGE is the most interesting one of the bunch.  Today it had a decent close and was able to close above the high of 2 days ago.  Volume was very robust.  And CEGE managed to gain almost 12 % on a day when the rest of the market was dropping all over the place.

So I am thinking that CEGE has a decent shot at a follow through move tomorrow and especially if the broad market is flat to neutral. It looks like it was up almost 8% afterhours, although I usually try not to read too much into afterhours quotes.

CTIC you have already heard me write about 3 separate times now.  Still impressed by its strength and the larger pattern and will keep following up on it depending on what I find as noteworthy enough to write about. 

So that should be enough to chew on for now. I know there are a lot of other things going on in the market but for now I prefer to focus on this trio.

Lets see how the rest of the week shakes out.

I am looking at the yahoo finance page for CTIC right now and I see that the DJIA was down 2% today and the Nasdaq was down 2.75% today.  But CTIC closed at 1.57 only a penny down from yesterday and for practical purposes basically unchanged.

I am not posting a new chart of CTIC in this post because the action today was for the most part motionless.  The fact that CTIC was so tame today should speak volumes by itself given the minor beating the broad market took today. 

I realize I am only focusing on one day’s price action but it is still important in my opinion.  CTIC could have taken a beating today, but it didn’t.  Holders of CTIC stock were not willing to part with their shares today and so it is hinting to me that the shares are in strong hands.

We are still in the apex of the symmetrical triangle formation and we have not made any significant moves either to the upside or downside to warrant any kind of real signal.

So this ‘part 2’ on CTIC is basically just to point out the internal strength that appears to be present in CTIC despite the broad market weakness.

The August 24th date I mentioned previously with regard to CTIC has to do with the FDA making a fast track decision for one of CTIC’s drugs.  I cannot confirm this date or if any decision will even occur on that date.  So for now I am going to ignore that date and just keep it in the back of my mind. 

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Someone sent me a quick mention of ANPI in the submit news link at the top of the site here.  They indicated that the pattern was similar to the CTIC stock setup that I mentioned yesterday.  I just wanted to be sure to pass this info on to you and only make a few quick comments.

My quick take on ANPI is that yes it is similar, but for now I still think that CTIC has the stronger pattern and a cleaner pattern.  ANPI at first glance seems to have had a larger retracement and a somewhat more scattered triangle.  Anyway, no in depth analysis here but wanted to pass this info.  Maybe I will do a short write up of ANPI this week if it has merit.

I believe the same person also reminded me that EPEX was beginning to break out of pattern that I had written about before.

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The move today in the QQQ was pretty impressive.  It was impressive in the sense that the bears should have been able to break under the green shaded rectangle and get the much awaited correction going, but the exact opposite ended up happening.  The upside volume was 137 million shares and is a solid way to get a bounce going inside that rectangle. 

This rectangle is depicting internal market strength once again to me and hinting at an eventual possible breakout above this rectangle to towards the 41.5 level which is right at the point of the long term bear market resistance line.  Perhaps we get a retracement the next could of days and then a breakout out of this rectangle next week sometime?

It is almost mind boggling that we are getting this strong price advance and this robust volume at this point in August.  It would seem that traders are in no mood to hit the beach this year.  They would rather be in front of their computer screens. Hmm.

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