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Featured Trader for the Week: Tardigrade Trader a.k.a. @tardigradetrader

For this week, we would like to congratulate our featured trader: Tardigrade Trader a.k.a. @tardigradetrader!

This trader was able to spot a sleeper. $ALLHC or AyalaLand Logistics Holdings Corp. was not talked about not until it broke out of its initial base supported with enormous volume. Tardigrade Trader a.k.a. @tardigradetrader is an active member of the Investagrams community who endlessly spreads his knowledge on Technical Analysis along with his complete thought process in each of his stock selection.

Along with his qualitative assessment about the said stock, he also exclaimed about how minimalism can be applied in trading as well. As mentioned in the previous posts regarding the featured traders, whether the strategy of a said market participant is basic or advanced, their performance will always depend on the end-user itself.

Tardigrade Trader highlighted the importance of an initial consolidation phase before a much-awaited breakout. Patience is the key to spot market leaders. There will be countless times that it will take several weeks or months for a trade to blossom. Moreover, he also added the significance of RSI (14) 70 breaches along with massive volume in the breakout of the pivot high, which further solidifies the said trend.

A breakout of the 1.9 to 2-peso area was an ideal buy point as it was the breakout of the initial base or the symmetrical triangle supported with increasing volume on its up move. It is a low-risk, high-reward trade, as the stop loss levels for the said breakout point could be below 1.8 (-4.5%) if you bought it on a symmetrical triangle pattern. On the other hand, the stop-loss levels for the said breakout point could be below 1.9 (-4.5%) if you bought above the 2-peso psychological resistance level. Take profit areas could be the structural resistance at 2.5 (24%-33%).

It is a must for this stock to hover and sustain above the 2.5 psychological levels to further signify its ascendency. If it does, we may see it consolidate from here. The next significant resistance level would be the 3-peso area being the next structural and psychological levels, along with the 3.8-peso levels being the 52wk high of the said name.

It is a non-negotiable for traders to wait for the right setup. A setup where you could spot names to emerge just like $ALLHC. Waiting for the right moment to click the buy or sell button when all your parameters are finally aligned with a particular name is the ultimate embodiment of professional trading.

Congratulations to those who were able to maximize the technical swing of $ALLHC. Lastly, kudos again to Tardigrade Trader a.k.a. @tardigradetrader for sharing his trade analysis. Your FREE 1 Month InvestaPRO access is on its way!

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Mastering The Trendline: A Guide to the Most Basic Charting Tool

If you are a technical trader, chances are, the trendline is one of the first charting tools that you have learned to use. Its elegance comes from its simplicity: just trace the line and either follow the trend or wait for a breakout. However, like supports and resistances, trendlines are prone to both fakeouts and shakeouts. If you find yourself a constant victim to these fakeouts and shakeouts, then maybe your trendline strategy is missing the most important component: confluence.

In the world of trading, confluence refers to the convergence of different trading strategies. An example would be a set of moving averages, structural supports, and fibonacci retracements all indicating the same critical level for a certain stock. This critical level is often referred to as an area of high confluence. The idea behind the importance of an area of high confluence banks on the fact that different traders use different trading strategies.

From time to time, a high number of traders will consider a price level critical in accordance with their strategy. Once the price reaches this level, there will be a surge in the number of buyers/sellers since a lot of traders consider the price as a critical level. In a nutshell, areas of high confluences often equate to higher probabilities.

Incorporating areas of high confluences with your trendline strategy is as easy as making sure that the price touched an area of high confluence before approaching a trendline. This removes the small errors from mistakes in drawing your trendline as well as irregular market behavior.

Essentially, the key takeaway is that trendline breakouts and breakdowns are invalid if the price did not come from an area of high confluence prior to the breakout/breakdown. This strategy goes well with both breakout trading and trend following since a breakdown from the trendline without a bounce from an area of high confluence is probably a shakeout and not a trend reversal.

Fakeout vs Breakout
Shakeout vs Breakdown

Areas of High Confluence can be composed of (but not limited to) any of the following:

  1. Chart patterns
  2. Range support and resistance levels
  3. Moving Averages
  4. Bollinger Bands
  5. Ichimoku Clouds
  6. Fibonacci Retracement Levels

It is important to note that for your trendline strategy to be effective, you should not only consider areas of high confluences but also the plotting of the trendline itself. The price should touch the trendline at least two times, the more touches, the better. Including the wicks depends entirely on your judgement as a trader as well as the “DNA” of the historical behaviour of the stock. With all this said, let’s head on to some examples.

$ALI [DAILY][2016]

In the photo above, there is a defined trendline on the daily chart of $ALI. We can see that the 40 price level is an area of high confluence because of the following factors: (1) it is a psychological resistance, (2) it is the high of the previous uptrend, (3) the price is already at the top of the Bollinger bands, (4) the RSI is near overbought levels.

Because the price bounced from an area of high confluence before breaking the trendline, there is a high probability that the price action is a breakdown and not just a shakeout. As we can see through what happens next, the move is in fact a breakdown of the trendline. 

$SMPH [WEEKLY][2016-2018]
In the case of $SMPH, the 40 price level serves as a psychological resistance which the stock tried to break prior to the breakdown from the trendline. Aside from a trendline break, we can see that the chart actually looks like a normal bearish RSI divergence. This validates our initial hypothesis that the move is a breakdown and not a shakeout. Aside from this we can see that the MACD is showing bearish signs with the histogram expanding below zero. 

This trendline strategy shows us that although we should develop a trading system that is tailored to our specific needs, we should also be familiar with tools and indicators outside of our system. This helps us widen our understanding of where the market might be headed since we are not only tapping into one strategy, but to multiple ones at the same time.

The stock market is basically a psychological battle between traders of different niches after all. Normal trading rules (take profit, position sizing, and stop loss) still apply. All of these strategies will help you trade the confluence and hopefully take you one step closer to financial freedom.

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InvesTHINK! Who are you?

Never just invest, but invest with a clear mind, invesTHINK!

A good and great trader and investor must refrain from having a prejudice or biased preference. Lots of mistakes can also be rooted from a common mistake, which is then again, having a fallacious and biased concept about the stock market. Exhibiting and executing decisions based on emotions, peer influences, or your confidence towards the market, may happen at times. However, it is a sign of poor financial literacy towards the stock market.

What are your signals and indicators when you begin to enter and exit from the stock market? Were you just hyped among your peers? Have you monitored and checked the 20-day moving average and 50-day average? Here are the common biases you might encounter while creating decisions and analyzing your stocks. Who are you among these?

The Hyped: Social proof 

One of the most common biases and errors occur are due to being hyped with the decision of peers and trends in the community. People tend to be under peer pressure and follow the idea of the majority. Which on the latter, we deem it to be true. Now, the wrong thing about this is that we overlook on the importance and essence of doing our own analysis. It’s just like eating the same flavor of ice cream with your barkada, not knowing that it contains peanuts, which you are allergic too! Do you now realize the danger?

The Follower: Confirmation bias and Groupthink

“Ano gagawin mo? Bibilhin mo na ba ngayon?

Down market diba, mag-aaverage down ka na ba ng stock mo?”
This type of thinking shows a flaw, a misconception. Now following and agreeing turns out to be a bias if you try to prove and justify your decision based on the actions of someone else. You try to seek out the support and the same thinking among your peers. 

Now with groupthink, just because everyone else says that “babagsak na yan, benta mo na” does not always mean they are right. Once you set foot in this bias, you lose the discipline and creativity of solving your own problems.

The Madame Auring, Manghuhula: Hindsight bias

Regrets and disappointments run fast, once you begin to suffer. Some investors and traders try to predict the movement, value, and the future of the stock based on their indicators. “All time low siya noong 2020, 10 pesos na lang siya. Ngayon 11 pesos na lang, bilhin ko na ulit!” The misleading factor on this is that, you tend to look for a similar cause that would make you react whenever the market crashes. You try to create your own predictions and make poor decisions whenever a certain event have occurred. To avoid this, always examine, record, and journal your outcomes.

The Blind: Clustering Illusion

In order to analyze charts, we use several indicators such as candlestick patterns, moving averages, RSI, volumes, and support and resistance. It is also necessary to check on the historical performance of the stock, may it be a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. However, clustering illusion happens when people tend to become oversensitive and seeing patterns where actually none have existed. Is it possible? Yes. If a trader or investor sees that the market structure repetitively illustrates higher highs, higher lows, higher highs, higher lows, the investor or trader may think that the market is going uptrend. It may seem like it, but always be cautious on the movement. Never create assumptions based on seeking certainty on your own perception.

Conclusion

Always be grounded with a strong foundation of principles and rules, in dealing with the stock market. Decision making will always be difficult, and that should be recognized. However, to be able to create a sound decision takes a lot of learning and re-learning. Always have a discipline in your study routines. And one day, you will achieve success too.

Are you up to the challenge of becoming the Champion of the Biggest Trading Competition in the Philippines? JOIN THE INVESTA TRADING CUP 2020: BOUNCE BACK CHALLENGE.

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Featured Trader for the Week: Hisuka (@b0yipit)

Even if the local index may look like it is consolidating from here given its current price structure, various names have emerged. Hisuka (@b0yipit) was able to depart the world of HunterxHunter to further solidify the use of his Nen to spot potential market leaders such as $CNPF or Century Pacific Food, Inc. Hisuka a.k.a. @b0yipit is an active member of the Investagrams community who endlessly spreads his knowledge on the local market with the use of Technical Analysis.

Even if this stock is quite illiquid, it still presented opportunities on the daily chart. Moreover, this stock is nearing all-time high levels. During its consolidation phase, the sideways movement was supported with dried-up volume. Upon its breakout of the underlying base, the move was supported with above-average volume. 

A breakout of the 15-peso area was an ideal buy point as it was the breakout of the parallel channel line supported with above-average volume. It is a low-risk, high-reward trade, as the stop loss levels for the said breakout point could be below 14.5 (-4%), and the take profit areas could be the structural resistance at 17.5 (17%). Another tranche opportunity also emerged when the stock formed a small base ranging from 16 to 16.5-peso area. The breakout of the said mini base was also a good opportunity to add to your position as the stop loss levels for the said pivot area could be below 15.8 (-4.5%).

Looking at the bigger picture, the monthly chart of this stock is also pleasing. The previous breakout of the 15-peso area proved to be significant as it broke out of the long-term parallel channel line along with immense volume. 

It is best for $CNPF to consolidate below the All-Time high levels with dried-up volume to form a constructive base. A break above the 19-peso area in confluence with massive volume is superlative for this stock to continue its dominance. 

As Hisuka (@b0yipit) stated in his post, everyone is indeed entitled to their own opinion. Everyone may view a chart differently from that of the latter. If you have formulated and followed your concise trading plan, then there should not be any problem. Take it with a grain of salt, the decision, in the end, must come from your own bias. Relying on the opinions of other individuals will lead you to financial ruin. Great traders such as Jesse Livermore and Nicolas Darvas have experienced this the hard way. 

Congratulations to those who were able to maximize the up move of $CNPF. Lastly, kudos again to Hisuka a.k.a. @b0yipit for sharing his trade analysis. Your FREE 1- Month InvestaPRO access is on its way!

Take your Trading to the Next Level. JOIN THE INVESTA TRADING CUP 2020: BOUNCE BACK CHALLENGE —
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TEST YOUR LIMITS: Discover How Competitions Can Give You an Edge

With the increasing number of competitions available to the public, newbie traders might be wondering whether or not joining a competition may offer significant advantages as opposed to sticking to virtual trade. With Investagrams, the platforms for virtual trade and competitions offer similar features. They both offer a way to trade with virtual cash while using real time data which simulates real time scenarios without the risk of losing capital. Obviously, competitions give you the chance to win prizes. But the advantages of joining competitions extend beyond monetary value. 

Thinking Long Term

The advantages you can get from joining competitions mostly revolve around your discipline as a trader. When joining a competition, you are encouraged to look beyond short term gains and onto sustainable growth. This forces you to protect your capital through proper position sizing and appropriate exits. Although you can do this through virtual trade, it is very easy to just reset your account or to lose interest in your virtual trade portfolio if you get a losing streak. It is important to note that competitions are marathons, not sprints because local competitions usually last for around 4 months. This means that no matter how much gains you get with one trade, if you can’t sustain this growth then you’ll most probably get overtaken by your competitors. 

Beating the Market

Competitions also encourage you to push yourself beyond merely being profitable to actually being more profitable than the rest of the market. Of course, there are ways to do this through virtual trading such as setting a monthly goal or using the index to track your performance. However, these goals are not as dynamic as directly comparing yourself to similar traders at the same level. Having the ability to compare your performance to other traders in real time will have you constantly searching for high probability trades instead of passively riding on trending stocks. 

Being Part of a Community

Aside from prizes and technical benefits, you also get a better sense of community. For example, Investagrams’ group feature offers a way for Trading Cup 2020 participants to share their learnings and insights throughout the whole competition. Because competitions let people have the same initial capital as well as the same restrictions on the number of trades per day and lock in periods, all participants effectively start on the same level which makes it easier for participants to relate to each other. Ideally, this behaviour will spillover to the whole trading community even after the competitions end.   

Overall, joining a competition offers a good benchmark on whether or not your strategy is optimal. If you find yourself underperforming compared to your competitors, then you may want to realign your learnings and backtest your strategies in order to find the optimal system for you. However, if you find yourself performing better than others, then maybe you should think about transitioning to using a real portfolio with real cash or maybe even consider a career in professional fund managing. Joining a competition is truly a great opportunity that newbies and intermediate traders alike should not pass on. 

It’s time to challenge yourself.

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Fibonacci Retracement: Your Secret Weapon to Trading Bounce Plays

Have you ever seen a stock gain upwards of 20 percent in one day? If so, you probably ignored it since you may have thought that there is no possible way for the price to go up any further. Or, maybe you rode the hype only to be disappointed by losses after a few days. However, as you check the top gainers three to four days after the first 20% gain, you see the same stock rise up another 10 percent! What causes this phenomenon? And more importantly, how can we capitalize on this market behavior?

The momentary drop of a stock’s price is called a retracement or a pullback. Retracements are caused by traders or investors taking profits from the big move prior to the retracement. This behavior applies to both large trends as well as big moves in the intraday time frame. The momentary drop in stock price gives us traders the chance to enter the stock at support levels at a relatively lower risk.  But what happens if the supports are too far away? How can we anticipate the reversal point of the retracement? 

The Fibonacci Retracement

The fibonacci retracement tool indicates potential support and resistance levels of a stock. The name comes from the fibonacci sequence also known as the golden ratio. However, in the context of trading, we only need to familiarize ourselves with the tool and not on the sequence itself. 

Using the tool is as simple as tracing the bottom of the move all the way to the point before the start of the retracement. After this, fibonacci levels (50%, 23.6%, 38.2%, 61.8%) will appear as colored bars within the range that you traced. Once the levels are visible, you may observe the different levels for confirmations of support. Alternatively, tracing a big downward move from the top to the bottom will show you potential resistance levels. Of course, this tool is best used together with other momentum indicators in order to validate the price reversal. In addition to this, a fibonacci level may show additional strength when it is in line with a significant moving average. 

In the context of intraday penny/basura stock plays, it is important to check both the daily and the hourly time frames in order to get the full picture. Typically, it is important to take note of the bodies and wicks of the daily candles to see if they have bounced from a fibonacci support level. On the other hand, looking into the hourly time frame may show you reversal candles that may signal a change in direction. 

EXAMPLES

High Volatility Bounce Play  [$2GO]

Long Term Retracement  [$DITO]

It should be noted that whether or not you include the wicks of candles entirely depends on the behavior of each individual stock. In addition to this, the fibonacci retracement tool is best used with other indicators and will be most effective when in line with areas of high confluences. Regular trading rules (stop loss, position sizing, and take profit levels) still apply. Hopefully, this article has equipped you with the skills and the mindset necessary to catching the bounce rather than chasing the stock. Happy Trading!

It is time to take your trading to the next level. 

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Featured Trader of the Week: Petix and Chill

As the local index found support at the 5700 levels, the $PSEi presented numerous trade opportunities to select from. Petix and Chill (@petixandchill) was able to spot one of those potential leaders —  Greenergy Holdings, Inc., or $GREEN. This trader is an active member of the Investagrams community who endlessly provides his analysis and insights focusing on the local market. 

As seen in the technicals of the said stock, this name formed an ascending triangle pattern. This pattern resembles a triangle or flag that exhibits higher lows in price in confluence with a resistance level from a recent pivot high. While the stock was forming a base, it was supported with dried-up volume. Furthermore, it was also hovering above RSI (14) 50, which further solidified the creation of the said base.

A breakout of the 1.95 pivot area was an ideal buy point as it was the confirmation of the said bullish pattern accompanied with massive volume. It is a low-risk, high-reward trade, as the stop loss levels for the said breakout point is around 1.85 (-5%), and the take profit areas could be the structural resistance at 2.35 (20%) and near the 52-week high (28% to 30%). As of this writing, the stock ended the trading session with a loss. This could be an opportunity to wait for a pullback at the previous breakout point.

To further sustain its dominance, this stock should hover above the 1.9 to 1.95-peso area. In the bigger picture, the stock seems to be on the right track as the breakout of the said pivot was also in conjunction with the breach of the longer-term trend line resistance as seen in the weekly chart. 

The epitome of professional trading is the ability to be disciplined and patient when it comes to an emerging name. Waiting for the right moment to strike, whether it would take weeks or months, is an essential skill that we must incorporate in our trading arsenal. 

Congratulations to those who were able to maximize the technical swing of $GREEN. Lastly, kudos again to Petix and Chill a.k.a. @petixandchill for sharing his execution. Your FREE 1-Month InvestaPRO access is on its way!

Take your Trading to the Next Level.

JOIN THE INVESTACUP2020 and have the chance to WIN MORE THAN PHP 300,000 IN PRIZES! 

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