ShadowTraderPro Focus Report for September 19, 2008

The ShadowTraderPro Focus Report is your every morning dose of market reality brought to you from the resident geniuses at ShadowTrader. Overseen by Chief Equity Strategist, Peter Reznicek, each issue contains a full report on the prior day's action, including market internals, technicals, and what sectors were hot and cold. Each issue also includes the ShadowTraderPro Model Portfolio, which updates members on what stock plays STPro is currently engaged in officially, as well as provide a daily list of long and short setups for more self-directed traders and investors.

If you have any questions or comments regarding commentary or plays in this newsletter, please email to focusreport@shadowtrader.net.

The Big Picture


Good Morning, Traders.

If the aforementioned catalysts coming together do indeed form a bottom in this area, be aware that current market condtions are dictating that the action will be fast and furious and will "all happen at once", so to speak. Meaning that there could easily be an intraday reversal today that puts the Dow's range at more than 500 points from high to low.

That was from yesterday's Focus Report. Below are a couple of charts showing the technical setup which set the move off.



Same chart from yesterday reiterating the monthly support at 1136.15. Yesterday's low was 1133.50



In an insane environment like this what you want is a touchdown to a prior support level (the 1136 area), then you wait for some sort of reversal pattern to "cement" in the low. In yesterday's case it was the hourly hammer candle forming. Hourly hammers are powerful and are almost always tradeable in the direction opposite the shadow (or wick/tail) for a solid move, especially in the indices. Note how the high point of the reversal bar is right at an intraday downtrendline. The move over the high of the bar itself is a powerful signal. When coupled with the trendline break, it only serves to strengthen the signal.



Further confirmation came in the form of the spike in the $VIX which occurred at exactly the same time. The whole world has been watching the highs of the range in the $vix which were at 35-36. When this started to move into the 40's, it tells you that something is definitely up. What is up is that Joe Sixpack is either dumping his 100 shares of AAPL at the exact wrong time or buying out of the money puts like its going out of style.

The rest as they say is history. The Dow actually ran over 600 points from high to low, making our prediction of a 500 point range quite tame in reality. We wish more than anything that we could tell our loyal readers that this is it and that was the bottom. The reality is, however, that nobody can really know this for sure, even with all the signals we have discussed in these last two reports from the insane breadth readings to the massive advance decline lines to yesterday's $VIX spike. Is the bad news in the credit/financial sector over? Probably not. The difference (and subsequent sustained change in trend) will come when the bad news continues to spill out and the market starts ignoring it completely. We have not seen that yet.

We remain cautious, underinvested, and nimble.

Under The Hood

When we say "under the hood" we mean market internals, ie: what was really happening behind the scenes. ShadowTraders who listen to our daily broadcast every day live on the thinkorswim platform know that all closing figures on the major averages should only be interpreted in the context of market internals. Look for convergences and divergences in the breadth, a/d line, and trin figures below to either confirm or cast doubt on what all those talking heads on TV are telling you.

Dow Jones Industrial Average 11,019.69 +410.03 +3.86%
S&P 500 1,206.51 +50.12 +4.33%
Nasdaq Composite 2,199.10 +100.25 +4.78%
Nasdaq 100 1,697.42 +64.97 +3.98%
Russell 2000 723.68 +47.30 +6.99%
Spot Gold $826.60/oz. +46.10 +5.94%
Crude Oil $97.88/bbl. +0.72 +0.74%
NYSE Overall Volume 2,448,129K n/a +14.49%
Nasdaq Overall Volume 4,055,375K n/a +26.43%
NYSE Breadth 8.5 : 1 positive
Nasdaq Breadth 8.9 : 1 positive
NYSE Breadth Ratio 89.47
Nasdaq Breadth Ratio 89.86
NYSE Advancers/Decliners +1596
Nasdaq Advancers/Decliners +1373
NYSE Trin 0.35
NASDAQ Trin 0.32
$VIX 33.10 -3.12
ES Pivot Points for Friday
R3 1318.42
R2 1268.58
R1 1235.92
Pivot 1186.08
S1 1153.42
S2 1103.58
S3 1070.92
Strongest Groups: Banking Insurance Homebuilders
Weakest Groups: Gold Drugs Oil Services

Heads Up

Up and coming economic and corporate data that may move markets this week:

Today
Options Expiry - Quadruple Witching
Monday
none
Reporting Earnings today: AZO, COMS, KMX
Tuesday
07:45am EST - Store Sales
Reporting Earnings today: FDS, FUL, LEN, WOR

Bulls and Bears

This section is for self-directed traders and investors who like to "do it themselves". Every trading day, Bulls and Bears will list long and short equity setups with defined entries and stops. Note: A listing in this section does NOT necessarily mean that the stock will end up as a part of the ShadowTraderPro Model Portfolio. Plays listed here change daily and are not managed or tracked by ShadowTrader unless traded via e-mail alert.

Long Ideas
 Symbol Trigger Price Stop Price Notes
AAPL 130 area 125.00 Entry is area of backside of downtrend with stop under prior hourly low bar
RIMM 92.50 area 88.50 Same idea as above, only on pullback can you have relatively tight stop. Impossible when stocks rip so much in one day to find proper entry over prior day's high or similar buy stop pivot
Short Ideas
 Symbol Trigger Price Stop Price Notes
none

ShadowTrader Model Portfolio

The matrix below shows all current ShadowTrader Pro plays in the Model Portfolio. The Model Portfolio contains only those plays that are sent out in real-rime via email. Bulls and Bears plays above are not actively managed or tracked. Current open positions are on top, with positions that were closed in the current calendar week on the bottom. Closed positions are moved out of the matrix on Monday mornings and posted in our performance page here.
To get the most out of your subscription and for detailed instructions on how to structure your own portfolio, read our Focus Report User's Guide

sym dir size date
entered
entry
price
date
closed
exit
price
target stop status mark
to
market
p&l
points
p&l
capital
capital
commit
 OPEN POSITIONS - week of 9/15 - 9/19
SPY long 50 09/18/08 116.56 n/a n/a 121.50 113.75 open 120.07 $3.51 +$176 $5,828
 Long 100, sold half, then moved stop up to break-even
 CLOSED POSITIONS week of 9/15 - 9/19
BOH short 100 09/12/08 56.41 09/16/08 54.73 n/a n/a closed n/a +1.68 $168 n/a
 covered into weakness ahead of FOMC announcement for solid gain
SPY long 50 09/18/08 116.57 09/16/08 120.75 n/a n/a closed n/a +4.18 $209 n/a
 first half hit target within hours, sold into strength
  TOTALS: 50 open shares (open capital committed doesn't include closed trades) $5,828.00
Click here for ShadowTrader Pro closed trade stats
All content © 2008 by ShadowTrader Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer and Waiver of Claims: Disclaimer and Waiver of Claims: The ShadowTraderPro Focus Report is a newsletter service, designed as supplemental material for the ShadowTraderPro Newsletter subscription service and it is not intended to be a stand alone newsletter. The risk of loss in the trading of any securities products can be substantial. The strategies mentioned here are active trading strategies, therefore you should carefully consider whether such trading is suitable for you in light of your personal investment objectives and financial resources. This material is for information purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities. Past performance of any trades mentioned never guarantees future results.

Securities and options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. See the characteristics and risks of standardized options.