Below is a slider quiz to test your trading ability. Captions appear below the pictures for guidance, so be sure to scroll down far enough to read them.
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What chart patterns can you find? Look for the following: 3 ascending scallops (one looks weird), descending triangles, symmetrical triangle, and a broadening top.
Answers are on the next slide.
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Notice that the September ascending scallop has price levels almost at the same price, suggesting the uptrend is near an end. Price tumbles soon after. The December scallop
is more V-shaped than I like to see (it's the weird looking one).
The symmetrical triangle has an upward breakout when price closed above the top trendline in February 2005.
Question 1: Do you buy, short, or avoid trading this stock?
Question 2: If trading this one, what is the target price?
Question 3: If trading this one, what is the stop price?
My answers appear on the next slide.
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Answer 1 (buy?): Buy. The stock is near the yearly high with an upward breakout, a good sign of additional gains.
Answer 2 (target?): Compute the triangle height and add the height to the breakout price. The result will give you a target price which the stock reaches 70% of the time,
so be conservative in your target.
Answer 3 (stop?): Volatility is $1.71, so a stop no closer than 77.58 would work well. That means placing a stop below the lowest valley in the chart pattern, which bottoms at 76.74.
That would give a potential loss of 3.5%, which is great.