As of 11/20/2024
  Indus: 43,408 +139.53 +0.3%  
  Trans: 17,002 -26.31 -0.2%  
  Utils: 1,055 +1.25 +0.1%  
  Nasdaq: 18,966 -21.33 -0.1%  
  S&P 500: 5,917 +0.13 +0.0%  
YTD
 +15.2%  
 +6.9%  
 +19.7%  
 +26.3%  
 +24.1%  
  Targets    Overview: 11/12/2024  
  Up arrow46,000 or 43,000 by 12/01/2024
  Up arrow18,000 or 16,600 by 12/01/2024
  Up arrow1,075 or 1,000 by 12/01/2024
  Up arrow20,000 or 18,400 by 12/01/2024
  Up arrow6,100 or 5,800 by 12/01/2024
As of 11/20/2024
  Indus: 43,408 +139.53 +0.3%  
  Trans: 17,002 -26.31 -0.2%  
  Utils: 1,055 +1.25 +0.1%  
  Nasdaq: 18,966 -21.33 -0.1%  
  S&P 500: 5,917 +0.13 +0.0%  
YTD
 +15.2%  
 +6.9%  
 +19.7%  
 +26.3%  
 +24.1%  
  Targets    Overview: 11/12/2024  
  Up arrow46,000 or 43,000 by 12/01/2024
  Up arrow18,000 or 16,600 by 12/01/2024
  Up arrow1,075 or 1,000 by 12/01/2024
  Up arrow20,000 or 18,400 by 12/01/2024
  Up arrow6,100 or 5,800 by 12/01/2024

Bulkowski's Coldwater Creek Trade

Coldwater Creek Trade: Backstory

A chart of Coldwater Creek (CWTR) on the daily scale

Let me tell you about a trade I made in Coldwater Creek (CWTR, daily chart).

By late April 2009, many stocks had doubled in price and were bumping up against overhead resistance. I show the stock hitting such resistance by the green line at point A.

When price closed above this region, I pounced and bought the stock. Since I was and still am concerned about the market, my position was just 1/4 of what it used to be a year ago.

Coldwater Creek Trade: Buy Again?

The stock moved sideways for several days as if trying to decide a direction, but then it found its legs and shot up. Midway though the rise, I doubled my position.

Since I was buying stocks often during that time, I did not fill in some of my notebook for the trade, so I do not know what my target price was.

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If you look at the longer-term chart (weekly, for example, going back a few years) you will see a loose congestion area from 3.40 in January 2008 to a high of 8.31 on September 2008. My guess would be a climb to 8, which is also the site of a small knot of congestion in October to December 2007. That tight area would concern me.

If I wanted to hold the stock for several years, then I would expect it to push through and top out at 19. That is where numerous valleys bottom starting in late 2005. Buying at 3.50 and holding to 19 sounds like a worthwhile endeavor to me. Of course, the stock, the company, the market, and the economy would all have to cooperate. That is a tall order but in three years, who knows?

Anyway, I let the stock flop around and then it started the second leg of what looked like a measured move up chart pattern. Notice that leg B nearly matches the slope and extent of leg C. If the measured move up plays out as expected, price will retrace back to the corrective phase -- which is the horizontal movement between B and C.

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Coldwater Creek Trade: Time to Sell

I looked at the chart and took a tip from my day trading experience. I saw three candles with little overlap (the three days before the black candle when I sold). That means a strong price run has begun. I placed a stop loss order a penny or two below the low of the white candle (the highest one on the chart), expecting to trail the stop upward as price climbed.

The next day, I was stopped out when the f%^*ing thing hit my stop. I felt as if I was cheated out of a profit. Today (Monday night as I write this), the stock has rubbed salt into my wounds by closing up 2.4% even as the Dow has tumbled 187 points.

On the first trade, I made 83% and the second one I made 61%, but I still feel as if I lost big.

A chart of Coldwater Creek (CWTR) on the daily scale

Coldwater Creek Trade: Aftermath

Shown is a more recent chart of Coldwater Creek on the daily scale. I marked the two buy locations as well as when I sold.

Price cooperated and dropped to A after I sold which always brings warmth to my heart. But then it had the audacity to recover and post a new high as the general market climbed.

According to S & P, they rate the stock a hold while Ford has a sell on it. S & P says that the company faces increasing competition and slower store growth in 2010, so I threw it back on the discard pile instead of placing it on my shopping list.

Based on what I see, this stock could defy the rating agencies and continue moving up.

-- Thomas Bulkowski

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