Skip to main content

More tips for using TradeRadar - timing counts

As I have discussed in the past, the TradeRadar analysis attempts to identify stocks that are undergoing reversals. Given my current bullish attitude, this means that we will be featuring stocks that have declined over the last six months or so and are now beginning to bounce off their lows and show some strength in their stock price.

One thing I have noticed about using the TradeRadar BUY signal is that the stock picks don't carve out a perfect V-shape when they undergo reversals. They tend to hit bottom, then move up fairly quickly, thus triggering the initial TradeRadar BUY signal. Then they tend to back off and go into a consolidation phase after which, if the reversal is meaningful, the stock moves up to new highs.

In this case, there is a good chance that a cheaper entry point can be obtained. Looking at the following chart of Allis Chalmers (ALY), for example, TradeRadar Alert HQ gave a BUY signal toward the end of February and I purchased the stock at $13.16. The stock soon fell to under $12 then began to steadily move up. A little patience would have provided an extra 5% or 6% profit.


Another pattern I have seen is that a stock may move up in anticipation of earnings (and we are in the middle of earnings season, after all) thus triggering the TradeRadar BUY signal. When earnings are actually announced, though, anything less than what investors were expecting can push the stock down quickly.

In this second case, getting hit by an earnings surprise can also be avoided but the timing is trickier. If the earnings release is in the same week as the BUY signal, it can easily be argued that an investor should wait before committing. It can easily mean the difference between being stopped out at a loss or preserving capital for other investment opportunities. It pays to keep an eye on the earnings calendar.

When all is said and done, the two situations described here can be remedied by exhibiting patience. Wait and watch for a bit. If the stock deserves to rally, it eventually will.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. You have no idea how useful this is. Great website, by the way.

Popular posts from this blog

Brazil - in a bubble or on a roll?

A couple of years ago, no one recognized the real estate bubble even though it was under everyone's nose. Now, analysts and bloggers are seeing bubbles everywhere they look. One of them, they say is in Brazil whose Bovespa stock market index has doubled in the last 12 months. Does the bubble accusation hold water? I don't think so and here are 7 reasons why Brazil is by no means a bubble economy: Exports have held up over the past year thanks to demand from China for Brazil's soya exports and iron ore. This was helped by the the Brazilian government's drive to improve trade links with Asia and Africa. Export diversification, spurred by a more active trade policy and increased focus on "south-south" trade under current president Lula, helped mitigate the decline in demand from OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries A "sensible" economic framework has been in place since the 1990's. This has included inflation ...

Trade Radar gets another update

Some of our data sources changed again and it impacted our ability to load fundamental/financial data. In response, we are rolling out a new version of the software: 7.1.24 The data sourcing issues are fixed and some dead links in the Chart menu were removed. So whether you are a registered user or someone engaged in the free trial, head over to our update page and download the latest version. The update page is here:   https://tradingstockalerts.com/software/downloadpatch Contact us if you have questions or identify any new issues.

Time to be conservative with your 401K

Most of the posts I and other financial bloggers write are typically focused on individual stocks or ETFs and managing active portfolios. For those folks who are more conservative investors, those whose main investment vehicle is a 401K, for example, the techniques for portfolio management might be a little different. The news of stock markets falling and pundits predicting recession is disconcerting to professional investors as well as to those of us who are watching our balances in an IRA or 401K sag. What approach should the average 401K investor take? Let's assume that the investor is contributing on a regular basis to one of these retirement accounts. There are two questions that the investor needs to ask: 1. Should I stop putting the regular contribution into stocks? My feeling is that investors making regular contributions are being handed a present by the markets. Every week the market goes down, these investors are lowering their average cost. When markets reco...