While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Bill Davis, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.
CURRENT POSITIONS:
GOGO Long at $19.93
Total Premium Collected $1.95
ASNA Long at $14.20
Total Premium Collected $0.75
DUST Long $4.50
Total Premium Collected $0.70
UNIT Long at $17.00
Premium Collected - $0.35
SNAP Long at $14.54
Premium Collected - $1.65
Short - May 4th - $14.50 call @ $1.00
TEVA Long $18.06
Premium collected - $1.10
Short May 4th - $18.50 calls @ $0.75
KMI Long September $16 call @ $1.00
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You should have two positions that expire today if you followed the recent alerts. The first is the short $14.50 call on SNAP. As you know, SNAP reported and dropped off their earnings. The short call will no doubt expire worthless today. Also, SNAP is overold short term and if it does bounce as anticipated, I will continue to suggest you sell call options against this position. The second position is the short $18.50 call on TEVA. TEVA reported and gapped up to a high of 19.50 before selling off to close at 17.78. This is about 80 cents under the strike price. I will suggest you leave this position alone. If TEVA settles under 18.50 today, you will keep your shares. If it settles over 18.50, the calls will be assigned. In either scenario, you will keep the premium you collected when you sold the call options. The S & P 500 gapped down at the open and dropped to a low of 2,594.62 before bottoming. From that price, the market proceeded to reverse to hit a high of 2,637.14 before closing at 2,629.73. The range for the day ended up being 42.52 points. And the market closed at 83% of the daily price bar. The range for the day was slightly more than the average true range, which is now 37.88 points. But, on Tuesday and Wednesday, we had two days of contraction, so this expansion is not a total shock. And with the high close percentage, this tells us that yesterday's high should be violated before the low. We have two support levels from yesterday's daily to monitor today. They are at 2,612 and 2,616. The midpoint of the weekly price bar is 2,638. This is just under the last week's supprot level of 2,641. Finally, if you do trade intra day, you no doubt recognize that yesterday's low stopped at the lower band on the 30 minute chart. The lower band on the 30 minute chart is 2,594.64. And yesterday's low came two cents under that level. This once again shows you the power of the extreme bands. Pre open, the market is trading about 7 points to the downside. But this can change quickly because we get the non farm payroll at 8:30AM EST. Continue to monitor the longer term levels for the market. Here are the Key Levels for the Markets: $VIX: Major level: 31.25 Minor level: 29.69 Minor level: 26.56 Major level: 25.00 Minor level: 23.44 Minor level: 20.31 Major level: 18.75 < Minor level: 17.19 ** Minor level: 14.06 Major level: 12.50 Minor level: 10.94 The VIX closed at 15.96, closing one cents lower. It closed above the minor 15.63 level. For the day, it was up .48 points. The VIX once again helped to time the entry on the reversal. The VIX climbed all morning to hit a high of 18.66 at 11:00 AM EST. From there it reversed and headed down all day. I failed just under the major 18.75 level I keep saying should be resistance. 17.19 should be resistance. $SPX: Major level: 2,812.50 Minor level: 2,792.98 Minor level: 2,753.93 Major level: 2,734.40 Minor level: 2,714.88 Minor level: 2,675.83 ** Major level: 2,656.30 < Minor level: 2,636.75 Minor level: 2,597.65 Major level: 2,578.10 Minor level: 2,558.58 The minor 2,597.65 should be support. Also, minor support is at 2,622.10. On the upside, I would expect resistance at 2,646.50. QQQ: Major level: 175.00 Minor level: 171.88 Minor level: 165.63 Major level: 162.50 < Minor level: 159.38 ** Minor level: 153.13 Major level: 150.00 Minor level: 146.88 Minor level: 140.63 Major level: 137.50 The QQQ closed at 161.80. The QQQ is still holding above the minor 159.38 level. This level should continue to offer minor support. If the QQQ can reclaim the 162.50 level, I would expect it to head higher. IWM: Major level: 159.38 Minor level: 158.60 Minor level: 157.03 Major level: 156.25 < Minor level: 155.47 Minor level: 153.91 ** Major level: 153.13 < Minor level: 152.35 Minor level: 150.78 Major level: 150.00 Minor level: 149.22 The IWM closed at 153.81. Major support should still be at 153.13. If the IWM can reclaim 153.91, it should head higher. TLT: Minor level: 121.49 Minor level: 120.70 Major level: 120.31 Minor level: 119.92 Minor level: 119.14 Major level: 118.75 < Minor level: 118.36 ** Minor level: 117.58 Major level: 117.19 Minor level: 116.80 Minor level: 116.02 Major level: 115.63 The TLT closed at 118.81. With the TLT bouncing and closing above the 118.75 level, it should now offer support. And 117.97 should offer minor support. GLD: Major level: 131.25 Minor level: 130.47 Minor level: 128.91 Major level: 128.13 Minor level: 127.35 Minor level: 125.78 Major level: 125.00 < Minor level: 124.61 ** Minor level: 123.83 Major level: 123.44 < The GLD closed at 124.28. This now implies that if the GLD can close above 124.61 today, it should test 125. I would expect resistance at 125. But, if the GLD can clear 125, it should head higher. XLE: Minor level: 76.95 Major level: 76.56 Minor level: 76.17 Minor level: 75.39 Major level: 75.00 Minor level: 74.22 Minor level: 72.66 ** Major level: 71.88 < Minor level: 71.10 Minor level: 69.53 Major level: 68.75 The XLE closed at 73.49. The target should still be up to the 75 level. If the XLE can clear 75, it tells us it should continue higher. 73.83 is minor support. And minor support is at 73.44. 71.88 should be support. 73.05 should be minor support. FXY: Minor level: 89.26 Major level: 89.06 Minor level: 88.87 Minor level: 88.48 Major level: 88.28 Minor level: 88.09 Minor level: 87.70 ** Major level: 87.50 < Minor level: 87.31 Minor level: 86.92 Major level: 86.72 The FXY bounced and closed at 87.74. We had been expecting a bounce and we are getting it. If the FXY can close above 87.70 today, it should test 88.28. The midband held as support. AAPL: Major level: 181.25 Minor level: 179.69 Minor level: 176.56 ** Major level: 175.00 Minor level: 173.44 Minor level: 170.31 Major level: 168.75 Minor level: 167.19 Minor level: 164.06 Major level: 162.50 Minor level: 160.94 Apple closed at 176.89. This now implies that if Apple can close above 176.56 today, it should test 181.25. 178.13 is minor resistance. If Apple clear this level, it should continue higher. If it can't I would expect a pullback. 175 should be support. WATCH LIST: Bullish Stocks: BA, HUM, FDX, STZ, AET, COST, AET, RHT, FFIV, CVX, EOG, VLO, CTXS, EXP, MSFT, AZPN, WMT, MPC, CFC, FSLR, MLNX, ESRX, NKE Bearish Stocks: NTES, AVGO, EA, VMC, DIS, CHKP, OLED, SWKS, QRVO, IRBT, INCY, LUV, CLVS, CRUS Be sure to check earnings release dates.