The wrong stop (IBM)
Jul 19th, 2011 | By Bella | Category: Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) BlogsIBM drove on the open after gapping up. At 52 week highs if you did not pay right on the open you were left to watch a 2 point upmove. I am sure many passed on the first ticks opening drive play. Flagging at 180.50 offered our easiest trade which I am sure many did not miss. At 52 week highs, strongest stock on the open, and forming a bullish flag pattern. We all can make that trade.
IBM got a bit trickier as it slowed near 182. The market made new highs but IBM did not make an impressive new high above 181.80 and the market was near R for SPY at 132. It was hard not to play defense here. I readjusted my stop from 181.49 to 181.64. Arrgggghhh! That was a mistake.
I set the stop at 181.64 because this was just below the low of a pullback before the move to 182. I tightened up my stop because of the R on SPY and the lack of impressive new highs as the market was ripping. The real stop was below 50c.
Expensive stock need more room. You give your best plays a little more room. Stocks do pullback even when strong and need some room for stops. IBM deserved a stop of holding below 181.50.
Earlier I placed an intraday reversal trade in WBMD at 35.49 as it showed some weakness around this level. I set a stop for 76c. I got stopped out at 77c, the high was 80c, and then it fell 1.5 points. Arrgggghh! I thought that was the right stop. I just caught a bad bounce as they say in the market. The IBM stop however was no good.
