Author Archives: Trader

Shooting Star Candlestick for Shoppers Drug Mart

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A shooting star candlestick developed on the daily candlestick chart which can be compared to a caution light.

It shows that the rally could not be maintained.  The stock opened at $40.82, above the close for the previous day’s bullish white candlestick, which was a strong opening.  But the bulls could not maintain the push  as the stock rallied to a high of $41.59 where there was selling pressure and the stock closed at $40.87: this was not a good day for the bulls.

Candlestick Analysis - shooting star candlestick for Shoppers Drug Mart

3-Month Daily Candlestick Chart

The trend is the most important concept in technical analysis. The intermediate trend (3 weeks to 3 months) is sideways and the near-term trend (within the last 3 weeks) is up. What we are trying to establish in this analysis is the likelihood of the near-term trend continuing upwards. Today, there is a hint of caution which you can see pictorially in the shooting star candlestick pattern.

Another important concept in technical analysis is support and resistance. On Monday, Shoppers Drug Mart closed above resistance at $40. This has been resistance for the last four months. The $40 price point reverses rolls and is now support for this stock. A close below $40 would be very negative for the near-term trend for Shoppers.

Shoppers Drug Mart (SC) breaks resistance at $40

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Shoppers Drug Mart breaks technical resistance at $40 on this candlestick chart.

TradeOnline.ca featured Shoppers on February 6 and highlighted the first bullish white candlestick  that developed on above average volume. Above average volume is a confirming indicator and is the fuel that drives the upward trend. The $40 level is now support and the stock must hold above this point for the trend to continue.

Technical Analysis: Shoppers Drug Mart - candlestick chart - a bullish white candlestick breaks resistance at $40 on Monday, February 14, 2011

Shoppers Drug Mart (SC) 6-Month Daily

Shoppers Drug Mart will meet heavy resistance at $42. You can identify this point on the 3-year weekly chart.

Shoppers was upgraded from hold to buy on February 11 and the price target was raised to $43 from $39.

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Note: This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years.

Copyright © TradeOnline.ca All rights reserved

85.2% gain in the TSX since March, 2009

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Technical analysis gives you a snapshot of the S&P/TSX composite.

It has been a good run, and now is the time to closely monitor the candlestick charts and confirming indicators for a top reversal pattern.

Technical Analysis - 2 year weekly annotated candlestick chart for the TSX showing trend lines, piercing patterns, tweezers bottom, bullish engulfing pattern and the mighty hammer.

2-Year Weekly Candlestick Chart for the TSX

This is an excellent article from the National Post covering the fundamental valuation metrics for different markets: Did I miss the rally?

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Note: This analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts. Please conduct your own analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions.

The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years.

Copyright © TradeOnline.ca All rights reserved 

Can Pfizer break resistance at $20?

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The most important point in technical analysis is to determine the trend.

The intermediate and near-term trend for Pfizer (PFE) is up.  This drug stock had a very good move last week as indicated by the tall bullish white candlestick.  Also, the volume was above average: the volume is the fuel that drives a stock higher. Any upward price movement on low volume is suspect. If the stock can break resistance at $20, the next target price will be $22.

Pfizer, including other drug stocks, has underperformed the Dow over the last couple of years.  Pfizer has a decent yield of  4.15% and a solid cash flow. Now, traders are buying this orphan.

Pfizer - 2-year weekly candlestick chart with a bullish white candlestick and resistance at $20

Pfizer - 2-Year Weekly

Suncor – Shooting star candlestick

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The intermediate trend (three weeks to three months) for Suncor is up.

But the shooting star candlestick is a warning signal: it is like a yellow light indicating caution. I do not want to see a close below $40 which is a support level. The next major support point would then be $35.

Technical analysis for Suncor listed on the TSX - shooting star candlestick

Suncor - 2-Year Weekly Chart

Shoppers Drug Mart – Bullish white candlestick

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Bullish white candlestick for Shoppers Drug Mart

Daily Chart - (SC)

There was a bullish white candlestick for Shoppers Drug Mart (SC) on Friday, February 4.

It opened at $37.15 which was above the support level of $37.00.  The stock traded to a high of $39.13 and closed at $38.77 which was a gain of 4.18% for the day. The tall white candlestick is the graphical representation of that price action.

Please customize and then reference the full-size chart from Bigcharts.com for a better overall view of the trend.  Shoppers has been trading sideways since October so a break above the $40.00 resistance level would be a significant event.

Read the Globe and Mail article,  Shoppers Drug Mart’s quest for an elixir, for some current background information.

Note: You must take a couple of minutes to customize Bigcharts.com so that the links to the charts open with the indicators used in this site.

Note: This analysis is for educational purposes. Please conduct your own analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions

The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years.

Copyright © TradeOnline.ca All rights reserved

BigCharts – Advanced chart settings

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Here is how to customize Bigcharts using the advanced chart settings

 

BigCharts - Advanced Chart Settings

You need to take a couple of minutes to input one-time settings to customize the chart view. Now, what you see on your computer is consistent with the explanations on this site.

This link for the 6-month TSX chart will open in a new window in the the advanced settings mode.

Follow these steps to customize the chart:

  1. Select SMA (3-Line ) in the drop-down list. This is the setting for three simple moving averages.
  2. Input 10,20,40 which is 10-day, 20-day, and 40-day simple moving averages.
  3. Select Volume in the drop-down list.
  4. Select OBV in the drop-down list. This is on balance volume which will be discussed in future posts.
  5. Select MACD in the drop-down list.  This is a momentum indicator. I do use other indicators in this option like RSI.
  6. Select Candlestick , Default and Big for the chart style.
  7. Select Store Chart Settings. This will set a cookie on your computer.

Now the settings are stored on your computer and will link properly from the posts.

I will discuss these advanced settings and others in future posts.

Another bullish white candlestick for the TSX

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Technical Analysis: Bullish white candlestick for the TSX

TSX Daily Chart - Feb 3, 2011

TSX closes at 13,841 which was in a whisker of the high for the day of  13,844. When the close is at the high or near the high for the day, the candlestick is classed as having a shaven head.

The bullish white candlestick for today (Thursday) is a graphical presentation of what is logically bullish:

  1. The TSX index opened above both the previous day’s (small red insignificant candlestick)  close and the close for the bullish white shaven head candlestick on Tuesday.
  2. There was a small lower shadow which indicated that there was little sell-off after the open.
  3. It was a relatively tall candlestick which was just a graphical representation of the 161 point (+1.18%) move in the index.
  4. There was no upper shadow: in other words there was no profit taking at the top of the market.

The bulls were definitely in charge today and I now want to introduce the concept of confirming indicators. Please customize Bigcharts so that we are singing from the same page in the hymn book, and then look at the 6-month daily candlestick chart which will open in  a new window. On this chart you will notice the following:

  1. You will see the bullish white candlestick where I snipped the chart for this post.
  2. All three short-term simple moving averages are above each other and are moving up.
  3. The close today is above all the short-term moving averages.
  4. The trading volume was relatively high.  The trading volume is the fuel that lights the candlestick and should increase as the index rises.
  5. The on balance volume is trending up. It should move in the direction of the price trend: if not, we have divergence and this is not good.
  6. The MACD indicator, a short-term momentum indicator,  is moving up in the direction of the price trend.