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Understanding Bottoming And Topping Tails

Published 07/20/2012, 06:10 AM
Updated 07/09/2023, 06:31 AM
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Most traders do not put all the pieces of the puzzle together when learning and using technical analysis. Let's talk about topping and bottoming tails. Simply put, a bottoming tail is a bullish signal and a topping tail is bearish. A bottoming tail MUST occur at the lows of a chart. This means that no point on the chart in recent history can be lower. Next, the tail must be substantial, not just a little thing barely seen by the eye. Additionally, the close of the candle must be in the upper 25% when measuring from the lows to the highs. If all these factors match up, you may have a bottoming tail. The same things apply for a topping tail.

Now to throw in the one key that most traders miss and costs them money. To truly keep your winning odds at 90% or better, you must also factor in the market. The below chart is of Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (NASDAQ:COCO) . You can see, a great bottoming tail formed based on all factors mentioned above. However, one factor would keep Chief Market Strategists away from this trade for now. While the stock had a great recovery, it still closed lower. That would not matter if the market for the trading day was flat or lower as well. However, the U.S. stock markets rallied 3-4% the day before. The fact that this still could not end the day higher tells us to give it a little time and then re-evaluate the trade.

Always look at the trading day in the markets and match it up to the stock chart. Too many traders see a pattern and ignore the macro action on the markets. If you want to be a complete trader, start with the micro view of the stock, then expand your view to the macro market. If all things align, a 90% success rate trade will be your reward.
COCO CHART

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